ABC/Image Group LA On the new Elton John tribute album Restoration, Brothers Osborne recreate a 1970 composition from Elton and his longtime lyricist, Bernie Taupin. “Take Me to the Pilot” was originally the B-side of Elton’s first major hit, “Your Song.”
Perhaps TJ and John Osborne‘s greatest feat is making the classic sound less like a cover and more like it could fit seamlessly onto a Brothers record. TJ admits there were some things working in their favor.
“Trying to sing like Elton is impossible…” he laughs. “No one can do Elton better than Elton, so I just need to do me better than anyone can do me.”
In the beginning, the siblings intended to do an Elton hit from 1983.
“‘I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues’ is originally what we thought was up for grabs,” TJ explains. “And I’m like, ‘Man, I love that song.’ And then I started playing it and it didn’t really feel like us. It felt like, ‘Okay, we can probably do this, but we’d have to change it so much to make it us, that it would lose everything that’s special about the song.'”
When it was finished, “Take Me to the Pilot” managed the ultimate seal of approval.
“We know that they have heard our version of that song,” TJ tells ABC Radio, “and they’ve sent back really good reviews, which I was a little on edge about, because I’ve heard they’ve been very vocal… when they haven’t enjoyed them…”
“That’s amazing!” John chimes in. “To know that Bernie and Elton even heard a song that we have performed on, that’s wild, man! Never in a million years thought that would be something that we would encounter.”
Restoration is available today, along with the more pop/rock focused Elton tribute album, Revamp.
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