PHILADELPHIA (AP) – I think it’s gonna be a long, long time until we see another songwriter and performer like Elton John.
Wrapping up a 50-plus year career with a farewell tour, the British pianist and vocalist has created some of the most memorable and enduring music in the history of pop-rock, songs burned into the collective DNA of humanity.
They may be quite simple, like the basic four-chord glory of “Crocodile Rock,” or dazzlingly complex like the 11-minute magnum opus “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding.”
But now that it’s almost done, I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words how wonderful it has been to have Elton John on our radios and in our ears since the late 1960s.
The artist born 75 years ago as Reginald Kenneth Dwight kicked off the final leg of his North American farewell tour Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, home of baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies. And yes, he felt the love that night.