I must warn you once again: divisive Christmas music lies ahead, just when you thought it was safe based on the headline! I’m referring, of course, to Monday’s passionate discussion of Paul McCartney’s 1979 tune “Wonderful Christmastime.” I identified myself as not a fan. Or at least I wasn’t, until one of you lovely commenters explained the true meaning of the song: that it’s a coven of witches starting an incantation but an outsider passes by so the witches burst into “Simply having a wonderful Christmastime!” out of desperation. Now that I have the proper context, I LOVE the song — this is why discourse is important!
Now onto our next earworm, Elton John’s 1974 rollicking “Step Into Christmas.” Elton poked fun at himself in a clever Instagram video he made at the end of November. The set up is simple and effective: Elton is in his kitchen (donning a greenish-gold Gucci sweatsuit), and whenever he goes to open something — drawer, cabinet, oven, refrigerator — he’s blasted with his own song, at which point he yells “AAH!” and quickly shuts the door. Cute! What I got out of it was, Elton has a good sense of humor and a very nice kitchen. What the rest of the world got out of it, and commented heavily on, was that his oven was dirty. This is how we got follow ups on Sunday in which Elton (donning a cerulean blue Gucci sweatsuit) cleans his oven door:
Sir Elton John is getting into the Christmas spirit from the comfort of his ₤4.2 million Windsor home — and embracing some tongue-in-cheek critique from his fans. The music legend, 78, took to Instagram on 29 November to share a lighthearted video to the tune of his 1974 festive hit ‘Step Into Christmas’.
“If you can’t escape it, you might as well ‘Step Into Christmas!’ Who’s ready?,” Elton captioned the comedic video, which saw him in the kitchen at the home he shares with his husband David Furnish and two children Zachary, 15, and Elijah, 12, opening every drawer and cupboard to be met with the song playing out.
Also opened up wide in the video was Elton’s oven, which caught the attention of his fans who decided it could do with a spruce up before the festive season due to the appearance of grime inside. “Nice to see even Elton’s oven needs cleaning before Christmas, my oven glass needs an oven doctor too,” one fan jested, while another joked: “I love his house is normal, and his oven door needs a clean inside.” A third added: “His oven is filthy.”
The comments, however playful in tone, did not go unnoticed by the ‘Rocketman’ singer. Elton soon took to Instagram with two videos to clap back. “Hello people, it’s Elton John here. A couple of weeks ago, I did some videos in this kitchen about how crazy ‘Step Into Christmas’ was driving me, and it got an incredible response, which I was quite startled about,” he began.
“But a lot of the response was negative about how dirty my oven was, my oven door, my oven window, and I can assure you that I don’t have anything dirty in this house, I’ve never had anything dirty,” he added. “I’m not a dirty person, so to prove that I don’t have anything dirty, I’m going to do something to show you.”
The next video, posted on 7 December, cut to Elton playfully scrubbing his over door while wearing a pair of pink feathered Marigold gloves. “Look, I’ve got the cleanest oven door in Windsor!” he said.
If you’re like me and know more about color than cleaning, let me save you some headscratching and confirm that Marigold is the brand name of the dishwashing gloves, not their hue. I refuse to admit just how long I was stymied by that puzzle after viewing the obviously hot pink gloves in the video. Thank you, I had to address that before diving in anywhere else. Similarly, I will not be fooled into admitting that after several watches of the first video I still do not see (in the maybe one-full-second it flashes by) an oven door/window so egregiously filthy that it warranted the feedback it got. Because admitting that publicly would be like confessing to what a sloven housekeeper I am that I can’t recognize such a clearly dirty surface, and I’m too smart to fall for that trap, thankyouverymuch. Instead I’ll just heap praise on Elton’s fabulous eyeroll at the end of the final video, the one with the subtext “F–kin’ clean enough for you now, you tw-ts?!” Exacerbation with other people — what the holidays are all about.
Photos credit: B4859/Avalon. Getty
At least he actually uses his oven if it’s dirty. Kind of refreshing in this day and age of only show kitchens.
I’m the type that can only see something like a dirtyish oven if I take a picture and look at it or if someone is coming over.
I mean…he has a cleaning person I’m sure. So that oven should be spotless lol. It’s not like he’s an average person with a regular job who has to clean everything themselves. His house should be immaculate. Mine would be if I had a cleaner lol.
That was my thought, too. Surely he has people whose job it is to make certain nothing in his house is dirty.
I love his sense of humor with this and how he took it in stride. The oven door was undeniably dirty though.
He is so effortlessly cool. I would love to have him as a grandfather in my life. Even without his money and fame. I always liked him as a person.
And the dirty oven door just means its being used everyday. Which is also nice.
I’d hate to think what would be said about my manky oven 😳 Honestly its a bit dirty but there’s worse things in the world, like dirty hobs with cooked on grime, sinks that are laden with germs, dishwashers that have never had the clean cycle run.
I laughed so hard at the follow up video. And yes, that oven was dirty haha.
I love the “hello people” and “cleanest oven door in all of windsor” a little campy a little catty.
Also the oven door had streaks on it but that isn’t necessarily ‘ filthy’ – it can be from just heat discoloration etc etc. In conclusion, Elton wins.
Let’s talk about Elton faboulous gloves !
Elton is a lovely person and has a great sense of humor. He really is an international gift. I’ve loved him for YEARS. since I was a teenager.