Molly Medlrum has used his second memoir to slam Channel 7’s Sunday Night for causing a rift between himself and close friend, Sir Elton John.
In an extract from his book, Ah Well, Nobody’s Perfect, the veteran music journalist says that the program took liberties in its editing of his 2012 interview with the pop legend.
In a passage of the book which was published by NewsCorp the 73-year-old Aussie explained that after his near-fatal fall in 2011 he was commissioned to do a couple of comeback style interviews with Sunday Night.
“The first was with Katy Perry in LA, and then I flew to Germany to catch up with my old friend Elton John,” writes Meldrum.
Veteran music journo Molly Meldrum with Katy Perry.
Molly recalls Elton being a generous interview subject and recounts how glad the Rocket Man singer was to see him following his mishap.
“Without making people dissolve into tears, you are the best thing that ever happened to Australian music,” Elton told Molly. “You’re a legend and you’re a friend and you’ve stuck by me through the good times and the bad and now the good times again. You’re an institution and it’s great to see you back … a mental institution, but you’re an institution.”
Elton John opens up to Molly Meldrum on Sunday Night.
And because he was in the company of a friend, Molly says Elton was open to touch on very private issues like his battle with addiction, his relationship with partner David Furnish and, of course, his life as a father.
“He was a doting dad, showing me pictures and videos of his son, Zachary, on his iPad,” Molly writes, also adding he gave Elton a little piano for Zachary. “He played Waltzing Matilda and we sang together,” he wrote.
Molly Meldrum Interviews Elton John- November 2, 1986.
But one thing Elton mentioned in the interview that he thought would stay private were his brutal remarks about Madonna, whom he had a long-running feud with.
In a pained revelation Molly writes that the wide-ranging interview “didn’t need anything ‘extra’” and says “a Sunday Night producer went behind my back and decided to include some comments.”
Those comments included a verbal lashing aimed toward Madge over what Elton says was a rivalry between the 58-year-old Like a Virgin singer and Zachary’s godmother, Lady Gaga.
“I love Gaga,” Elton had said. “She’s the real deal, she can actually sing.”
The 69-year-old Brit then went on to liken Madonna to a “fairground stripper” and said her career was “over”.
“Her tour’s been a disaster and it couldn’t happen to be a bigger c—,” said Elton.
They were once friendly: Madonna and Elton John at the GQ Awards in 2007.
Molly says that while juicy, this off-camera spray was never supposed to leave the room.
“This part of the interview was clearly a chat between two old friends and not intended for public broadcast,” explained Molly. “I guess I should have been more in control of the final edit and approved the story before it went to air, but I was not at the top of my game, still recovering from my fall.”
Once that two-minutes of footage went to air, and Elton and Madonna got wind of it, there went Elton and Molly’s friendship which had spanned decades.
There was huge condemnation of John for what some called an ageist assessment – and he copped a lot of heat especially for the “fairground stripper” line.
“When I called the Sunday Night office to complain, I was told: ‘But, Molly, the ratings were great!’” wrote Molly. “That comment made me even angrier. I slammed the phone down. There are more important things than ratings.”
While it’s been a few years since their chat Molly says things are still icy – he even admits to missing the singer’s 2015 tour of Australia, “going to see Taylor Swift instead.”
As for Madonna, she and Elton had gone head-to-head for “Best Song” at the Golden Globes that same year; 2012. Madge’s song Masterpiece, which featured in her film W.E took out the award, and she used a later performance of the song to offer a thorny olive branch.
“I’d like to dedicate this next song to a Mr Elton John,” she reportedly told the crowd at a concert in France. “I know he’s a big fan of it,and I know he’s a big fan of mine. And you know what? I forgive him. Gotta start somewhere.”
Of it all Molly admits the whole thing is a little “silly” but, that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt to lose an old friend.
“I’m tempted to quote a line from one of my favourite movies: ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,’” Molly writes in the book. “But the truth is, I do give a damn. I love Elton.”
While Molly and Elton might not be talking – Elton and Madonna seem to have buried the hatchet.
During an appearance on the Graham Norton Show earlier this year John said the two superstar singers finally started speaking again when he spotted her in a restaurant in France and sent over a note saying he was sorry.
“I said something horrible about her that you should never say. I was in a restaurant in the south of France a couple of years ago and she walked in so I sent her a note saying, ‘You’ll probably never speak to me again but I am really sorry and ashamed of myself and can I buy you dinner’.”
“We are fine – it was just me and my big mouth.
“I can’t say it won’t happen again, but not with Madonna.”
‘Ah Well, Nobody’s Perfect’ by Molly Meldrum with Jeff Jenkins, published by Allen & Unwin is available now.
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