The album delves into Elton’s 1970s heyday, captured in stunning archival detail, and cuts back and forth between that period and the run-up to his farewell concert at Dodger Stadium in 2022.
Elton John – Never Too Late (from "The Lion King"/Lyric Video)
By Owen Gleiberman
There's a moment in "Elton John: Never Too Late," a robust, satisfying and emotional documentary about the life and career of Elton John, that captures him in his 1970s glory days in a most revealing way.
It's a clip from a television interview, in which Elton explains how he writes a song. The clip must be from 1971, and Elton, still looking like a puppy, with square-rimmed glasses and lots of shaggy hair, is sitting at an upright piano and pulling out a sheaf of lyrics—pages of lyrics all handwritten by his collaborator, Bernie Taupin. Elton wants to show us his method, so he tells us about a song he's just written, called "Tiny Dancer," and finds the lyrics. He explains how he went through them and realized, when he saw the word "ballerina," that it should be a slow song. He shows how he improvised the chords. And as he starts singing along, he reveals how he used Taupin's lyrics as a guide. It usually took him about 20 minutes to a half hour to write a song.
