How Elton John relaunched his career with “I'm Still Standing” in 1983

MusicRadar has published a feature on the story of “I'm Still Standing”, the 1983 song with which Elton John reshaped his sound and revived his career. It appears on “Too Low For Zero”, his 17th studio album and the first to pair his piano with synths, drum machines and modern production techniques.

Before that record, his career had stalled: his previous five albums had produced no international hits. For the first time since “Blue Moves” (1976), he worked again with lyricist Bernie Taupin and with his early-'70s band of Davey Johnstone, Nigel Olsson and Dee Murray. The ten songs were written and recorded in roughly two weeks at George Martin's AIR Studios in Montserrat, with producer Chris Thomas, who reportedly pushed John towards synths. Speaking to Paul Gambaccini in 1984, John said three-chord rock songs were hard to write on piano, and the synthesizer made them possible.

According to Taupin, the lyric was really a kiss-off to a former girlfriend. In his 2019 memoir “Me”, John wrote that he also heard it as a warning to his new label, Geffen Records, which had been disappointed by sales of “The Fox” (1981) and “Jump Up!” (1982). MusicRadar points to the song's 177 bpm pace, brassy synths and slap bass.

Elton John is a British singer and songwriter, born in 1947 in Pinner. His newest studio album is “Who Believes in Angels?” (2025), according to MusicBrainz. In October, mbuzz reported that he played the first of the final two “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” shows at Estadio Banorte in Mexico City.