before moving to hong kong elton john’s name did not figure prominently among my favourite artists. remember…all elton managed to produce during the 80’s was a wife (!) and the song nikita, which didn’t do much to endear him to me.

but then magnificent charles came on to the scene, and his love for elton john quickly became my own. you know that intoxicating stage where you are trying out each other’s food fave’s, music, books and movies? (mc had never seen the shawshank redemption before he met me..i have converted him there but he still doesn’t love groundhog day…pity that.)

in those early days we liste his greatest hits cd had just been produced, and charles had it. the hits were dreamy and in love, and we couldn’t afford any other new cd’s. in this romantic and mysterious time just before the handover, early romance time, my dancing tunes weren’t appropriate, although my mama’s and papa’s cd was. i nixed charles’ british invasion cds, he laughed at the 80’s stuff. (but the relationship survived!)

the humid heat, these two new cats we had adopted, and the knowledge that mc and i were finally together and God willing, we could be for the rest of our lives….if it wasn’t for the unemployment we would have been laughing. but we had love, and days to spend together. and elton john in the background.

my favourite elton john song would have to be blue eyes. even if charles only had one eye and it was brown, blue eyes would be my favourite song. or so i thought.

two years ago, elton john toured asia. charles was thrilled, and our friends stuart and lucy got tickets, and we headed off to the concert. i haven’t seen many concerts, and prior to this, the rolling stones was definitely my fave. lots of energy.

elton could not have been more different. no more strutting across the stage in platform shoes filled with goldwish, no mawkish attempts and rearing the crowd into a frenzy by shouting "hello hong kong!"…this was a man singing about love, to those who knew love. and he sang blue eyes, and i thought it was just for me. the crowd was respectable, we screamed during the beginning of songs, but didn’t want to miss a word he sang. the crowd was invited to join along in crocodile rock, and we sure did.

naaaahhhh na na na na na….

and all too soon he left the stage. it had been a great concert, he had played what the audience knew and wanted to hear. i don’t like hearing new stuff, i go to a concert to hear what i love.

we knew there would be an encore, so no one moved. everyone started clapping and a few minutes later he came out again. we stood and applauded, no one sat down.

the day i saw them, the stones ended their concert by launching into "you can’t always get what you want". it was an extended version that had the audience participation at full max.

as with the entire concert, elton john was different. he sat down at the piano, and spoke into the microphone, saying, "this is my last song tonight, and it is my wish that everyone here in the audience has someone they can sing it to."

and then he started into "your song".

charles and i had our arms wrapped around each other, as did lucy and stu. having another couple with us also in love made it better. and it was quiet, and he serenaded us all, and watched us kissing each other’s hands as he declared,

"i hope you don’t mind, i hope you don’t mind, that i put down in words, how wonderful life is, while you’re in the world."

come home soon, charles.