Elton John discusses the best song he’s ever written | CPT PPP Coverage

The album’s final single, ‘Original Sin’, is a considerably slow and tender song featuring John’s distinctive piano playing alongside Rusty Anderson’s guitars and Leonard on the keyboards. Rumoured to be about John’s failed marriage to his ex-wife, the song talks about the relationship being a sin because, even though he loved his wife, he wasn’t being true to himself. Interestingly, however, the music video details a much different story – starring Mandy Moore and Elizabeth Taylor, it follows the story of a lonely girl who dreams of seeing John in concert in the 1970s through her journey meeting a bunch of celebrities from that era. 

For fans, ‘Original Sin’ is a power ballad. As one of their most beloved songs, it’s been requested time and time again through letters sent to John pleading with him to perform it live. John shares a similar personal connection with the song, mostly due to its writing process and his appreciation of working with Leonard: “I had the great fortune of doing Songs From the West Coast with producer Pat Leonard,” he told Rolling Stone. 

He continued: “He got my idea and simplified the record, and made me work with other musicians. I have to say that one of the biggest regrets of my life is that I’ve not fallen out, but I’ve drifted away from Pat. I feel very ungrateful to Pat that I didn’t make another record with him. We were so close on that record, he shifted me so much in the direction that I wanted to go.”

John actually admits that ‘Original Sin’ is “one of the best songs I’ve ever written”. However, despite later becoming one of his most acclaimed hits, particularly within the confines of Songs from the West Coast, ‘Original Sin’ wasn’t that much of a commercial success at first. In fact, none of the songs on the album hit the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, which ruptured John’s record of 31 years with at least one song in the esteemed charts. 

Despite this, it’s become one that most clearly states John’s state of mind within his previous marriage, an experience he regrets for not being authentic. “She was the classiest woman I’ve ever met,” John admits about his marriage to Renate Blauel, “But it wasn’t meant to be. I was living a lie.”