Sing EJ

The Challenge: Alphabet Soup - You find a message in your soup. It defines the following 24 hours. Write the story.

For me, it was comfort food. I'd eaten it since I was a kid.

Campbell's alphabet soup.

That was the soup I'd always cried into.

The "Yes"s and "No"s it had given me over the years have been more reliable than any Quija board. It didn't warn me to sell my Tesla stock before Musk came out as a trans-hating bitch. It didn't warn me to avoid getting involved with Andre in the first place, but eating shattered words made me feel better about my fucked-up life.

I called up Spotify on my phone, streamed it through my big screen TV, and listened to comfort music, not knowing I was having a premonition by choosing a particular song. It had a loooong intro that was a slow build to the pertinent song, the lyrics appropriate to my mood.

Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding

I had no plans that day, except to mourn. I thought I'd do some cleaning and laundry, just to keep busy. I felt lost. I was discouraged. What I really wanted to do was crawl back into bed and become unconscious for a week.

I microwaved my soup and sat down to eat it.

I was listening to the first tracks of that iconic album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, when the message from my soup jumped out at me. The jumble of other letters was like a background of scribble on top of which was clearly written the distinct word. Despite the dark clouds hanging over my head, I actually smiled.

My soup told me to

SING.

And it didn't just tell me I should bathe my emotions in music. It told me specifically whose songs to listen to. It said

SING EJ.

I just stared.

Steam wafted up into my face.

Tears suddenly swelled.

Then I laughed and grabbed my cellphone to take a picture of it.

The way it was laid out in the bowl, it was also like he was being called THE EJ. He had been knighted by the Queen though, so... it made sense.

Immediately, I heard his voice echo through my mind, singing,

🎼🎶 Turn them on! Turn them on!

🎵 Turn on those sad songs! 🎶

So I did.

I first selected my Best Elton Spotify playlist and then I found the particular song that was running through my head.

Sad Songs Say So Much.

Everything Elton made him think of Andre. Of course, I'd been an Elton fan since before Andre was born.

Literally.

Oh, the joys of a Spring/Fall romance— forever reminding a guy how old he was! {That's sarcasm.}

But there were compensations. It was so much fun watching the old Elton videos with Andre, showing him how Elton was pioneering gay when "openly gay" was still being established.

We both love EJ's look for Sad Songs Say So Much. ☝

But that song was too upbeat. It was about sad songs, but it never felt like a sad song to me.

Your Song was the Elton song I sang to Andre in the shower. He once said to me, "Thomas... the first you sang that song to me was when I knew for certain I was in love with you."

Later, I showed him the Central Park video from 1980. After that,we had our own secret code. Elton was dressed as Donald Duck for that song. "Quack quack" was our odd way of saying, "I'm yours."

The original version of Your Song is so somber. But that day in Central Park, Elton was laughing and being so boisterous, even improvising lyrics.

I was sad... so I watched the video about fifteen times.

I found myself reliving the night that Andre and I went on YouTube and just did a search for "Elton John 1974". What we found caused Andre to laugh his ass off.

Elton's glittery costume for the Live at Hammersmith Odeon concert, and those glasses he wore— Andre always said he wanted to mimic that look for Halloween.

Andre loved all Elton's wild glasses.

For me, it was all the songs, all day, intermixed with YouTube videos, powdered with bittersweet memories. I was barely even aware I was doing the laundry, and the dishes, and rearranging the linen closet.

Singing with Elton was taking me down a rabbit hole and I was plunging in willingly.

I'll never forget the time I heard Andre say about Elton, "I had no clue he was so gay!" It was right after we listened to The Bitch is Back together. It became one of our songs.

We always preferred listening to the studio versions of Elton's songs, but we also loved watching the old videos because of how flamboyant his costumes were!

Andre & I agreed. Elton didn't wear clothes Back in the Day. He wore costumes... often with feathers!

The Bitch is Back!

That☝ was before he got his hair transplant!

I had to explain to Andre the legend of The Emperor's New Clothes. He'd never heard it.

Oh, young people these days.

I wanted him to understand the original folklore so he'd understand how truly gay this song is.

🎼🎶🎵 And the tears never came

They just stayed in our eyes

We refused to admit that we wore this disguise

Every inch of us growing

Like Pinocchio´s nose

As we walked around in the emperor's new clothes

That entire song had such subtle, evocative lyrics. But all Elton's songs did.

Elton John writes the music. His lyricist, Bernie Taupin, writes the words. Together, they are a song writing team every bit as spectacular as Lennon/McCartney.

I love it how so many Elton songs don't mention gender at all. They can be sang by any two people in love.

Another song that is one of our songs is Something About the Way You Look Tonight. That was the song that foreshadowed so many romantic nights. That's my favorite song to slow dance to...

...and make love to...

I hit the replay button it and sang it repeatedly, daydreaming about the first time I ever saw him in the nude.

The lyrics hit so hard.

🎼🎵 There was a time

I was everything and nothing all in one

🎶 When you found me

I was feeling like a cloud across the sun 🎵

I was in such a bad place before I met Andre.

He brought me out of a thunderstorm.

⛈

⚡

How long would it be before I'd see him again?

How was I ever going to continue sleeping in our king-sized bed without him?

The last few nights had been so brittle and cold.

Sad songs were supposed to be a balm to the hurting soul, right?

I knew what song I really needed to hear, the song that would really speak to my spirit. I held off, though, because a line jumped into my head from a completely different song.

Darkness was closing in and I needed to sing it.

Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me.

That☝ was yet another video with Elton wearing yet another of his Elton-extravagant costumes.

One of his best songs ever.

And all the lyrics are just so penetrating for me, especially,

I can't find

Oh, the right romantic line

But see me once

And see the way I feel

Don't discard me

Just because you think I mean you harm

But these cuts I have

They need love to help them heal

I was sniffling after that one, filled to overbrimming. I tried something more upbeat, something intended to be inspirational...

I'm Still Standing.

I'm Still Standing

After all this time

Picking up the pieces of my life

Without you on my mind

Those lyrics were perfect!

They didn't help.

I tried Crocodile Rock to lift my spirits.

I tried Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting.

I tried Bennie and the Jets.

The newer version of Bennie and the Jets video was A-MA-ZING!!!

By evening I was long beyond that Campbell's Soup and well into a bottle of Canadian whiskey.

Finally, I couldn't hold back any longer. I was ready to lose myself in my sorrow.

I missed him too much.

I had known it would come to this.

I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues.

Laughing like children

Living like lovers

Rolling like thunder

Under the covers!

And I guess that's why they call it the blues!

I sang that chorus especially loud.

We loved that song.

We made jokes about creating our own thunderclaps.

He said I had his lightning rod.

I told him he was my weatherman.

I sighed, thinking perhaps this was a bad way to spend the day. I didn't know if Campbell's had given me the best advise after all.

Drunk, fresh out of a long hot bath, I was about to play Someone Saved My Life Tonight, not really thinking there was any possibility of anyone saving me... when I heard the thump of a car door, followed by the beeping of an alarm.

I didn't even bother with a robe. Naked, I ran to the front window and pulled back the curtain to peak outside.

It was him!

I threw open the front door.

After his eyes raked my body down & up, he flew into my arms.

We said it simultaneously...

"I'm sorry."

As I pulled him inside, Elton sang once again for my soul (for us both?).

Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

LATE THE NEXT DAY___

"I saw the Campbell's soup can in the trash. Was somebody missing me?"

"Who came back to who?"

We both smiled.

"Quack quack."

"Quack quack."

__________________Bolt⚡

Since its establishment in 1992, the Elton John AIDS Foundation has raised over $660 million to support HIV-related programs in 55 countries.🏳‍🌈⚡

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