American singer Pat Boone is opening up about the time he got off on a seemingly sticky start with Elton John.
Boone, a multi-hyphenate star who is celebrating the 70th anniversary of his career, told Fox News Digital recently that during a memorable encounter with Sir Elton, he confronted him over similarities in the falsetto “la-la-la” hooks in both his 1962 song Speedy Gonzales and the Elton’s 1972 hit Crocodile Rock.
He recalls, “I said, ‘Sir Elton, I have a little bone to pick with you,’”
The Lover’s Lane singer continued, “And he looked at me with a guilty grin, and I said, ‘You know, I did a song called ‘Speedy Gonzales.” [Boone began singing the ‘Speedy Gonzales’ hook ‘La la la la la la la la la’] And you used it.’
“And he said, ‘Yes, I used it in Crocodile Rock, and I thought you were going to sue me.’”
Here, Boone remarked that he actually had the opposite reaction than what Sir Elton expected.
“I said. ‘Sue you?’ You know, we performers, we’re thrilled when somebody does something that we did. I was honored.'”
He then happily recalled Sir Elton saying, “I had all your records. I had Love letters in the Sand and April Love and all those songs”.
[via]
