In the Super Bowl 50 edition of The Late Late Show, James Corden invited the legendary Elton John to be his guest of honor. The host took the music legend for a drive down memory lane kicking off the trip with the 1970 classic “Your Song.”
John co-wrote the song in his parents’ apartment in North London with his longtime collaborator, Bernie Taupin. “I took it into the living room, sat at the piano, read it through and I went, ‘God, this is amazing, for an 18-year-old boy to write this lyric.’ I played it to him, and I think when I finished playing, we both realized this was the huge step forward in our songwriting,” John said. “We never looked back from that song.”
Corden’s playlist included 1983’s “I’m Still Standing,” 1973’s “Crocodile Rock,” 1971’s “Tiny Dancer” and the “Circle of Life” from The Lion King.
The british singer released his 32nd studio album, Wonderful Crazy Night, on Feb. 5. It is John’s first album since 2006’s The Captain & the Kid to feature the Elton John Band. He credits the new album to all the young talent he continues to discover as a source of inspiration.
“When you hear something by someone new—like when you first hear Ed Sheeran or this girl called Grimes, or there’s this girl in Australia called Sarah Blascoe—and whenever you hear something new that inspires you from the young, it makes you feel, ‘I’m going to do that. I want to do that.’ I still have the energy of a 20-year-old and I want to carry on. I just don’t see the point of setting up shop. Once you stop, you die,” John said. “I wanted to make a really joyful album and I wanted to express how I was feeling with my own life.”
