Songfacts®:

• "Never Too Late" is a collaborative single between Elton John and Brandi Carlile, which serves as the theme for the Disney+ documentary Elton John: Never Too Late. The film follows the musician as he reflects on his life and 50-year career as he prepares for his final North American stadium show at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium in November 2022.
• The song came about after Carlile saw an early cut of the documentary. She was moved by Elton's life story and proposed co-writing a new song for it. The collaboration took place during the summer of 2023 after Elton finished his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
• Carlile channeled Bernie Taupin's signature lyrical style to write from a third-person perspective, spotlighting Elton's philosophy of never looking back. Elton's admiration for John Lennon's forward-thinking mindset inspired this perspective.
  
  "He's really f---ing tough and he's overcome a lot," she remarked to Billboard about the "I'm Still Standing" singer. "And I just wanted to sort of take pause and slow it down and write a lyric about that for him to sing because he doesn't like to say nice stuff about himself."
• Despite the pressure of handing lyrics to a living legend, Carlile embraced Elton's own ethos, trusting him to create the accompanying music. Elton found the lyrics so evocative that the composition "poured out of him." The final track, a sweeping ballad, opens with his unmistakable piano chords and was produced by Andrew Watt, who previously produced six tracks on Elton's 2021 album The Lockdown Sessions and also "Hold Me Closer," John's collaborative hit single with Britney Spears.
• The song impressed filmmakers David Furnish and R.J. Cutler so much, they not only adopted it for the documentary's title but also made it the closing credits theme. Elton praised Carlile's ability to distill his story into a poignant lyric, saying she encapsulated the documentary's essence in under five minutes - a task he described as "incredible."
• Elton John and Brandi Carlile previously collaborated on "Simple Things," which was part of The Lockdown Sessions. He and Andrew Watt initially wrote that song, but Carlile's involvement elevated the track. Elton John described it as reminiscent of a classic Bernie Taupin song and considered it a "bucket list moment."
  
  In 2022, Carlile joined Elton John on stage during his final North American show at Dodger Stadium. They performed "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" together.
• This shouldn't be confused with Elton John's end-credit song for the 2019 remake of The Lion King, which is also titled "Never Too Late."
• The documentary Elton John: Never Too Late was originally titled Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, but when this song took form, Elton decided it should be part of the film's title and changed it. "It came together so brilliantly," Elton explained.
• "Never Too Late" earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song but lost to "El Mal" from the movie Emilia Pérez.
• In a segment shown at the Oscars, Bernie Taupin said, "Bringing in Brandi brought a whole new dimension to us as a songwriting team." Carlile added, "Writing down the lyrics to 'Never Too Late' and setting them in front of Elton John was totally surreal. It's something I'll take with me forever."
• Elton John had to remove the f-word from "Never Too Late," replacing the line "f--- off heaven's gate."
  
  "We couldn't put that in because it's a Disney documentary, so the line is now "To hell with heaven's gate,'" he explained.