Elton John finally spoke out about his falling-out with old friend Rod Stewart in a bonus chapter added to the new paperback version of his recent memoir, Me.

In the text, John discussed how their decades-old friendly rivalry had descended into acrimony in 2018 after Stewart criticized John's announcement of a farewell tour. Stewart called the move “dishonest” and said retiring was “not rock ’n’ roll.”

“I certainly didn’t feel like I needed a lecture on the feral spirit of rock 'n' roll from someone who’d spend most of the last decade crowing his way through the Great American Songbook and ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,’” John wrote (via The Sun). “I thought he had a fucking cheek, complaining about me promoting a tour while he was sat on a TV show promoting his own tour.”

John noted, after being angry for months, he sent Stewart a text to say they’d “known each other far too long to fall out over something like that.” However, he said Stewart didn’t respond until he finally sent a message through his manager, explaining he wasn’t able to speak on the phone because he was conducting “constant vocal rest” between shows.

Noting that Stewart was still somehow able to appear on talk shows, John said he had “no idea” what he did to upset his old friend so much. “Which was ironic, given the hours I’d put in over the years deliberately trying to annoy him," he said.

Last week, Stewart said it was “sad” that his relationship with John collapsed the way it did. “We were real close," he noted. "I mean, we were very close.” He added that his last email to John - inviting John’s sons over to play football - was ignored. Asked if he should maybe just “pick up the phone” and call John, Stewart replied, “Let me think about it.”

 

Elton John Through the Years

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