genre pop

Elton John is good at a great many things. But on Thursday night (April 4), the pop superstar found out that one thing he has not quite mastered is the art of the late night game show. Appearing on The Tonight Show with his longtime friend and Who Believes in Angels? collaborator Brandi Carlile, John, 78, was paired up with host Jimmy Fallon for a game of “Password” against Carlile and Sinners star Hailee Steinfeld.
Things started off easy enough with Fallon and Carlile pulling a card reading “Grass,” which prompted John to guess “marijuana.” Brandi went with “greener,” which stumped her partner, who guessed “plant.” Fallon pivoted to “mow,” which made John crack up at the thought of doing lawn work himself. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer quickly put it together, thought, and correctly guessed the answer.

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That’s when things went sideways. When it was John’s turn to give Fallon a clue for “Sunday,” he waited patiently as Steinfeld offered up “Saturday” and a gentle nod toward the next day to Carlile, who could only hazard a guess at “night.” John then looked at his card, cockily shook his head and said, “Sunday!” Game host Steve Higgins cracked up, gently reminding the rock icon that he can’t actually say the clue out loud.

As The Roots busted out a sad trombone, John looked embarrassed, but quickly joined the laughter at his slip-up, clarifying that what he meant to say was “weekend.”

And to think the night had started off on such a high note. After his monologue, Fallon moved over to his desk to tee-up the duo’s appearance later in the show and just couldn’t help himself in enthusing about John’s deep catalog of hits. That inspired Jimmy to start reading off a list of Elton’s hits, segueing into singing the choruses of “Your Song” and “Tiny Dancer” a cappella before cueing the Roots to give him a beat for “Rocket Man,” and proving with that song and “Daniel” that he loves the classics, but might not always know all the lyrics.

After first trying “Daniel” with what sounded like an Irish accent, Fallon requested a reggae rhythm from the Roots, prompting a switch to a rasta accent. He then moved on to scatting the lyrics to “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” beatboxing the piano intro to “Bennie and the Jets” and busting out his Mick Jagger impression for “I’m Still Standing” during the six-minute supercut bit.

John and Carlile then came out to talk about their first joint album, with John recalling how the “Broken Horses” singer wrote him a letter expressing her admiration, long before they finally were introduced in person during his Las Vegas residency at a time when John knew who Carlile was, but had never crossed paths with her. “She wrote me a letter and explained that she’d been a fan of mine ever since she was a kid,” John said. “And I was the reason she wanted to make music and Bernie’s [Taupin] lyrics were the reason she wanted to write lyrics.”

Carlile asked if he’d ever consider a collaboration, and John, a longtime supporter of new and emerging artists, said he would definitely be down. The minute the two finally met up in the studio, John said, “I fell in love with her. And I fell in love with her talent, her voice. But more than that, I fell in love with the person. And we’ve become firm friends. We’re like family.” After that, collaborating, he said, was a “no-brainer,” because ever since that first intro he’d wanted to record with her; the pair first collaborated on John’s pandemic-era The Lockdown Sessions LP on the song “Simple Things.”

They finally got in the studio in L.A. in Oct. 2023 with Taupin and producer Andrew Watt with “nothing” written beforehand. John described the first few days as “very anxious” because he was doubting his ability to create on the spot, despite the blank sheet method being his preferred way of collaborating lately. Though Carlile said she too was anxious, things pretty quickly clicked and after recording the epic album opener, “The Rose of Laura Nyro,” the parts seamlessly fell into place.

“It just turned out exactly the way I wanted it,” John said. “It sounded fresh. It’s the best album I’ve made since the early ’70s.”

Watch John and Carlile on The Tonight Show below.