Singer Hits High Note In Album, Oscar Hopes
As Grammy was to Bruce, Oscar will be to Elton.
To put it another way: “Hakuna Matata.” (That means no worries.) At least not for Elton John through March and April, which should play out as one of the more prosperous upswings of a 25-year career that just won’t quit.
The man who co-wrote five “Lion King” songs, three of which will compete for what is sure to be John’s first Oscar on Monday, also has a sparkling new album in stores today.
That timing is hardly coincidental.
Just as Bruce Springsteen smartly released his latest set to dovetail with a hoped-for Grammy windfall, John’s new disc “Made in England” arrives in step with Oscar-mania.
That John will surely win an Academy Award next week isn’t up for debate. What’s at issue is which of his songs will it be? The kiddie tune “Hakuna Matata”? The multiplatinum “Circle of Life”? Or the Golden Globe and Grammy-winner “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”?
Though John bailed out of the March 1 Grammy telecast when told he couldn’t perform a new “Made in England” song, he is planning to sing from “The Lion King” at the Oscars. That means he’ll enlist friends to sit in as hosts for the first hours of his annual Oscar night AIDS fund-raising gala.
But before any of that happens, John will be hitting the road with Billy Joel to promote his new “Made in England.” The Piano Men, who set new box-office records with their novel stadium duet tour last summer, will launch the second leg in San Diego on Wednesday. They’ll visit nine other cities.
John’s segments of the shows will include several new songs.
Made in England finds him in a pensive mood. All songs, except the title track, are one-word titles: “House,” “Cold,” “Pain,” “Belfast,” “Latitude,” “Please,” “Man,” “Lies,” “Blessed” and the stirring first single, “Believe.”
“I’ve lied to lie with danger. I’ve lied for a drug or two,” he sings between the honky-tonk piano flourishes of “Lies.” “I’ve lied about most everything, but I never lied to you.”
Sober three years now, John’s ‘90s work continues as blunt homage to faith and honesty. As usual, his longtime friend, lyricist Bernie Taupin, is behind these new words.
Though John’s feel-good pop melodies ensure No. 1 status for any one of these new songs, why penalize him for it? Doubters who think he has completely lost his rock edge need only check out, for reassurance, the begging wail on “Blessed” or the way “Please” intoxicates with its late ‘60s British-pop twists. No worries, indeed.