The Guardian runs a colorful piece on Elton John a little over a month before the release of his new album Peachtree Road, recorded at his Atlanta studio with longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin.
On celebrity: ‘If I see one more photo of Britney or J-Lo or Ben Affleck, I’m going to spit. I want mystery! That’s why Morrissey has had some success again; he’s a bit of an enigma.’
On his heroes: ‘I remember being in a room at the Sherry Netherlands hotel with John [Lennon] and we were both on coke. At 3am there was a knock on the door and we looked through the peephole; it was Andy Warhol. We both stood there, paranoid, whispering: don’t let him in!’
On aging: ‘I always wanted to buy a big fucking retirement home and live in it with all my friends. An old department store in the King’s Road would be perfect. I could run the CD shop, Neil Tennant the bookshop and Sam Taylor-Wood the art shop. Either that or buy a big chateau in France and just walk around in kaftans eating donuts all day.’