Elton John says Lindsay Lohan inspired one of his new songs.

The "Candle in the Wind" hitmaker admits the title track of his new album, The Diving Board, which deals with the subject of success at a young age and the perils of fame, was written with the troubled Mean Girls star - who recently completed 90 days of court-ordered rehab - in mind.

"It could be a summation of my career because it's about young people becoming successful and diving off into the unknown. What's going to happen? Are they going to survive it? Are they going to become victims of their own success? Are other people going to prey on them and destroy them? You could actually say it's about me, but I was thinking about Lindsay Lohan when I was writing it."

The 66-year-old music icon beat his own addiction to cocaine and had to deal with the pressure of coming out as homosexual in the 80s when it wasn't as widely accepted by society. He recently admitted he can relate to Lindsay and he has great sympathy for the 27-year-old actress whose acting talent has been overshadowed by her wild child reputation in recent years: "I hate to think of Lindsay because she has a talent, she was a great actress, and then it became all about the madness, the parties and everyone forgets about what put them there in the first place - they get lost in the idea that they are famous for who they are, not what they are."

Meanwhile, Elton, who has two children - Zachary, two, and eight-month-old Elijah - with his partner David Furnish, insists he isn't quite ready to give up his own career for a quiet family life. "I'm realistic and I keep up with what's going on. I manage Lily Allen, James Blunt and The Strypes. And if I didn't work and I don't create, then I don't feel as if I'm contributing anything," he added to The Sun.