Elton John Noam Galai/Getty Images for TIME
Elton John has admitted that he doesn’t like to listen to the timeless hits that made him a music icon.
“I wouldn’t go and put my old music on,” John, 77, confessed on BBC Radio 2’s The Scott Mills Breakfast Show on Friday, February 7.
The “’Rocket Man”’ singer was being interviewed alongside Brandi Carlile to promote their upcoming album, Who Believes in Angels?, which will be released on Friday, April 4.
John told host Scott Mills that he did recently have to dive back into his classic recordings to approve a live album and was “astounded” by some of his older music.
“I had to listen to that, but actually I really enjoyed it and I was quite surprised how good it was,” he said.
The musician also delved into his musical catalog for the 2024 documentary Elton John: Never Too Late, as it chronicled his Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert tour.
Elton John Noam Galai/Getty Images for TIME
“It just brought back so many memories for me,” he recalled. “What I was most surprised about is that the music we made from 1970-1975 was so good! I don’t listen to my stuff, but we made a lot of great records. We made 13 albums in that time plus singles, plus B-sides, and we toured, and we worked and the momentum was incredible.”
John later clarified why he’s reluctant to watch old footage from his career, explaining: “I never watch anything about me because I just don’t like to look at myself very often. I’m not one to bask in my success.”
It was particularly “tense” for John to watch an entire documentary about his own life, he said, but he ultimately “really loved” reflecting on his historic career in Elton John: Never Too Late.
“I thought it really nailed what I thought my career had been and how it’s turned out to be and that was the whole point of it, you know — it’s never too late,” he noted.
Having now retired from touring, John assured Mills that he does not miss performing live “at all,” since he gets to spend more time with husband David Furnish and their two sons, Zachary Jackson, 14, and Elijah Joseph, 12.
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Elton John has battled several health issues throughout his legendary music career, from addiction struggles to a secret cancer battle. “I am a survivor. I’ve survived a lot of things,” he told Variety in a March 2019 interview. “Life is full of pitfalls, even when you’re sober. I can deal with them now because I […]
“I do not miss [performing] one iota,” he insisted.
Part of the reason John stepped away from live performing was because he developed recursive eyesight, where he lost sight in his right eye and only has limited vision in his left eye.
“I can’t see a lyric, for start,” he explained to Good Morning America in November 2024. “We’re taking an initiative to try and get it better, but at the moment, that’s really what we’re concentrating on. It’s never fortunate for anything like this to happen. It kinda floored me, and I can’t see anything. I can’t read anything, I can’t watch anything.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee has since appeared at the 2025 Golden Globes on Sunday, January 5, where he joked about his vision problems.
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While presenting an award with Carlile, John quipped: “I don’t know if you know, but there’s been a lot of stories going on around about my recursive eyesight. I just wanted to reassure everybody that it’s not as bad as it seems … I’m so pleased to be here with my cohost, Rihanna!”
John and Carlile’s new album Who Believes in Angels? came about after the pair originally collaborated on the title track from the documentary Elton John: Never Too Late.
The duo are joined on the record by Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith and the band’s former guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, plus prolific session bassist Pino Palladino. Who Believes in Angels? was recorded at the historic Sunset Sound Recorders studio in Hollywood.
