Elton John and the celebration of gayness
By Tom Quiner
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP-7moQKd9M]
“Elton kicks my ass on piano.”
These are the words of another legendary rock and roll piano player, Billy Joel. That’s quite a compliment coming from someone with the chops of a Billy Joel. Billy literally gushes talking about his buddy, Elton:
“He’s fantastic — a throwback to Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino and Little Richard. His spontaneous, improvisational playing always challenges me. And that is his contribution to rock & roll and pop: his musicianship.”
I’ve seen the two perform together in concert a couple of times. All told, I’ve seen Elton John in concert some seven times, or so. I’m a big fan. Elton John does something better than most of his rock and roll songwriting peers: write great melodies. Billy Joel expresses it well:
“Any melodic songwriter owes a debt to Elton John, the supreme melodist. I don’t know sh*t about new bands, but anybody who plays the keyboard and likes melody must give a nod to Elton. Like Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Carole King and the Beatles, he carries on the rich tradition of writing beautiful melodies.”
As a hack piano player, I’ve got to admit I’m mesmerized by the way he pounds the ivories. His concert performances allow him to cut lose on the piano with a dazzling virtuosity that never fails to delight his audience, regardless of age.
At last night’s Emmy Awards, Mr. John performed a song from his new album (“The Diving Board”) which he dedicated to another legendary piano player, Liberace. He told the back story of the song, “Home Again”:
“When I met him [Liberace], he always talked about how much he loved going home to his house. It’s a feeling of being at peace and being yourself. Liberace left us 25 years ago – and what a difference those years have made to people like me, and people like me.”
By “people like me,” he refers to people with same-sex attractions. In the quarter-of-a-century since the death of Liberace, who died of AIDS contracted from one of his prolific (and promiscuous) homosexual encounters, homosexuality has become exalted among liberal elites.
These elites seem to want to judge a person, not by the content of their character, but by the politically-correct passions coursing through his or her groin. And gayness is very, very politically-correct with this crowd, so much so, that they insist on basing marriage on it.
I like Elton John, the musician, the composer, the entertainer. I don’t like the way celebrities like him publicly revere gayness. Here’s why: the fruit of gay chic is so-called gay marriage. Religious liberty and gay marriage cannot coexist. It is impossible. Once gayness is established as a civil right, something has to give. If the faithful publicly deny the validity of these so-called marriages based on their faith, they will run afoul of the law. It is already happening. The faithful will have to make a choice: publicly deny their faith or suffer economic martyrdom at the hands of the thought police who dominate government.
Most conservatives believe what two consenting men do in the privacy of their bedroom is between them, and that it should stay there. Liberals believe it should be publicly proclaimed, and even more, universally celebrated by force of law.
Some of my conservative friends suggest we need to separate ourselves from those with whom we so passionately disagree. But then we’d cut ourselves off from half of the world. Even more, we’d lose our ability to influence others.
How about Elton John? For me, I disagree with him on issues like this. But I love his music, so I’ll keep buying it.
You can listen to his new single, “Home Again,” above.
What do you think?