Last month, Elton told Rolling Stone magazine he’s interested in playing a long residency in one location for a smaller audience, and focusing on deep cuts he never really got to perform live.
”When I do finish this world tour, if I do a concert again, it will be similar to what Kate Bush did at London’s Hammersmith Apollo in 2014. She came on and played for three weeks to 4,000 people a night.”So he doesn’t wish to sing concert staples like Crocodile Rock, even though they are ”wonderful’ and have ”done me very well.” Elton would like to perform Original Sin and American Triangle, both from his 2001 album, Songs From The West Coast.
While the pop maestro isn’t keen on continuing to perform Crocodile Rock–at least not after the farewell tour–others continue to be inspired by the tune.
Larkin Poe have released Kindred Spirits, an assortment collection of acoustic covers, ranging from Elton John’s Crocodile Rock to Robert Johnson‘s Hellhound on my Trail.
The band is made up of sisters Megan and Rebecca Lovell, who recently spoke to EJW.
EJW: Why did you decide to cover Crocodile Rock?
ML: We’ve been listening to Elton John for as long as we can remember . . . our parents are huge fans and always had EJ playing around the house when we were growing up. When it came to making a cover record, including Crocodile Rock seemed like a perfect fit, though it came to be in a fit of inspiration by Rebecca. We added it spur of the moment on the last day in the studio . . . and honestly, it was probably my favourite to record!
The fact that Elton John gave us a shoutout on his radio show for our record, Self Made Man, earlier this year is just the icing on the cake.
EJW: There have been reports that it just took you four days to record all of the music.
RL: Yeah, we made this in under four days. Since it was recorded live, just the two of us, we didn’t need too much time
EJW: Why are you called Larkin Poe and how did you get your start?
RL: Larkin Poe is the name of our great, great, great, great grandfather. Since we are sisters, we wanted to take a band name that had familial significance and ‘Larkin Poe’ fit the bill.
We also like the factoid that he’s a cousin of the great Edgar Allan Poe. We started out as classically trained kids, and then fell in love with American Roots music in our teens. Since, then, we’ve been fully entrenched in the music of the South: blues, bluegrass, mountain music, and southern rock.
Incidentally, in October, Johnny Weir and Britt Stewart appeared on ABC‘s Dancing With The Stars as Crocodile Rock was played.
Weir dedicated his performance to his mother. The figure skating champion noted that Patti Weir is a big fan of the pop icon, so he wanted to impress her with his dance to one of her favourite songs.
And five years ago, Bindi Irwin, along with Derek Hough, scored the highest score on the season premiere of DWTS. They danced to Crocodile Rock to honour her late father, wildlife conservationist, Steve Irwin, who was known as the ”Crocodile Hunter.”
