Sir Elton John 'broke down' for 45 minutes writing song about dying

Sir Elton John "broke down for 45 minutes" penning a song about him dying.

The 78-year-old music legend and his longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin wrote the tear-jerker 'When This Old World Is Done With Me' for his upcoming joint album with friend Brandi Carlile, 'Who Believes In Angels?', which drops on April 4.

John - who has sons Zachary, 14, and Elijah, 12, with husband David Furnish, 62 - told the 'Smartless' podcast: “I wrote a song at the end of the album and I got Bernie Taupin's lyrics called When This Old World Is Done With Me.

“And so I’m writing the verse, like, ‘Oh, this is really pretty’. And then I get to the chorus and of course it’s about my death.”

He continued: “And when you get to my age, which is near 100, you think, ‘How much time have I got left?’

“And you’ve got children, you’ve got a wonderful ­husband . . . you just think about mortality.

“And so when I got to the chorus, I just broke down for 45 minutes.”

Carlile thinks everyone should watch the moment John breaks down - which features on his documentary 'Elton John: Never Too Late' - because it was a "really human, like deeply flawed and embarrassing," moment.

She added: "I want everybody to see it because it's really human, like deeply flawed and embarrassing.

"And the kind of s*** that you do when you forget that there is a camera on is what's really interesting.

"He got to the end of that chorus and his voice started to shake and I thought, 'Oh, he's going, like he's going to really go.' And he went into a real moment."

John and Carlile were joined by special guests for 'An Evening With Elton John And Brandi Carlile' at The London Palladium on Wednesday night (26.03.25), which will air on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player on Saturday April 19 and on CBS on Sunday April 6.