Welcome to our collection of quotes by Elton John. We hope you enjoy pondering them and please share widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, pianist and composer. Collaborating with lyricist Bernie Taupin since 1967 on more than 30 albums, John has sold over 300 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He has more than fifty Top 40 hits in the UK Singles Chart and US Billboard Hot 100, including eight number ones in the UK and nine in the US, as well as seven consecutive number-one albums in the US. His tribute single "Candle in the Wind 1997", rewritten in dedication to Diana, Princess of Wales, sold over 33 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling chart single of all time. According to Billboard in 2019, John is the top solo artist in US chart history (third overall), and the top Adult Contemporary artist of all time.
Raised in the Pinner area of Greater London, John learned to play piano at an early age, and by 1962 had formed Bluesology, an R&B band with whom he played until 1967. He met his longtime musical partner Taupin in 1967, after they both answered an advert for songwriters. For two years, they wrote songs for other artists, and John worked as a session musician for artists including the Hollies and the Scaffold. In 1969, John's debut album, Empty Sky, was released. In 1970, his first hit single, "Your Song", from his second album, Elton John, became his first top ten in both the UK and the US. His most commercially successful period, 1970–1976, included Honky Château (1972), Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) and his first Greatest Hits compilation — the latter two among the official best-selling albums worldwide. John has also had success in musical films and theatre, composing for The Lion King and its stage adaptation, Aida and Billy Elliot the Musical. In 2018, John began his ongoing farewell tour. His music career was dramatised in the 2019 biopic Rocketman. While not appearing in his own biopic, John has made cameos in other films and television shows.
John has been involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s. In 1992, he established the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and a year later he began hosting his annual Foundation Academy Awards Party, which has since become one of the biggest high-profile Oscar parties in the Hollywood film industry. Since its inception, the foundation has raised over £300 million. John owned Watford F.C. from 1976 to 1987 and from 1997 to 2002, and is an honorary life president of the club. John has performed at a number of royal events, such as the funeral of Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey in 1997, the Party at the Palace in 2002 and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace in 2012. John, who announced he was bisexual in 1976 and has been openly gay since 1988, entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish on 21 December 2005; they married after same-sex marriage became legal in England and Wales in 2014.
John has received five Grammy Awards, five Brit Awards; including for Outstanding Contribution to Music; two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, a Tony Award, a Disney Legends Award, and the Kennedy Center Honor. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him 49th on its list of 100 influential musicians of the rock and roll era. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to music and charitable services" in 1998. Presenting John with France's highest civilian award, the Legion d'honneur, in 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron called him a "melodic genius" and praised his work on behalf of the LGBT community.
Stolen moments in the smoky room monday mornings that would come too soon crazy summers that would never end when the time was spent loving you.
Just you and me at a crossroads then Ain't it funny how we were old friends accidentally thrown together did we intend to be the romantic novel you never want to end.
Everything I thought I'd hate about having children the crying, the screaming, nothing fazes me. I love it all, and it's relaxed me.
Oh no no no I'm a rocket man. Rocketman burning out his fuse up here alone.
I've never had a writer's block, but still I think: 'Is it going to happen this time?' You never know what you're going to get; you just put your fingers on the keys and hope.
I'd always lived with people -- my family, or had people living with me, because I'd never liked being on my own.
There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex.
It's just so wonderful to have someone in the house like a child to turn your attention to. It's not about you anymore, it's about this lovely little human being.
I am so in the past. I'm such a Luddite when it comes to making music. All I can do is write at the piano.
You went and flipped the switch and turned me positive
When I was negative
I've been stumbling around like a metal man
On the graveyard shift
I am your robot, and I'm programmed to love you
My serial number is 44357.
Boredom's a pastime that one soon acquired
Where you get to the stage, where you're not even tired
Kicking your heels 'til the time comes around
To pick up your bags and head out of town.
Ever since I had that interview in which I said I was bisexual it seems twice as many people wave at me in the streets.
It's getting late have you seen my mates, Ma tell me when the boys get here, It's seven o'clock and I want to rock, Want to get a belly full of beer.
I love to work. It fascinates me. And I love seeing who's coming up, who's got the charisma to last, who's got the intelligence to move on to other things. I'm so glad now that I'm stuck behind the piano, because when you're getting older it's very hard to waddle around the stage.
Holy Moses, let us live in peace. Let us strive to find a way to make all hatred cease. There's a man over there, what's his colour I don't care, he's my brother, let us live in peace.
I was sitting in the classroom trying to look intelligent in case the teacher looked at me.
You get the same equal rights that we do when we have a civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships.
Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel.
I think people should be free to engage in any sexual practices they choose; they should draw the line at goats, though.
I'm lucky enough and wealthy enough to be able to buy photographs and buy art that inspires me from day to day. I don't want a Picasso on my wall; it's great art, but it's dead art to me. I'd rather have a photograph by someone I've never heard of that really inspires me.
A great editor is the most valuable thing you can have as an artist because, as you said, sometimes you get too close to something. I think, apart from your talent, that's why you have the career you have -- because you have great people behind you.
I used to take hostages in my relationships and not let people be independent. It always ended in disaster, because you take away people's identity and they end up full of resentment.
I love places that have an incredible history. I love the Italian way of life, I love the food, I love the people, I love the attitudes of Italians.
I'm so proud to be on a Kate Bush record; she's always marched to the beat of her own drum.
Love's like a junkie, addiction's a fact. Passion's a monkey, you can't keep off your back.
A couple of sounds that I really like are the sounds of a switchblade and a motor bike.
People who mock rap and say, I don't like it, they should go and check out Kanye West in the studio rapping, or Marshall, Eminem, when he's in the studio. It's a phenomenon. Don't knock it until you've seen it. It may not be your cup of tea, but don't ridicule it.
Cause what the hell is wrong with expressing yourself, trying to be me?
It's awful to be afraid of sex, but I'm afraid that's what the '50s did to people. It was just sex is disgusting, it shouldn't be talked about. Nudity is disgusting, we just don't talk about those kinds of things.
I'm a great lover of children. I never thought that one day I'd actually be a father, but I'm very pleased that I changed my mind. Children are extremely important. They are the future of the world.
You can work as hard as you like, and plan as carefully as you want, but there are moments when it's just about a hunch, about trusting your instincts, or about fate.
Anyone who lip-synchs in public on stage when you pay 75 pounds to see them should be shot.
I've been going to Russia since 1979. I've been going quite frequently, and I've always had a wonderful rapport with the Russian audiences and with the Russian people.
When people go to rehab and come out, they go through a difficult period, a lot of people. I never had that. I was so glad to be rid of all that crap that for me, to learn again and to function as a human being and learn how to participate in the human race again was just pure joy.
I really appreciate my performing so much better, as I get older. I don't take it for granted anymore. I really relish it and love it.
Basically, I wanted redemption for the way I lived my life beforehand, and that was the drugs, the drink, the loose sex, whatever.
Laughing like children, living like lovers, rolling like thunder, under the covers, and I guess that's why they call it the blues.
Don't be afraid to let her into your heart and when your down, don't try to carry the whole world on your shoulders.
Don't you know Im still standing better than I ever did. Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid. I'm still standing after all this time.
I've always been dead set against festivals, really suspicious and wary.
On a street of right and wrong in every inch of sadness, rocks and tanks go hand in hand with madness.
It'll take you a couple of vodka and tonics to set you on your feet again.
I tried to commit suicide one day. It was a very Woody Allen-type suicide. I turned on the gas and left all the windows open.
What a scandal, if I die. Yeah, I'm gonna kill myself, get a little headline news.
I don't think there can ever be too many messages about AIDS. If you stop the education process, then people are going to think the problem is all over and done with. They'll think that it's OK to go and have sex again. Education is essential, especially among young people.
We have come so far. It's become a real bipartisan cause, which I'm very happy to see. And in the case of America, and it's -- certainly, without America, we'd be facing catastrophe.
I was ready to approach her with my English charm, when her brass knuckled boyfriend grabbed me by the arm.
And we have come so far like that. I mean, the advances on the medication side have been enormous, and the advances on the human side have been enormous. But we still have this stigma to get rid of, and then we really will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I think that's the graveyard of musicians, playing cabaret. I think I'd rather be dead than work in cabaret. It's just so depressing.
He'd been drinking in a bar downtown, when he thought he heard a choir of angels singing in the Tiki Lounge. And that's when he got religion.
The Backstreet Boys can sing their asses off. I'm not so sure about those other boy bands. But Backstreet Boys have my ultimate respect.
That's just a part of being an artist: you can't write great stuff all the time, because if you did, then you'd be inhuman. The human side of people is that sometimes they fail.
I love the way the American trade magazines never give anybody a bad review because they're afraid the advertising will be taken out. It's so hysterical.
My mother encouraged me and was very great about me being gay, but she always encouraged me to follow my musical dreams, which I'm very grateful for.
I am in deep shock. I have lost a beloved friend George Michael -- the kindest, most generous soul and a brilliant artist. My heart goes out to his family and all of his fans.
I'll not complain about your boring life, if you just leave me to mine.
I've been coming to America since 1970, and it's like my second home, but I've never felt such a divided country, ever. I didn't think it would get to this point, and it breaks my heart.
I don't think you can recreate anything from the past. You can not do it. If you're going to go out and imitate a Motown sound, you can't do it, it's impossible because of the studios and players involved and the atmosphere.
Rock and roll came in and changed my life and changed the whole music scene forever, and then I grew to love RandB and Motown and all black music, gospel music. But I never dismiss any form of music. I listen to everything.
Sometimes when I'm flying over the Alps I think, 'that's like all the cocaine I sniffed.'
The world is near escalating to World War Three and where are the leaders of each religion? Why aren't they having a conclave; why aren't they coming together?
When stars collide, like you and I, no shadow blocks the sun -- The One.
I'm not everybody's cup of tea. But sometimes criticism can be hurtful. Be respectful I'm a good piano player, I can sing well, I write good songs. If you don't like it, fair enough. But give me a break.
Once you have people around you who don't question you, you're in a dangerous place.
I'm a juvenile product of the working class, who's best friend floats in the bottom of a glass.
I love drag queens and I love going to see them perform because those people have got so much character and bravery. Such balls! I love people with balls.
The work became like the drug addiction, the clothes, anything in my life. It became -- it's become an addiction. I'm addicted to working.
This is a tremendous assest for the club, a tremendous headache lifted from our shoulders, really.
Sweet freedom whispered in my ear, you're a butterfly, and butterflies are free to fly, fly away, high-away, bye-bye.
I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays. But there are so many Christian people I know who are gay and love their religion.
Simon Cowell and I are great friends and we wind each other up. Rod Stewart and I do the same thing.
I'm glad I've given up drugs and alcohol. It would be awful to be like Keith Richards. He's pathetic. It's like a monkey with arthritis, trying to go onstage and look young.
Hold me closer tiny dancer, count the headlights on the highway. Lay me down in sheets of linen, you had a busy day today.
Don't let the sun go down on me
Although I search myself, it's always someone else I see
I'd just allow a fragment of your life to wander free
But losing everything is like the sun going down on me.