I do wish our society could, for once, get its priorities straight. A looming “trade war,” as all the deep thinkers call it, seems to be monopolizing our attention—that and the possibility of nuclear war—when a far more momentous development has gone virtually unnoticed.
I refer to the fact that Madonna and Elton John have finally kissed and made up after what CNN calls “a notorious years-long feud that saw the two publicly trading barbs.” Well, air-kissed, anyway. Madonna, we’re told, came to watch Elton John on Saturday Night Live in early April, “later sharing a photo posing with him as proof that the pair are now friends.”
It’s hard to put in words what a relief this is, even if—like me—you have no idea what came between these two. They have so much in common, not least, one must assume, their wardrobes. Maybe that is the problem. They’re too much alike, competing for the same kind of public recognition. Madonna—born Madonna Louise Ciccone—and Elton John—born Reginald Kenneth Dwight—are, or were, major pop stars, with millions of fans and gobs of money who, when seeking our attention, are only thinking of us and the joy they bring by their presence in our lives. That they quarreled sickened those of us who were aware of it, and a great burden has been lifted by the news that they are besties once again.
Apparently, at the 2012 Golden Globes—an awards show of some kind—he said Madonna didn’t “stand a f—ing chance” to win, and when she was giving her acceptance speech, “the camera cut away to John, whose look was pure daggers.”
It is of course too soon to tell whether their well-publicized reconciliation will endure. “Seeing him perform when I was in high school changed the course of my life,” Madonna wrote on Instagram the other day. “I had always felt like an outsider growing up and watching him on stage helped me to understand that it was OK to be different.”
In high school? This might strike some as a slight dig at Elton John’s age, though that could be just the old grumps among us, those of us who are forever shaking our heads at the younger generation and their wacky antics. Elton John just turned 78, and Madonna is only 66, so she has a point. If she is suggesting he should shuffle off the stage, making room for younger talent, there might be something to it, though it was a little harsh, if not premature.
Mr. John (let’s be respectful) has much more to offer. He’s not just a pianist, after all. He has also (again to quote CNN) “found huge success producing music for Broadway shows,” including The Lion King. Not all of his efforts have succeeded, however. His production of Tammy Faye, based on the life of the make-up–smeared televangelist, debuted in November and closed the next month.
This, it appears, is our fault, not his. The musical “came out during the U.S. election and it’s all about how the integration of church and state ruined America, which Ronald Reagan did,” Mr. John has explained. “It was too political for America. They don’t really get irony.”
If Americans don’t get irony, it is only fair to ask, how in the world did we end up electing as our president the star of a reality TV show? How, before that, did we get Ronald Reagan of Bedtime for Bonzo fame, who shared top billing with a chimp?
Mr. John, with all due respect, is not giving Americans anywhere the credit we deserve. But we can take a joke, and we are big enough—following the example Madonna has set—to forgive, if not forget.
The late Andrew Breitbart liked to say that politics is downstream of culture, an observation that has become known as Breitbart’s Law. We will be following the Madonna–Elton John relationship closely, reporting back on any political developments that result. It may be that politics is not only downstream of culture, but downwind of it. Call that Crawford’s Law.
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