Miley and Elton and Yo-Yo Ma (Oh, my!) Do Metallica

I just learned of the upcoming Metallica tribute album called The Blacklist, which will see 52 artists cover the hard rock legends’ signature songs, and the first entry was a murderer’s row of talent. It was “Nothing Else Matters” as performed by none other than Miley Cyrus and Elton John. Oh, and Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo, and Chad Smith, and WATT.

Unsurprisingly, it rocks.

Miley’s vocals absolutely soar, and Elton’s piano is vying for center stage with Yo-Yo’s cello. It’s a great introduction to the album, and if the rest follows its lead, we’re in for a treat.

It reminded me of another excellent bit of Elton John content, this one was brought to my attention by Austin Kleon. It’s where John is challenged by none other than Richard E. Grant to create a song out of his oven’s instruction manual. It’s a peek behind the curtain at how John writes songs, quickly and seemingly magically.

You can actually see the moment when he finds the song. It changes from the initial (fearless) bars where he’s simply reading this incredibly friendly oven manual over some chords. Once he finds what it should be, the rhythm kicks in, and he’s suddenly performing an honest-to-god song. The ending is particularly satisfying.