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- Title: Me: Elton John Official Autobiography
- Author: Elton John
- Narrator: Elton John, Taron Egerton
- Length: 12:29:00
- Version: Abridged
- Release Date: 15/10/2019
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Genre: Biography & Memoir, Non-Fiction, Arts & Entertainment, Memoir, Art & Music, Biography & Memoir, Non-Fiction, Arts & Entertainment, Memoir, Art & Music
- ISBN13: 9.78E+12
As someone who has spent decades analyzing how personal stories intersect with cultural movements, I found “Me: Elton John Official Autobiography” to be a masterclass in artistic memoir. The audiobook experience – with Elton John’s own voice alternating with Taron Egerton’s (who portrayed him in “Rocketman”) – creates a remarkable dialogue between reality and artistic interpretation that fascinates me both as a literature professor and as someone who came of age during Elton’s peak creative years.
What struck me immediately was how the dual narration mirrors my academic work comparing original texts with their adaptations. Hearing Egerton – who studied Elton’s mannerisms so intensely for the film – now narrate parts of his life creates a fascinating meta-commentary on storytelling itself. The sections where Elton describes his early days in Pinner particularly resonated with me, reminding me of my own research into how childhood environments shape artistic sensibilities. His recollections of playing piano at family gatherings parallel my studies of creative development across cultures.
The audiobook’s structure brilliantly moves between eras, much like the nonlinear narratives I often teach in my Contemporary Fiction seminars. Elton’s candid discussion of his drug addiction – particularly the swimming pool incident – is delivered with such raw vulnerability that it transcends typical celebrity memoir territory. This reminded me of teaching “The Bell Jar” and discussing how the most powerful memoirs balance personal confession with universal insight.
From a cultural studies perspective, Elton’s accounts of 1970s hedonism and subsequent sobriety offer invaluable primary source material about celebrity culture’s evolution. His friendship with Princess Diana (delivered with particular warmth in his narration) provides fascinating insight into how royalty and rock stardom unexpectedly converged. The AIDS activism chapters are especially poignant, narrated with the weight of someone who turned personal loss into global impact.
The production quality deserves special mention – the subtle incorporation of musical cues enhances the listening experience without overpowering the narration. Unlike many celebrity memoirs where the author’s lack of professional narration skills diminishes the work, Elton’s distinctive voice and timing (honed through decades of performance) make this one of the best-read autobiographies I’ve encountered.
Some might find the wealth of name-dropping overwhelming, but through a cultural lens, these connections form an important map of 20th century popular culture. The Lennon reminiscences alone are worth the listen, offering fresh perspective on their friendship that even my Beatles-obsessed graduate students hadn’t encountered before.
For those considering this audiobook, I’d particularly recommend it to:
1. Music historians seeking primary accounts of rock’s golden age
2. Memoir enthusiasts who appreciate unflinching honesty
3. Anyone interested in addiction/recovery narratives
4. Cultural studies scholars examining fame’s evolution
While the print version certainly has merits, the audiobook’s added dimensions – the timbre of nostalgia in Elton’s voice when discussing Taupin, Egerton’s spot-on youthful energy for the early years – create an irreplaceable experience. It’s like attending the most intimate masterclass imaginable from a living legend.
In scholarly appreciation of stories that shape our cultural consciousness,
Prof. Emily Chen
