That Nathan Chen’s recent Olympic Gold Medal-winning performances were sublime is unassailable.  They were the perfect pairing of technique and artistry, and—when paired with his backstory and journey to Beijing—nothing short of triumphant.  Small wonder then, that in addition to his shiny gold medal, he now holds five of the top six total program scores of all time (including the world record), as well as the top four free skate scores of all time.

Getting back to this week, though, much has been made of Chen’s musical selection for the free skate, a mix of three classic Elton John hits (“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Rocket Man,” and “Bennie and the Jets”), with no less than Sir Elton John, himself, praising Chen on the Instagrams. *

But what nobody seems to have mentioned in the numerous (and much-deserved) articles about Chen’s gobsmackingly brilliant performance, is that while these are irrefutably Elton John songs, the versions used in Chen’s free skate program were not sung by Elton John.  In fact, two were covers and one was a remixed cover with entire verses of new lyrics.

The program began with the sparse and atmospheric cover of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” from the Elton John biopic, Rocketman (Paramount Pictures, 2019), as sung by Taron Egerton and Jamie Bell (in their roles as John and Bernie Taupin, respectively).

Next up is the segment featuring that film’s cover of “Rocket Man” (also sung by Egerton).  By the by, both of these covers, can be found on Rocketman: Music from the Motion Picture (Interscope Records, 2019). **

And for the conclusion—by which point Chen had already nailed his quintet of quads—the music shifted from ‘70s-era rock to hip hop (still through the prism of Elton John), with the version of “Bennie and the Jets” by P!nk and the rapper Logic, from the tribute album Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin (Island, 2018).

Finally, here are the lyrics that were written and rapped by Logic (those used in Chen’s program, at any rate), from the revamped “Bennie and the Jets”:

Yeah
Let me get it now, momma, I made it
True story, I have upgraded
Everybody back then used to hate it
Now they all appreciate it
I might sound out of my mind
Matter of fact, out of line
But I been runnin’ and gunnin’
Been fightin’ for something in due time
Went from Section 8 to better times
Serving food to writin’ rhymes
For Elton John, the greatest of all time!

I guess the only question that remains is whether or not Chen will follow in the noble tradition of Jesse Owens, Mary Lou Retton, Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams, Mia Hamm, Janet Evans, Caitlin Jenner, Michael Phelps, and Lindsay Vonn, and appear on a box of Wheaties. ***

Nathan Chen | Free Skate Music
2022 Winter Olympics | Beijing, China
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[Editor’s Notes: *“Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time)” originally appeared on the Elton John album Honky Château (Uni, 1972), while both “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and “Bennie and the Jets” originally appeared on John’s album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (MCA, 1973).  All three songs were composed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, with lyrics by Taupin and music by John. // **Egerton would go on to win the award for ‘Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy’ at the 77th Golden Globe Awards, and be nominated for the award for ‘Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media’ at the 62nd Grammy Awards /// *** In 2018, before the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Chen appeared on boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes in his role as a member of Team Kellogg’s]