Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin scored the big win for Best Original Song at the 2020 Oscars Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood
Taupin, 69, accepted the award for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” from the biopic “Rocketman,” with a blunt “Well, this doesn’t suck.”
He went on to thank John, 72, his longtime musical partner, and their spouses — David Furnish and Heather Taupin — before praising Paramount Pictures for being “first class all the way.”
When the real-life “Rocketman” took the mic, John said, “Thank you, Bernie, for being the most constant thing in my life, when I was screwed up [and] when I was normal.”
The collaborators won their first award in 53 years of collaboration with the song at the Golden Globes in January.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever won an award with him,” John said at the Globes. “We never won a Grammy, we never got anything together.”
While this is Taupin’s first Academy Award win, John won his first Oscar in 1995 for Best Original Song for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from 1994’s “The Lion King,” which he shared with Tim Rice.
John and Taupin beat out fellow nominees “Toy Story 4” (“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away”), “Breakthrough” (“I’m Standing With You”), “Frozen 2” (“Into the Unknown”) and “Harriet” (“Stand Up”) for the Oscar statue.