Elton John Wept as He Realized He Was Singing About His Death

Elton John collapsed into tears when he realized he was singing about his death, collaborator Brandi Carlile revealed.

“The glasses came off; his whole body crumpled over the piano,” she recalled. “He wept. I put my arms around him and held him.” She added that, since John is “a bit butch, a stoic, a man’s man,” he didn’t want to discuss his feelings.

“Andrew, he’s very dramatic, like a Jewish grandmother,” Carlile said. “He comes running in with tissues. We’re having this really profound moment where Elton has come face-to-face with his mortality without really being able to say it.

“When he looks up, we’re like, ‘What’s he gonna say?’ And he goes, ‘Is it too Lion King?’”

“I said, ‘No, no!’ Andrew burst out laughing. Elton burst out laughing. It was unbelievable. At first, it was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen, and then it got really funny, really fast.”

Elton John’s Panic Attack on Return to Huge Arena

John explained that Bernie Taupin’s lyrics had “touched a nerve because I have children now and I have a husband, and it’s not just being Elton on his own, it’s wanting to be with the people I love.”

He reflected that when he was younger he said he wanted to die onstage but no longer felt the same; in any case, he added, his retirement means it won’t happen that way.

John also said he suffered a panic attack after returning to a huge auditorium to record a cameo appearance in the upcoming Spinal Tap 2 movie. “I did kind of hyperventilate,” John recalled. “I said, ‘Jesus, I’m so glad I don’t have to do this anymore.’”