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Elton John Goes Off-Script at the Emmys


Carl

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Elton has a new song out called "Home Again." It's a very good song with elegant lyrics by Bernie Taupin and a beautiful piano medley by Elton.

The song, as Taupin has explained, is about a state of mind - going home in a figurative sense.

Last night on the Primetime Emmy Awards, the song became a tribute to Liberace, the subject of the HBO movie Behind the Candelabra, which got 15 nominations. Producers of the show saw an obvious opportunity: Have Elton perform his new song, tying it in with his relationship with Liberace.

The only part they flubbed was the intro. Just about everything is scripted on these shows and read verbatim from a teleprompter, and in one shot, we could even see the screen Elton was reading from.

The Ron Burgundy moment came when Elton read the line, "What I wasn't aware of until years later was his lifestyle." Realizing what he just said, Elton looked up and said, "yeah, right" before returning to the screen.

Elton's copy was very well written and a fitting tribute to Liberace. The only problem is that it wasn't his words, and the writer made a grand assumption.

The flub seemed to snap Elton into the moment, and he did a terrific performance. It should be noted that despite the Liberace mentions and the intro by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon (stars of Behind the Candelabra), Elton never said that the song was about Liberace or even dedicated to him. He simply said that it reminded him of the famous singer. Perhaps a bit of a stretch, but if that's what it takes to break up the 3+ hour telecast with an Elton John performance, we're all for it.

Video of the performance (with intro):

"Home Again" Songfacts:

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=30802

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