In December 2001, just three months after the September 11 attacks, Elton John appeared on “Live by Request,” an A&E special where viewers called in live to request songs. Among the callers, a woman shared that her husband had been one of the first responders to die at the World Trade Center, and that “Rocket Man” was his favorite song. Elton, visibly moved by the request, sat down at the piano and began playing that 1972 classic that everyone had heard a thousand times before. But that night, in that context, the lyrics about loneliness and distance took on a completely different weight. Sweating and with his voice breaking on every note, he managed to completely silence the audience for the four minutes the song lasted.