beatles-related quotes from elton john’s autobiography, ‘me’
“it was easy to imagine the beatles living the same life, not least because it looked suspiciously like the bed sheets in the attic hadn’t been changed since john & paul had slept in them.”
- recounting playing at the ‘top ten club’- one of the places the beatles had played at in hamburg before becoming famous.
“...or indeed the full-scale fibreglass model of a tyrannosaurus rex that i offered to take off ringo starr’s hands at the end of a very long night. ringo was trying to sell his house at the time, & the presence of a full-scale fibreglass tyrannosaurus rex in the garden was apparently proving to be a sticking point with potential buyers.”
- about material possessions, gifts, happiness, etc.
“i took to him [john lennon] straight away. it wasn’t just that he was a beatle & therefore one of my idols. he was a beatle who thought it was a good idea to promote his new album by dancing around with a man dragged up as the queen, for fuck’s sake. i thought: we’re going to get on like a house fire. & i was right. as soon as we started talking, it felt like i’d known him my entire life.”
- on meeting john lennon for the first time & his thoughts on him.
“he’d [john lennon] separated from yoko & was living in los angeles with may pang. i heard that period in his life is supposed to have been really troubled & unpleasant & dark, but i’ve got to be honest, i never saw that in him at all.”
- about john lennon’s “lost weekend” in the mid-seventies.
“jesus, he [john lennon] was so funny. whenever i saw him- or even better, him & ringo -i just laughed & laughed & laughed.”
- describing john lennon’s charming sense of humor.
“tony king turned up with ringo starr & we all went on a boat trip along the canals ... ringo got so stoned that, at one point, he asked if he could join the band. at least, that’s what people told me afterwards- i didn’t hear him.”
- about elton’s band & trying to find new members.
“...i found myself buying a cuckoo clock that, instead of a cuckoo, had a large wooden penis that popped in & out every hour. i gave it to john lennon when i went to visit him. i thought it was a good present for a man who had everything. john & yoko were as bad as me when it came to shopping.”
- on his relationship with impulsive shopping.
“i played ‘imagine,’ & dedicated it to john lennon. i hadn’t seen him for a few years. he’d really gone to ground after sean was born...”
- elton’s central park concert in september of 1980.
“i couldn’t believe it. it wasn’t just the fact of his [john lennon] death, it was the brutality of how it happened ... they hadn’t been murdered, by a complete stranger, outside their home, for no reason whatsoever.”
“i really loved john, & when you love someone that much, i don’t think you ever quite get over their death.”
“...i went to the cinema & watched monty python’s the meaning of life ... then i thought how funny john would have found it. it was exactly his sense of humor: surreal & biting & satirical. i could almost hear his laugh, that infectious cackle that always used to set me off. that’s how i wanted to remember him. & that’s how i do remember him.”
“...george harrison had tried to talk to me at an insane party i’d held at a house i was renting in la ... i heard the unmistakable sound of george’s mordant, scouse-accented voice calling out to me. ‘elton,’ he said. ‘i really think you need to go steady on the old marching power.’ bob [dylan] somehow managed to talk his way out of being dressed in my clothes, but it didn’t change the fact that one of the beatles was publicly telling me to do something about my cocaine habit.”
- writing about the problems caused by his drug habit.
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