How ‘speed demon’ Elton John & Brandi Carlile made ‘Who Believes in Angels?’ in 20 days

Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote the songs for the 1973 double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in just 2 1/2 weeks, with Elton sometimes knocking out a tune in 30 minutes or less. So it’s not surprising that Elton’s new album with Brandi Carlile, Who Believes in Angels? — which also features songwriting from Bernie and producer Andrew Watt — took just 20 days to complete.

Watt tells ABC Audio, “Elton is like a speed demon. It almost makes him feel good to work at a rapid rate — not to rush things, but, like, he’ll want to know exactly how long it took him to write that song, how long was he in the [vocal] booth,” comparing Elton to Michael Jordan checking “how many baskets he made.”

“It’s painful and beautiful at the same time,” Watt adds. “And [Elton’s] so hard on himself. You’ve never seen someone harder on themselves.” 

But everyone else pushed just as hard. Notes Watt, “Once we started rolling, [the songs] just fell out. … It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, we got 20 days to do this.’ It was more like, that’s what it took. So these guys said everything they needed to say.”

And the new album has something else in common with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: The exact same drum kit Elton’s drummer Nigel Olsson played on that album was used on the new album’s title track.

“I was really kind of a stickler about what I wanted the drums to sound like,” Watt notes. So Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, who played drums on the record, tracked it down.

“Through his research … he found that Ben Stiller owns the kit that Nigel played on the album,” says Watt. “So he lent us the kit for the album.”