Bernie Taupin Is A Godawful Lyricist Whose Lyrics Sound Amazing Coming Out Of Elton John's Mouth — ILM ARTIST POLL #41: ELTON JOHN

http://02varvara.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/elton-john-e1269756386888.jpg
"Heh, you hear that, Bernie?"

Thanks to fact checking cuz for that pullquote in the title, and thanks for sending in your ballots! We got 32 in the end; enough to roll out a Top 50 and have somewhat meaningful side poll results. First up? Worst/Most-Hated Songs...

08. "Wrap Her Up" (1985) [20 points]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKWsg_VrzbA

For some reason, it didn't count the # of votes when I was tabulating the side polls, so all I've got are points totals. Sorry.

terrible thread title

the joke's on you, buddy

"Wrap Her Up" is terrible but not really stand-out-terrible for EJ imo, more like run of the mill dreadful

07. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" (1974) [23 points]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic2hlOwCif4

I hadn't heard this before. It's okay, but it's completely unnecessary when everyone is aware of the source material. It also brings up the problem of what Elton mines the Beatles for - he does it a lot from here up to about 1979, and it's always for the most saccharine bits. Needs a bit of Lennon sourness to set it off, which Elton doesn't do.

Ooh disagree - I think this song fits the expansive, slightly goofy, stadium rock that EJ was playing live by '74 like a glove. And Lennon is of course on this.

"Wrap Her Up" is terrible when you listen to it and watch the video.

Two gay guys pretend to each other they are not.

06. "Something About The Way You Look Tonight" (1997) [26 points]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B93Tir6l5FA

Elton even acknowledges this is from his worst album, though I'm not sure how he feels about the song itself.

I really like this! His strained vocal is quite uncharacteristic, and brings real feeling in a way that he often can't manage.

xp Lennon's on it? I forgot they were great pals. What does he do?

05. "Circle Of Life" (1994) [36 points]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs3NEyQFxGc

"Wrap Her Up" is terrible but not really stand-out-terrible for EJ imo, more like run of the mill dreadful

omg rmde at Nancy Reagan inclusion

Lennon's on it? What does he do?
His credit is 'featuring the Reggae Guitars of Dr Winston O'Boogie'

NAAAAAAAANTS INGONYAAAAAAMAAAA BAGITHI BABAAA

TIE!

03. "Jamaica Jerk-Off" (1973) [39 points]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyGU-CJulTs

03. "Crocodile Rock" (1972) [39 points]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lilZb_9MMHQ

^ Muppet Show performance almost makes me like Crocodile Rock

crocodile rock is fantastic fuiud

I voted for "Jamaica Jerk-Off" but i think it stands out mostly because it's right after "Grey Seal"

tbh my hated ballot coulda been as long as my actual ballot

voted "Crocodile Rock" on my "real" ballot, don't get the hate

http://wfmu.org/listen.m3u?show=37319&archive=63515

Haha, nice!

Oh, I didn't realise it was "Most hated" section, just thought you'd had only a few votes/consensus..

Shhh you're spoiling JF's big reveal!

02. "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" (1994) [81 points]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1hcc1QvM2Q

TOO LOW

^^

Also, I had never heard "Wrap Her Up" or "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" until just now, but together they handily summarize what is so objectionable about Elton during both the 80s and the 90s.

This "Taupin" Best Show call-in is amazing. Thanks, schwantz!

It just gets more and more ridic.

01. "Candle In The Wind '97 (Goodbye England's Rose)" (1997) [87 points]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8gO0Z818j4

Also, I had never heard "Wrap Her Up" or "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" until just now

really? SATWYLT was inescapable for five years.

reign of terror

the #1! looooooooooool!!! (and OTM).

Never in doubt.

I assumed its success was based solely on sharing the disc with CITW '97, but somehow I escaped this one.

Sacrifice didn't make the top 5. I am disappoint :(

oh there's still time

wow, citw97 only just scraped home

I was expecting a points tally to rival its total sales

John publicly performed "Candle in the Wind 1997" only once, at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in Westminster Abbey on 6 September 1997.[12] He continues to sing the original version of the song at his concerts, but has repeatedly turned down requests to perform the revised version,[12] even for the memorial Concert for Diana in July 2007, having vowed never to perform it again unless asked by Diana's sons.[13]

He's not completely out of touch with good sense, at least.

Re: the Taupin radio skit linked above...the Mick Mars/Nick Rhodes/Pick Withers/Mick Box/Nick Lachey made me LOL so hard I woke my bf up.

*supergroup

Croc Rock rocks!

Favorite albums!

10. Elton John (1970) [21 points]

http://www.vinylsurrender.com/Graphics/AlbumCovers2/Elton%20John%20-%20Elton%20John.jpg

Oh, btw, the scoring on the side polls went like this: 1:16, 2:13, 3:10, 4:7, 5:4 for albums and 1:16, 2:13, 3:10 for most hated tracks.

Nick Hogan used to be in the band, but that was stupid.

I really like that first album. A lot.

Live in Australia, I learned, has a lot of songs from the first album.

Um, hello, Empty Sky ?!?! Jeez, if it didn't happen in America...

09. Too Low For Zero (1983) [27 points]

http://www.vinylsurrender.com/Graphics/AlbumCovers2/Elton%20John%20-%20Too%20Low%20For%20Zero.jpg

TOO LOW

:D

Empty Sky has been around in the US for as long as I can remember, but I don't know when it was originally issued here (probably not until he was already famous). It's a nice curio.

Empty Sky is the debut album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released on 3 June 1969. It was finally released in the US in January 1975, with a different cover photograph, well after John's fame had been established internationally.

Presumably the US release was a stopgap measure, as it had been several hours since he'd put out a record.

WAU @ Too Low for Zero showing

08. 17-11-70 (1971) [30 points]

http://www.herbmusic.net/album/cover/2012/07/7326_elton_john_17_11_70.jpg

^My #1. I'm very happy that at least two other ppl voted for it. I really love how there's polite applause when EJ is first announced and by the end of the first number the audience is going apeshit. Dee and Nigel are also really prominent on the recording, too, which is great.

I'm just now listening to it for the first time. Very into it so far.

07. Rock Of The Westies (1975) [36 points]

http://www.soundstagedirect.com/media/elton_john_rock_of_the_westies.jpg

This album is just a hanger-on to his imperial phase, imo. Not much to like about it.

Except "I Feel Like a Bullet" I guess. That's nice.

i'm sure the covers of ..Westies and Caribou are what puts people off them. you can see why like.

This was one of the records I picked up in my weekend splurge - heard it in full for the first time last night. I do like how after something as ambitious (and in retrospect a bit too self-important) like Captain Fantastic, EJ assembles a new band and knocks out this much more laid back and funky album. One of Gus Dudgeon's best production jobs too.

The lyrics and vocals to "Island Girl" and "Grow Some Funk..." still irritate though.

on the other hand "Hard Luck Story and "Street Kids" sport good lyrics.

This album has goofy nothings like "Dan Dare" but I love how hard it rocks.

RotW is one I kinda struggle with. I find "Island Girl" to be such an irresistible cheeseball that I'm already regretting not finding room for it on my ballot, and "Grow Some Funk of Your Own" is fun. The rest of the album feels, to me, like variations, pulled off with varying degrees of success, on that latter track, ambitious enough that it definitely belongs to the cycle of "classic" era Elton records, but occasionally a bit too IDGAF in its approach. But Elton definitely hadn't yet stopped caring at this point.

Also, it and Honky Chateau are the only Elton records that Christgau gave an A- rating to. Somehow, that makes sense.

06. Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player (1973) [67 points]

http://www.vinylrecordsuk.co.uk/images/Wimg/art_112/w11208_Full.jpg

My fave Elton record!

RotW, iirc, is the first one where Elton didn't compose the material completely sober. I think it shows.

dislike "Daniel," almost voted for "Elderberry Wine" and "Have Mercy on the Criminal."

for those of you who worry about Bernie Taupin, "Elderberry Wine" sports the following couplet:

"You aimed to please me/Cooked black-eyed peas me."

05. Tumbleweed Connection (1970) [105 points]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51I1QW1hHWL._SY300_.jpg

Too low!

This album largely goes in one ear and out the other for me.

elderberry wine is great, i dont care abt the lyrics

Just finished 17-11-70 and holy moley what a good live document.

never seen the fuss with this, don't dig their country rock cowboy stuff at all.

04. Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975) [106 points]

http://cdn.songonlyrics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/r37907_300.jpg

03. Madman Across The Water (1971) [120 points]

http://www.qpratools.com/gallery/0002/elton_john-madman_across_the_water-front.jpg

His album covers are kinda meh, imo.

The original gatefold of Captain Fantastic is neato, but otherwise I agree.

How would he be regarded if he had quality control? If he had a discography the size of Zep's, say, and the aesthetics of Roxy Music?

r.i.p. Caribou, you deserved better

Maybe he'd taken over QPR instead of Watford?

madman and captain fantasic are kinda sorta the same album.

also, best results thread title ever.

i used to think the Madman cover was one of the worst most generic album covers ever, but knowing that it was embroidered on a jean jacket and not just drawn or whatever softened my view somewhat. still not great or anything.

thread title sucks tbh

like it's fine and good to joke a little at Bernie's expense but to have a big harshly worded insult right in a thread title celebrating his life's work is a bit much.

haha I didn't know it was embroidered! As it looks on the page it IS the worst ever.

so bland for such a strong evocative album title too

It always looked to me like the corner of a much larger cover.

02. Honky Château (1972) [138 points]

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/7f/23/c15cc060ada025ce6fa5c110.L.jpg

01. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) [187 points]

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_moklqtg3OJ1spo63jo1_1371527957_cover.jpg

no surprises – my two favorites

::camera pans down to a psychopath sitting on the edge of a river, embroidering a jean jacket::

xp I kinda like the <i>Madman</i> cover as an image. I pretty meh about the record inside though. <i>Tumbleweed</i> is the only pre-72 studio LP I really rate.

No issues with #1 and #2 - voted for both.

i possibly noticed this before and forgot, but the cover of "GYBR" shows the corner of the poster from "Don't Shoot Me"

DUNH DUNH DUNH! Here are the tracks voting results, beginning with #50. Listen along with this Spotify playlist: http://open.spotify.com/user/mondosalvo/playlist/5W8p5XPPMrEoQ9cCx0HJFG

50. "Little Jeannie" (1980) [73 points, 4 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlz6mTyiMZc

I'm sure I noticed it at some point... I spent a decent amount of time during the single-digits years staring at the art in the booklets of the top 6.

yaaaay she made it, I was worried

sorry I loathe this – so gormless.

I WANT YOU TO BE MY ACROBAT indeed

also I wish they would do a special reissue of madman with an actual embroidered cover, it's so sad that they printed it as flat art all those years ago. Kind of dulled the effect of all that lady's work

The album cover for Madman Across the Water was embroidered over two weeks by Janis Larkham, wife of the album art director David Larkham. She used the back of an old Levi's jacket, and the original was gifted to John. There was no initial run of expensive album covers with similar embroidery, nor embossed versions; it was flat printed, though it did include a lavish booklet. Janis chose to credit herself as "Yanis" for this artwork.

xpost it has heaps of gorm wtf are you talking abt

lol

if he's saying "goodbye" to yellow brick road, why is he stepping onto the yellow brick road on the cover?

so much fucking gibberish nonsense with this guy

and not the fun kind of Donovan/Marc Bolan gibberish, just malformed attempts at compelling imagery

(xpost, ha ha!) strange thing about the GBYR cover. he appears to be stepping on to the yellow brick road, not off it. more of a "say hello, hello" gesture than a "goodbye" gesture. unless he's backing out.

mmm gorm I'm hungry

gormbye yellow brick road.

Little Jeannie sounds like a dentist's office. I kinda like it when the rhythm ace backing track comes in after the second verse but again distractingly bad lyrics right there in the chorus and the melody isn't particularly catchy or interesting. Drums are terrible. and then oh look a phased sax solo. barfolicious.

bernie is the one saying goodbye to the ybr. elton just walked him out and is on his way back to oz.

Nigel Gormson
Davey Johnsgorm

The horns in "Little Jeannie" are what kill me.

and not the fun kind of Donovan/Marc Bolan gibberish, just malformed attempts at compelling imagery

― what's up ugly girls? (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, August 20, 2013 3:03 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

17-11-70 cover always reminds me of this:

http://www.herbmusic.net/album/cover/2012/07/7326_elton_john_17_11_70.jpg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bryanburnett/2008/05/images/300_r_rex_electric_warrior_400v.jpg

49. "Too Low For Zero" (1983) [81 points, 4 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjzkGKczRNY

crossing my fingers for track-by-track trolling from shakey mo

I hope he's up to it!

the affection for TLFZ is awesome!

hahaha, ditto

GYBR cover would have been 100000x better with him stepping off of it, I agree.

xp

I'd remembered this song before voting time, but the past couple weeks of listening has made it a favorite of mine for sure.

Elton's visual statements were his glasses, not his album covers, guys. this is so obvious.

48. "Border Song" (1970) [82 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VIH11m6QGk

Hmm, a favorite of five people who are nowhere to be found, apparently. Holy Moses.

47. "Blue Eyes" (1982) [83 points, 3 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CiyKeSnSxk

Aretha's version of "Border Song" is okay I guess.

I voted for "Blue Eyes"!

I think I voted for Blue Eyes too. it should be corny as all get out. Somehow it's not.

There's an Orbison-esque quality to this song, mixed with a hotel lounge performer's schtick. I dunno. It's working for me.

Too Low For Zero -
lyrics to this are pretty good actually, although totally unrelated to the feel of the music. I suppose that could be intentional but just makes me think that it's the kind of thing Steely Dan or Bryan Ferry would do in a much different and better way. melodically basic but serviceable, wears out its welcome at 6 minutes, that's for sure. strange song to play at Live Aid or whatever that show is. backing band is atrocious.

xxpost yeah, good call re: orbison! it feels legit sad not just 'ahm in lurve with a gurl who has blue eyes'

couldn't bring myself to vote for "blue eyes." it's monumental in my memories. that melody. that vocal. but ouch that lyric. gary osborne, who wrote it, does not hold a candle in the wind to bernie taupin. i complain about bernie as much as the next guy, but his words really do sound good coming out of elton's mouth. gary's words somehow sound even worse when subjected to as good a melody and vocal performance as this.

Border Song
why is he appealling to Moses, I don't get it. the bad water/back to the border bit makes it sound like he went to Tijuana and got diarrhea. first he complains about being around people who aren't like him and then he wants to live in peace... what? the inscrutability here is pretty irritating. as torch songs go the piano refrain is fine, melody is sort of just there, feel like the backing gospel vocals are there to give the song an emotional heft that the narrator and lead vocal line can't deliver by themselves. not bad but pretty unremarkable.

the bad water/back to the border bit makes it sound like he went to Tijuana and got diarrhea.

HA!

"harmony," which i did vote for, is what "blue eyes" would sound like if bernie taupin was there.

Blue Eyes
uh the word "blue" doing a lot of heavy lifting here. godawful synth sounds, like the opening theme to some 80s daytime soap. vocal performance seems like the saving grace, something affecting in his dips into his lower and upper registers here and there. again not really impressed with the melody, so many times it feels like Elton's building up to a halfway decent hook or refrain and then things just... peter out.

TIE-45. "Are You Ready For Love?" (1977) [83 points, 4 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jw7MtB2fm0

^ This is an awesome song that I may have skimmed right past when doing my listening. I'm LOVING IT right now.

Are You Ready For Love?

pretty good Philly soul feel, can totally hear the Spinners or the Chi-Lites rockin this. fairly standard straightforward lyrics nothing special, but a thankful respite from the incoherent nonsense he's usually working with. needs more of the goofy squelchin synth sounds from the end. it seems a bit slight, a throwaway, not that there's anything wrong with that.

It's from the sessions he did with Thom Bell in Philadelphia, so your ear is serving you well.

I dunno why you guys (ahem Shakey) are concentrating for better or worse on lyrics. "Blue Eyes" is about John's vocal and the keyboard harmonics.

eh I'm a 50/50 kind of listener

TIE-45. "Holiday Inn" (1971) [83 points, 4 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=666JAioPDhM

shakey will be playing the role of Simon Cowell for this rollout

here's one I don't know.

I'm a fan of pointless sitar.

There's just so much you can say when a song's lyrical premise is eye color. I voted for "Blue Eyes" for the great melody, and good vocal delivery even if the lyrics are unexceptional.

I like alot of stuff from the Thom Bell sessions, but none stood out enough to make my ballot.

"Holiday Inn" probably would have made my top 25

Gary Osborne's lyrics for "Blue Eyes" are just right: they don't strain, they decorate the melody.

Holiday Inn
This is pretty good! The orchestra breakdowns, the fake sitar, the mandolin picking running through the whole thing. The arrangement effectively shifts the parts of the composition around instead of just relying on bombast or repetition. sentiment of the song isn't all that compelling but whatever, the world always needs another song about world-weary musicians amirite...

Yeah, it's the 'Wanted Dead or Alive' of its day.

Are You Ready For Love? got a second life in the UK circa five years ago thanks to a remix (for no obvious reason). Thought that might've got it a few more votes tbh, it's excellent.

44. "Island Girl" (1975) [84 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml9K8K8KwpY

oh dear

wow fuck this song

lol yeah, pretty much

Forget the lyrics. The arrangement makes my skin crawl.

I was gonna say it's at least partially redeemed by the musical arrangement but then the marimba came in lol

I kinda like the electric slide guitar part (v Mick Ronson) but the rest ugh what were you 5 voters thinking

43. "Where To Now St. Peter?" (1970) [85 points, 4 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOHLQg4VfqE

I love ROTW but it's pretty much his New Jersey. "Island Girl" his last instant #1.

"island girl" is is also a case of elton uncharacteristically getting tripped up by taupin's lyrics. "in the big ci - i - tee" doesn't scan and doesn't work.

and um yeah that marimba.

yes! the first line of "st. peter" makes better use of the word "blue" than all of "blue eyes," and is its equal melodically.

I still wonder what it's like to sit down and write lyrics without music as if they were poetry. Maybe Taupin believes they are.

Where To Now St. Peter?

this feels like it was written for the opening montage of some 70s bildungsroman film. production touches are a little hamhanded, could be worse I guess. shitty sub-Dylan imagery but fcc OTM about that opening "blue" bit.

island girl ugh ugh ugh

WHY IS HE SCREAMING

he's so confused by the cee-i-tee

and the harmonies: ISLAND GIRR-HER-HER-HERRLL

My affection for "Island Girl" is no doubt heightened by its presence on the Sun Jammin' comp that spent a fair it of time in my parents car when I was a kid.

EYE!LAND! GIRL!

42. "We All Fall In Love Sometimes" (1975) [87 points, 3 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyGzeEuiQos

never heard "Little Jeannie" before, i like this. can someone make me a playlist of groovy Elton electric piano and horns songs? he has to have an album's worth of tracks like this, right?

just go to the dentist enough times

We All Fall... seems very McCartney/Wings to me. I'm sure there was some degree of mutual admiration.

The Jeff Buckley version someone posted in the voting thread was the most overwrought rendering of anything I've ever heard. pee-yew

I'd like to know if there was any Macca-Reginald connection. Elton and Lennon were the chums.

Well I love both of them. Up yours, Fever.

:D

Was my no.1 of course, feel like I've made a difference for once. For me it's the beautiful lyrics and melody for once aligning perfectly.

I posted the Jeff Buckley cover, and I may well like his version better. Some of his covers are overwrought ("The Way Young Lovers Do"), but not this one. Also voted for Elton's original version.

I can't get enough of overwrought. Ham it up, Buck, that's what I say.

We All Fall In Love Sometimes
wow yeah this is VERY Macca. The double-tracked vocals popping in, the synth line, the rhythmic stop-starts. re: the intro, I feel like George Michael must have cribbed from this a bit for the melody to Careless Whispers...? someone with more musicological knowledge than me could probably speak to this better. The soaring vocal coda is nice, genuinely dig this.

(xposts) as a musician, elton seems way closer to macca in lots of obvious ways. as a person, the lennon kinship makes all the sense in the world.

Speaking of Lennon, this was my choice for worst song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixs7mTQI4lE

41. "The Last Song" (1992) [89 points, 4 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXV_CTFPqCc

happy that "Bennie & the Jets" didn't make the most hated. when I was younger I HATED that song & then one day it clicked, it jammed, & I'm sure we'll talk about it in a few days.

^^^^ unexpected!

re "The Last Song"

The Last Song still guts me 21 years on.

can't believe this is the last song and we're only at #41

haha

The Last Song

hideous synth patches, hideous reverb on the vocal. a decent vocal performance of unadulterated sap, kinda gets unbearable when the zamfir pan-flute comes in. milks what's an obviously emotional lyric for all its worth, which is basically another sdtk to tooth extraction.

that's it for today. 40-21 tomorrow. spotify playlist here: http://spoti.fi/1576dgG

oh man I totally forgot about The Last Song

it's pretty lovely imo

btw let's remember who we're dealing with:

Elton John is the 3rd most successful male solo artist of all time worldwide regarding total available certified amount of sold records (worldwide) /after Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson/[15] and the 3rd most successful solo artist of all time in the US regarding total available certified amount of sold records (in the US) /after Elvis Presley and Garth Brooks/.[15] John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1994) and, with Bernie Taupin, into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1992). In 2013 John and Taupin received the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In 2008 John was ranked the 3rd most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists",[16] making him the most successful male solo artist in the history of the chart. John was also ranked #6 artist with most weeks at No. 1, #6 artist with most 100 hits, #10 artist with most No. 1s of all-Time and #2 artist with most No. 1s in '70s, among others. His '97 single "Candle in the Wind 1997"/"Something About the Way You Look Tonight" is one of spending the most weeks and no. 1 on Billboard Charts. It is also one of the best selling records ever. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, with certified sales it is "the best-selling single of all time."[17][18] The Guinness World Records 2009 states that the song is "the biggest-selling single since UK and US singles charts began in the 1950s, having accumulated worldwide sales of 33 million copies" and is the best-selling single worldwide of all time.[19][20] John's most successful studio album is his sixth studio album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which has sold over 31 million times worldwide

[Holiday Inn] is pretty good! The orchestra breakdowns, the fake sitar, the mandolin picking running through the whole thing. The arrangement effectively shifts the parts of the composition around instead of just relying on bombast or repetition. sentiment of the song isn't all that compelling but whatever, the world always needs another song about world-weary musicians amirite...

― what's up ugly girls? (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 20 August 2013

OTM! I had a post that somehow never posted in the voting thread that said p much exactly this, but less well. Like, based on arrangement and melody it's a minor masterpiece equal to anything outside of the probable top 5 in this poll, but subject matter drags it out of the Greatest Hits running. PROTIP: this track really rewards headphone listening.

I'm thrilled that ''Holiday Inn'' made it. When I was just starting to get into EJ, I was working at one, so it was less 'weary rockers' and more 'weary working stiffs.' I realize there is little in the song to sustain this but I do agree about the lushness of the recording. And as far as the weary rockers thing goes, I like how little Taupin's lyrics really bother with it; we've got airports, limos, and a hotel but there's no girlfriends back home (save it for Rocket Man), no fights with the locals (save it for Texan Love Song), no disinterested crowds (save it for Bitter Fingers, although generally, Elton's crowds are always interested). Even the title line is vaguer than it might be: ''you ain't seen nothin''' - so, what? Is it a great hotel? They're not exactly the lap of luxury, but maybe our rockers aren't as weary and world-wise as they think, they're still teenagers practically, impressed by even the idea of a standardized franchise hotel (they even have a pool!). Or maybe it is weariness, ''you ain't seen nothin'' like ''you ain't had troubles,'' which is certainly how I felt when I was hauling around room service trays and struggling to seduce front-desk girls. Of course someone less sold on BT/EJ might see this characteristic vagueness as a weakness of would-be poetry, but as elsewhere, I think Elton is able to give it enough color and shade, despite a few of his still-distracting vocal affectations (''...where you're NOT EVEN TAHRRRRED!''), to let the vagueness work in its favor, to catch emotions like a Rorschach blot. The arrangement works the same way: is it a pastoral hoe-down or a thunderous epic?

Not Elton's masterpiece, but it sort of encapsulates so much of what works about his deep cuts, and why I think it's an error to think of him primarily as a singles artist. If the albums are (mostly) collections of songs rather than Statements, the songs still often aspire to being more than not-quite-good-enough-for-singles.

His ''Lucy'' is the other one in this batch which I voted for. Didn't expect it to make the cut tbh. If its showmanship undermines the dreamy childlike ambitions of the original, it maybe comes closer to mid-Seventies, Lost Weekend Lennon than anything Lennon himself did (musically or personally): it's not the Sixties hope of young adults to return to childhood, but the Seventies insistence that childlike fun and party pleasure can follow into one's Thirties in one grand, dazzling ball, with no hangover and no wrecked families along the way. I have more to say but it's time for work over here...

"We All Fall In Love Sometimes" has been today's discovery. Strong vocal, excellent guitar picking.

and the mellotron! Subtle embellishment.

His ''Lucy'' is the other one in this batch which I voted for. Didn't expect it to make the cut tbh.

It actually made the most-hated list, fwiw.

yeah i voted for it for most hated. not that wild about the original truth be told. of the big, ill advised covers of legendary rock songs elton released as singles i think i might like (or 'like') 'pinball wizard' most, it at least has the tie-in to the movie, i can enjoy it like a lesser track from 'grease' or whatever. plus the shoes.

as much as I love Elton you couldn't pay me enough money to listen to Pinball Wizard

I can't. I just... I can't

Hahhahaa oops re: most hated. Well I stand by it. Sooo, jooo much better than ''Pinball Wizard,'' which both mangles the song and happens to be nigh unlistenable as well. SHAH PLAS A MEEN PIN-BAULL!!! Jesus, man, just shut the fuck up. I do sorta get the 'Grease' argument though, it's like the shit from the Sgt. Pepper's movie.

Hopefully we can agree that ''Johnny B. Goode'' is dire.

Er, ''soooo,'' not ''joooo''

As much as a few of the '70s hits annoy me ("Daniel", "Crocodile Rock", "Island Girl") they're minor annoyances; I just can't outright hate 'em. The craft and dedication he put into them are perceptible. Can't say the same of the later dreck, however.

yeah tbh a real 'worst' list would be composed of certain album tracks from the carter and reagan administrations

http://artistresearcher.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/captain-fantastic-elton-john-pinball-hire.jpg?w=480

I thought I was the Bally table king....

Would Play.

They had one of these in the arcade I went to when I was in middle school. Can't remember if I actually played it though.

None of my 3 worst charted, so I'll list them here:
Ego
Bite Your Lip
Heartache All Over The World

Also voted "Crocodile Rock" on my Top 20. Maybe it has something to do with living through AM radio in the 70's. When Elton ruled the format.

Hi..

Are You Ready For Love?

pretty good Philly soul feel, can totally hear the Spinners or the Chi-Lites rockin this. fairly standard straightforward lyrics nothing special(...)
― what's up ugly girls? (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 20 August 2013 20:39 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Also, someone upthread noted the song's revival thanks to a remix, I'm fairly sure it's the exact same version as before.

Also, maybe hindsight comes into play, but the most remarkable thing about it is it seems to be about 'turning' some object of affection to Elt's 'way of thinking'.. "I'll write a symphony, just for you and me, if you let me love you" like, sort of "you never know, you might enjoy it", which is quite possibly why it rang clearer in these 'enlightened times'

There was a bunch of these 'philly soul' things that got revived, Leo Sayer's "Thunder in my heart" was the other one but that was truncated to a couple of lines from the original song (the musical feel remained), which was annoying as it's a really great song..

And yes, I remember that pinball machine..

would tilt

xp
Leo original lives on at Radio 2, Mark. Ken Bruce plays it about once a week!

btw, proposed replacements for the bummer thread title:

Huntin' That Horny Back POLLed
She POLLed My Songs Last Night, Preflight
Voting Seems To Be The Hardest POLL
Cir-POLL of Life
I Feel Like A Ballot In The POLL of ILM
Solar POLLstige A Gammon
I Thank The Lord For The People I Have POLLed
POLL Me Closer, ILXor
POLLadelphia Freedom, I Luh Huh Huhv You...Yes I Do

admittedly those are some of my worst ever, but still. much love to johnny fever but it's weird for the laudatory poll to be built on a foundation of tears. hard to write a song with bitter fingers, etc.

I Feel Like A Ballot In The POLL of ILM
^this one I can get behind

And there's no-one there to raise them ... if you POLL

POLL some funk of your own
and it's no sacrifice, just a simple POLL
POLL me closer, Tiny ILXOR

but I did like: "Solar POLLstige A Gammon"

Xxpost Maybe ''...In The Ballot of Elton John,'' I guess.

haha ''POLL some funk of your own, ilxor'' was the name of one of my pre-ballot playlists!

I submitted an all-'70s ballot and I'm a casual fan but I have to say I'm really struggling with the '80s tracks here, Shakey otm about most of these (although my own most hated track was 'Made in England').

On the other hand 'Holiday Inn' placing is a welcome surprise.

POLL some funk of your own
POLL me closer, Tiny ILXOR

^^ one of these

In all honesty, I've never understood the compulsion to force "poll" puns into poll titles. There's so much more you can do with someone's lyrics.

ask Elton.

Yeah, I guess an Elton John poll wasn't the best time to make that point.

Can Bernie fax us a poll title?

Well, A Few Of The Lyrics, Well, They've Got Me Quite Cross: An Elton John Poll

...but then again, no.

But Then Again, POLL.

Life isn't everything... there's also the Elton John Poll Results!

When are you gonna come down, When are you going to POLL

IN FACT, IT'S POLLED AS HELL

(for the record i read the thread title as laudatory and I am 100% okay with it and don't get the fuss but if there's an opportunity to play the Lowest Form of Humor game damn if i'm not gonna play it)

40. "I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)" (1975) [90 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEfReTjAcyg

one of his best ballads

Almost voted for it, but--brace yourself, there's a great joke coming up here--couldn't quite pull the trigger. I used to like it, did something I don't normally do before voting--gave it a listen--and it wasn't quite as strong as I'd remembered.

39. "Razor Face" (1971) [93 points, 4 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqUZmJIK6n4

xp
Agreed this (Bullet) is a great song, 'though the arrangement on RoTW is a bit heavy handed. Tries to the same trick pulled off so effortlessly with "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" but it doesn't quite work this time. When Elton did it solo live, with just piano, that's what sold the song for me.

38. "I've Seen That Movie Too" (1973) [95 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMJtNwHNM5k

"I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)"
"like a corn in a field"?! gtfo with that shit. The first verse seems sonically reminiscent of Paul Simon to my ears, with the bass/piano/vibes combo (although Simon would never do that leap into the falsetto in the chorus - too melodramatic for him - it works well for Elton). Of course by the time we get around to the third chorus we're in more bombastic territory. Listening to Elton's ballads I usually have a hard time not hearing them more as Broadway than as rock, the schmaltz and heavy-handedness seems of a particularly stage-show like theatricality. Lyrically this isn't bad for Taupin. I don't get the titular image but apart from that it scans well.

"Razor Face"
Realizing that I prefer it when Elton gets shrill with the falsetto + harmonies. I dunno why, can't put my finger on who it reminds me of. This is good though, has that mid-tempo 70s throb, nice guitar work. Unnecessary accordian, not sure what that's supposed to be evocative of (old people?), seems out of place in the arrangement.

Realizing that I prefer it when Elton gets shrill with the falsetto + harmonies

which he does on "Robert Ford" on the "I know what a paid assassin is" bit

"I've Seen That Movie Too"
I think I dozed off about halfway through this, so repetitious. what is that, six choruses at the end? wtf. briefly roused by the backwards guitar screeching in the middle and for once the lyrics aren't terrible they're actually a bit clever with the bitterness.

37. "High Flying Bird" (1973) [108 points, 4 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6ien507T3Y

Definitely in a rut of ballads right here.

xpost

Yay!

I voted for this one. Had never even heard it till I bought a used copy of the album a few months ago.

36. "My Father's Gun" (1970) [111 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_p0lbEuKzk

High Flying Bird ended up being my number two. The backing vocals are just so amazing, especially at 2.16. I feel like this is one of the songs Ben Folds pretty much based most of his ballads on.

THRILLED to see High Flying Bird make it. Reminds me that Elton is an artist I really like, but where I've neverreally done time in fan forums or w/e, so I have no idea which are consensus picks and which are things only I've discovered. HFB still ''feels'' like the latter, just this underhyped gem at the end of an underhyped record. Amazing delivery throughout: ''she thought I was the archer'' could be one of the dumbest conceits in the catalogue (really? She thought you were an archer?) but the sense of error or failure on the singer's part, his failure to live up to or otherwise convey his non-archer status, is perfect. The last chorus is just incredible too. I didn't see the Vietnam connection til Marcello's review and haven't yet decided if that enhances the listen for me.

I really like "Bullet"; good song about an under-utilized plot (really, how many great songs are there about feeling like a puppy-kicking heel even though the relationship maybe needed to end?). Here the conceit really is labored though...when you have to google the figure named in the title for the song to work, something may be amiss. But then there's ''I'm low as a paid assassin is / you know I'm cold as a hired sword'' which is great, oddball stuff. If they really were steamrolling pop hacks they surely would have simplified all of this; not sure I entirely buy xgau's claim that 'poetry' by this point was part of the necessary package for pop product. (For one thing, it certainly needn't be THIS kind of poetry, right?)

35. "Crocodile Rock" (1972) [113 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YmXD3pSfqY

I hate to admit it, but I'm coming around on Crocodile Rock.

now there's a 70s tune I can get with

Muppet Show version is ace.

Muppets is the only way I can remotely stand this

When I was a kid, my neighbours, which my family didn't much like, would occasionally throw loud parties in their backyard, which annoyed my folks. In retrobution, my older bro once aimed the speakers out the open back porch screen door, crank up the bass, and blast "Crocodile Rock" to annoy the neighbours. It was the first time I heard the song, and for many years the last.

It's impossible for me to judge "Crocodile Rock" as a piece of music at this point. For me, it will always be just something you use to retaliate against noisy neighbours.....

retribution, sorry i kant spel

For me this song goes in the same mental trashcan as Seger's Old Time Rock N Roll.

have we ever participated in a poll in which so many of us have said "eww" or "gross" or variants on "I hate this song"?

I think if the Eagles were ever polled you'd get the same ratio, imo

But yeah it's funny how almost every song is someone's hated song

I've already made my attempts to defend it and I sha'n't again, but really, the Seger comparison is cold.

You can tell everyone
that I hate this song

And you can tell everybody / that you hate this song
It may be quite simple but / now that it's done

34. "Mellow" (1972) [115 points, 7 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqWSL4F2bok

oh ffs
There I was trying to be a good boy scout and get the parody lyrics somewhat like the original, and in my earnestness I got ninja'd.

Huh! Didn't see that coming. Will have to give it some more spins when I get home, it's never really jumped out at me.

see also Eric Clapton & his rock n roll heart
dudes getting misty-eyed over jukeboxes jeans & chevys is just kinda ugh to me I guess

and I like all of those things! and I like old timey music!

Elton would also've been a great subject for that The Eagles project, except it'd take about two years

"Mellow" in my top fifteen.

haha never picked out all the words to it either

''Don't forget the beer, my little dear / it helps to sow the mellow seed''

Yeah, Mellow is definitely one of his best pre GYBR tracks (which seems like as good a place as any to break up his 70s output).

i didnt have room to vote for Mellow but I love it

xpost I love Crocodile Rock but didn't vote for it. I really like how it's tucked away at the end of the album too, it just seems to really work before High Flying Bird.

One thing I like about Crocodile Rock that I haven't mentioned is the weird insistence on this ONE dance, perhaps even a secret dance, something our narrator and Suzie got up to while other kids were doing something else. That the ''rock just died'' and Suzie takes off isn't played for tragedy either, this isn't a full-on coming-of-age nostalgia trip (although I do rep for ''Night Moves''), but the bite in the chorus suggests either that he's still sort of bent out of shape about this turn of events, or maybe that the Crocodile Rock was always a little more dangerous than the falsetto and the wimpy organ would have you believe. I dunno, I don't think it's brilliant or great, but it's got a little more variety and interest than an off-the-shelf blue jeans and cornflakes bit.

this (Bullet) is a great song, 'though the arrangement on RoTW is a bit heavy handed ... When Elton did it solo live, with just piano, that's what sold the song for me.

elton never gets enough credit for what a great live performer he is, and, yeah, he can easily sell just about any song in his catalog by sitting alone at a piano.

33. "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" (1988) [123 points, 7 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyi9AbfUa1E

Didn't think about "Mellow" when compiling my ballot, but very happy to see it place.

A propos of nothing, I really regret not re-listening to Blue Moves before voting now. I fear that nothing from it is going to place (except maybe "Sorry Seems...") which is just wrong.

The TLFZ singles were ones that I was familiar with, and Sad Songs from Breaking Hearts as well, I guess, but I Don't Wanna was the first one to come around at an age where I was paying attention to radio WHILE an Elton single was in heavy rotation and I can't hear it even now without feeling 14 years old.

Which is a good thing.

"I Don't Wanna..." is his biggest eighties hit yet I don't hear it much.

I love the programmed finger snaps and the gusto with which he sings.

32. "The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)" (1973) [124 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y3EMjrjIqk

also: Elton piano solo in 1988!

as pop guys go, he is a great piano player, but that 1988 solo is kinda terrible.

A propos of nothing, I really regret not re-listening to Blue Moves before voting now. I fear that nothing from it is going to place (except maybe "Sorry Seems...") which is just wrong.

― Jeff W, Wednesday, August 21, 2013 1:34 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Blue Moves would be my pick for better-than-its-reputation EJ album

31. "All The Young Girls Love Alice" (1973) [129 points, 7 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40A816ZPujw

31 	All The Girls Love Alice 		7 	129
32 	The Ballad Of Danny Bailey 		5 	124
33 	I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That 		7 	123
34 	Mellow 		7 	115
35 	Crocodile Rock 		5 	113
36 	My Father's Gun 		5 	111
37 	High Flying Bird 		4 	108
38 	I've Seen That Movie Too 		5 	95
39 	Razor Face 		4 	93
40 	I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford) 		5 	90
41 	The Last Song 		4 	89
42 	We All Fall In Love Sometimes 	1 	3 	87
43 	Where To Now St. Peter? 		4 	85
44 	Island Girl 		5 	84
45 	Are You Ready For Love? 		4 	83
45 	Holiday Inn 		4 	83
47 	Blue Eyes 		3 	83
48 	Border Song 		5 	82
49 	Too Low For Zero 		4 	81
50 	Little Jeannie 		4 	73

...so far

for the official record, actual title "all the girls love alice."

love the drop-out choruses.

made my ballot

Yeah, that's how I had it on the spreadsheet, but then I started looking up youtubes and they all added the "young" and I got discombobulated.

30. "Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy" (1975) [131 points, 6 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT-7meAF-_g

overlooked in the discussion upthread of elton's album artwork is how awesome the inner gatefold artwork of GYBR is.

http://rgcred.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/elton-john-goodbye-yellow-brick-road-inside.jpg

"from the end of the world to your town"! the unexpected change into the chorus at 2:32 is thrilling. (also, first chorus at 2:32!)

29. "Harmony" (1973) [138 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh123TonnOc

The Tiny Dancer first chorus must be even later?

three of my favorites in a row. this one, as tom cruise would say, had me at "hello." that weird percussion pickup into that opening "hello." those lush piano chords. the cold warmth of that vocal. mmmmmmmm.

ha! 2:33 for "tiny dancer."

"Harmony" is sooooo gorgeous. I asked this guy at a bar a year ago – who claimed to know "a lot" of Elton songs – to play it. He had no idea what I was talking about.

Harmony is an incredible ending to that album, it just starts off as this understated and sad sounding song but then those big backing vocals come in on the chorus and totally change the mood of the song. The last 40 seconds are quite special too. It joined High Flying Bird in my top three. My number one will hopefully be very high up in the list.

SHAKEY GET IN HERE I WANT YOU TO LAUGH AT "HARMONY"

28. "Tower Of Babel" (1975) [139 points, 6 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpCigLI4ryo

sorry I had a meeting will try to catch up

The inspiration for "Crocodile Rock":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l_1UB2p13o

27. "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" (1974) [147 points, 7 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rijQG1zlp7s

The b-side to this single, "Sick City," is the better side imo.

26. "Amoreena" (1970) [173 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyayz5SGPoM

the simile in the chorus ("losing everything is like the sun going down on me") is, even for bernie taupin, not good.

I like Amoreena, I think, but I did everything i could to keep it off my ballot because I'm not 100% sure that I don't just like the film

25. "Sacrifice" (1989) [183 points, 9 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrLkTZrPZA4

i was the #1 vote for "Amoreena." and Dog Day Afternoon had nothing to do with that fwiw.

24. "Candle In The Wind" (1973/87) [201 points, 11 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoOhnrjdYOc

I combined votes for the album and 1987 live versions in the instances where a voter stipulated a specific version (which was rare).

the decade(s)-later ubiquity of "Candle" and "Tiny Dancer" kinda makes me wonder what other relatively minor '70s songs might someday stumble into becoming cultural touchstones way after the fact.

This is the flipside of the coin with Don't Let The Sun...a song I've heard a million times that still holds up when I listen, whereas Don't Let The Sun is weaksauce to begin with and only gets worse every time.

I mean, even Candle In The Wind '97 couldn't permanently tarnish Candle In The Wind.

yeah...i don't think it would've been much higher in this poll if the '97 version had never happened.

Puff Daddy took so much shit for remixing someone else's song to mourn his dead friend in '97, Elton John got away with remixing his own song.

23. "Elderberry Wine" (1972) [214 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EtZoMR4nN8

I just can't listen to the original of Candle In The Wind, sadly the damage has been done by the 97 version. It's impossible to say how I'd feel about it if that version didn't exist. I don't like Your Song either, I've always kind of put those two songs together.

elton's piano on "elderberry wine" does a really nice glam guitar impression.

'Tower of Babel' placing lower than 'Sacrifice' makes me sad, so many nice twists in the chord progression and a great vocal too.

also, "elderberry" is very paul mccartney circa "hi hi hi" or "junior's farm."

elton's piano on "elderberry wine" does a really nice glam guitar impression.

― fact checking cuz,

otm, and yeah, this reminds me 1973 Wings.

Elton and Wings would've been a good tour.

"elderberry wine" vs. "monkberry moon delight"

the former -- every damn time. Macca often succeeds at silliness but the silliness on the latter is so damn forced.

agreed.

22. "Daniel" (1973) [219 points, 11 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f0TMfQNRk8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf0KRkRn7_o

"High Flying Bird"
god its really hard for him to resist the easy bombast (gospel choirs! leaden tempos! repeat the chorus a million times and maybe it will seem catchy!) Vocal tag on the coda reminds me that at best Elton is just "serviceable" for me.

"My Father's Gun"
this is fucking garbage. again with the leaden tempo, the over-emotive vocal, the gospel choir and chord changes, the atrocious lyrics repeated ad nauseam. utter crap, and 6 minutes of it! last verse genuinely offensive imho.

"Crocodile Rock"
oh hey I know this song. this was a hit for a reason i.e., it's basic chord structure underpins a strong melodic hook. T. Rex and Gary Glitter did this nostalgia-for-8-years-ago thing better but whatever. I don't get the hate.

"Mellow"
Really starting to hear the limits of his compositional strengths in all these ballads, he relies on a lot of similar chord tricks for his turnarounds at the end of verses for ex. Boring (christ another nearly 6 minute song with the choruses repeated ad nauseam), and not really mellow either. Effected violin at the end is probably the most interesting sonic detail I've yet to hear in this poll.

"I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That"
ah, Elton's entry in the 80s-does-old-Motown/R&B with synths style. The melody is oddly monotonous. track has a certain generic bouncy energy I suppose. not anything I actively need to hear ever again.

"The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)"
This stuff just doesn't work for me, these shitty character sketches. Again they have a sledgehammer obvious theatricality that's more Broadway than anything else, and they lack nuance or believability or even just the basic capability of being engaging. Utterly fails at conveying the ostensible point of the song (tragedy? amusing folk tale?) I don't get the point of this.

"All The Girls Love Alice"
1. Disappointed that this is not about Alice Cooper. 2. However, this is a character sketch that actually works. The arrangement has some grit and grind in it, it's dark and energetic, and then he gets to the breakdowns where everything drops out to put the sadness over. The end with all the synth noises is a different kind of bombast, one I can get with. Feel like this is him trying to be Lou Reed or something.

"Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy"
More garbage. Production is adequate, I credit (I assume) Gus Dudgeon for making this anything more than unlistenable.

"Harmony"
Uuuuughh yet ANOTHER lead-footed ballad/character sketch that makes no sense, has no hook, featuring swooping swings and backing vocals. At least it isn't 6 minutes long. what's up with the weird vocal affectation he does here? I guess the harmonies are okay.

"Tower Of Babel"
This is okay I guess. I do like his falsetto. Never heard Babel pronounced that way. This is yet another song where he does that thing with a descending chord change that passes through a minor seventh (I think?) before going all the way down and then back up (musicological terms failing me here), man he seems to do this a lot.

"Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"
oh hey I know this song. sorry, I've always hated it (altho George Michael's version is better). Maudlin, rambling, and the hook in the chorus is just not enough to hang a whole song around imho.

"Amoreena"
OMG ANOTHER ONE. how can you guys tolerate so much of this shit. couldn't make it all the way through this.

"Sacrifice"
This guy really had horrible, horrible taste in synth sounds in the 80s. worse than Stevie Wonder, worse than the Pet Shop Boys, worse than Starship. Lyrically this is ok I guess. Like, it at least makes sense.

worse than the Pet Shop Boys

ok this is straight-up trolling. Which guy had fantastic taste in synth sounds in the eighties -- Falco?

the decade(s)-later ubiquity of "Candle" and "Tiny Dancer" kinda makes me wonder what other relatively minor '70s songs might someday stumble into becoming cultural touchstones way after the fact

It takes an artist like Elton for this to be true though. Or maybe, more accurately, one with Elton's appeal. 'Serious' acts who get pored over on release aren't going to have much room for reassessment - there's only so much Bowie you can revive - but with Elton there's a lot of rediscovering to do. And the gold and dreck got treated largely the same on release.

I dunno, Shakes. I've had "Harmony and me/we're pretty company" stuck in my head for the last two hours.

xp I meant to mention this upthread, but "Stuck In The Middle" stumbled into a whole new life courtesy of Tarantino. I wasn't a huge 70s hit, was it?

it hit #6. "Son of a Preacher Man" from PF also went top top a few years earlier. I was too young to know whether they were adult contemp standbys.

*went top ten

21. "Burn Down The Mission" (1970) [244 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPTdSYTLA10

21 	Burn Down The Mission 	1 	9 	244
22 	Daniel 		11 	219
23 	Elderberry Wine 	1 	9 	214
24 	Candle In The Wind 		11 	201
25 	Sacrifice 		9 	183
26 	Amoreena 	1 	8 	173
27 	Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me 		7 	147
28 	Tower Of Babel 		6 	139
29 	Harmony 		5 	138
30 	Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy 		6 	131
31 	All The Girls Love Alice 		7 	129
32 	The Ballad Of Danny Bailey 		5 	124
33 	I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That 		7 	123
34 	Mellow 		7 	115
35 	Crocodile Rock 		5 	113
36 	My Father's Gun 		5 	111
37 	High Flying Bird 		4 	108
38 	I've Seen That Movie Too 		5 	95
39 	Razor Face 		4 	93
40 	I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford) 		5 	90
41 	The Last Song 		4 	89
42 	We All Fall In Love Sometimes 	1 	3 	87
43 	Where To Now St. Peter? 		4 	85
44 	Island Girl 		5 	84
45 	Are You Ready For Love? 		4 	83
45 	Holiday Inn 		4 	83
47 	Blue Eyes 		3 	83
48 	Border Song 		5 	82
49 	Too Low For Zero 		4 	81
50 	Little Jeannie 		4 	73

"Candle In The Wind"
Has one of his better hooks/refrains in the chorus but even still fuck this song forever and always.

"Elderberry Wine"
this is okay. agree it's very Macca. I prefer Elton's vocals double-tracked, I think. Wears out its welcome at 3 1/2 minutes so it's doing *something* wrong.

"Daniel"
Sluggish, flutes are godawful. Lyrically it's a bit better than the usual dreck, actually has some subtlety to it but eh doesn't really do anything for me.

ok this is straight-up trolling. Which guy had fantastic taste in synth sounds in the eighties

this has always been my major beef with the Boys! They are very clever songwriters and good with hooks, stories, characters but ugh the clammy drums and shitty presets really make it hard to stomach. there were plenty of great synth sounds in the 80s - Prince, Bryan Ferry, Eurythmics, I could go on and on

Some pretty major "TOO LOW" action goin' down.

"I've Seen That Movie Too" is more "psychedelic" than "ballad" IMO, and it was one of Axl's subtle Elton shoutouts on Use Your Illusion.

I didn't expect "Razor Face" to do that well, but it's still probably my favorite song from Madman.

Pretty majorly bummed that "Sacrifice" beat out both "All The Girls Love Alice" and "The Ballad of Danny Bailey."

loooooooool of course you would stan for Crocodile Rock after snarking everything else, Shakey. OF COURSE.

:)

I've been waylaid by stupid work stuff but I'll compose some thoughts in a little while. Needless to say this is a v interesting rollout so far!

Also I love Daniel and I don't care who knows it.

GYBR is such a bloated album that I rarely ever get to "Harmony" all the way at the end, and I'd honestly forgotten how good it is.

I never bothered looking into how much liberty Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson were given with arrangements, but they're one of my favorite rhythm sections of that era (circa GYBY) and a big part of the reason why I keep coming back to songs like "Danny Bailey" or "Elderberry Wine."

XP I actually don't think it's that bloated.

yeah I kinda dig it even though there's a few dud songs on it

It has lots of good songs. I just wish they weren't all in one place.

I've never been a fan of double/triple albums, though. Maybe I'm adhd.

when I finally got it a few years ago it felt a lot shorter by the time I skipped "Candle in the Wind," "Jamaica Jerk Off," and "This Song Has No Title."

jamaica jerk off is a DEFINITE skip. such a stupid song.

"Your Sister Can't Twist" is the major dud IMO.

I'd like it were it not for the title

I guess "Jamaica" is kinda corny-sounding in an "Obladi Oblada" kinda way. I enjoyed it as a little kid, before I knew what "jerk off" meant.

spicy sauce

This Song Has No Title is one of my GYBR favorites, btw. It's brief, cleverly melodic and just fun. idg the dislike.

Yeah I always dug it.

Too much to discuss in this last batch (not touching Shakey's posts)...generally my reaction with this poll is less ''too low!'' and more ''oh awesome, I can't believe that placed!'' Danny Bailey and Alice beating all these other songs sort of surprises me though; maybe they get a boost from being on one of the most familiar albums? I like 'em both, just wouldn't have seen 'em as top 24 material. Different strokes.

So much great detail, sonically, in some of these, esp. ''Captain Fantastic.'' They banged these things out fast but they didn't skimp on making the recording sound as good as possible. I could say a lot more about that song... obviously it's the perfect kickoff for the album's narrative and an introduction to our protagonists, but it also works, musically and lyrically, to really fuse together these two sides of EJ/BT's output: it's just as much the brown-dirt/tumbleweed Americana stuff as the post-psychedelic comic book fantasy glam stuff. Really comes together for the chorus - there's really excitement when Elton finally gets to crash these guys together, the promise that our next issue will feature amazing thrills, an underdog's comeback, the completion of an epic journey, and YOU will be there!

Voted for "This Song Has Not Title." Didn't vote for "Jamaica Jerk-Off" but I always find myself enjoying it when I listen to the album in sequence.

There are definitely parts where GYBR drags, but I always though that sticking the whole glammy rock batch of songs ("Your Sister Can't Twist," "Saturday Night..." etc) so late in the album gives it a necessary jolt that keeps it from really dragging. It is a rather impeccably sequenced album.

I voted for "Alice" and yeah maybe it's because GBYBR is the only EJ album that's ever stuck with me as more than the sum of its parts. I like how Elton's voice is a bit further back in the mix than the shakers and the riffing, makes him sound a bit more spidery, and that's reinforced on the chorus. Elton doesn't usually play the creep in his songs but I like him that way.

"I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" is joining "Club At The End Of The Street" as one of those songs i must not have heard in 20 years that is sounding really good to me now, totally forgot it existed. could instantly picture video when it came on the Spotify playlist.

a pal who lurks on ILM said: "It looks like the beginning of 'A Different World.'"

Yeah, I thought the same thing last week when I caught the video while making my ballot.

Elton probably had those Dwayne Wayne glasses a decade earlier

when Elton worked with Kanye for "All Of The Lights" he was like 'oh, those shutter shades were cute...i had my eyewear R&D department design the original prototypes for those in '83, but i changed my mind and the whole project got shelved'

when Elton worked with Kanye for "All Of The Lights"

woah, did not realize this. Real shame he couldn't conjure up young glammy fame-magnet showman Elton, they'd make a great pair actually.

he played piano on it and was one of the dozen guest vocalists, although i've never been able to pick his incredibly distinctive voice out of that cluttered mix.

Fall Out Boy wielded their recent Elton cameo far more effectively.

Can't wait to see "Stan" make the countdown. We really should have done a separate "duets" bracket...

When I was sorta kinda defending "Jamaica Jerk Off" earlier I think I got it confused with "Grey Seal."

lool

"Jamaica Jerk Off" is a terrible song even when you know the events behind it (summary: EJ & co went to Jamaica to record, had a bad time, and left).

From GYBR I skip Jamaica Jerk Off, Candle In The Wind, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting and Your Sister Can Twist which leaves me with a pretty perfect thirteen track album.

I was just looking through my itunes to see which songs I had on there and noticed I actually never even imported Jamaica Jerk Off, the other three songs I had just unchecked. I obviously never wanted to risk hearing that song again, I'd erase it from the CD if I could.

haha, man, "Stan"...I didn't realize until looking at Elton's stuff on Spotify that that live version from the Grammys with Elton was released as a bonus track on Em's greatest hits record. he just sounds so goddamn awkward singing that chorus, ugh. still kinda does cool stuff playing piano over the song, though.

I think it would have been better to have Elton rewrite the melody from Em's words, a la Peer Gynt.. on the other hand we might've just gotten '03 Candle N Wind.

Goodbye Marshall M
Though I never
Knew you at all,
Could've had the grace to sign a cap
For my brother in the cold

Modeled on your lyrics
And they whispered in my brain
I liked that shit you did with Rawkus
I get a rush from sudden pain

And it seems to me,
I'll end my life
By driving off a bridge
Never knowing how to mail this
When my tape's at end
And I would have liked to know you
But you were just too good
To call or write a stalking fan
Your biggest one was Stan

Classic Onion:

LOS ANGELES–With the nation still buzzing over his Feb. 21 Grammy Awards duet with Elton John, Eminem released a single Tuesday inspired by the performance. Among the song's lyrics: "I was at the Grammys and Elton John gave me a hug / So I got out my pliers and ripped his little faggot dick off with a tug / Shoved it down the throats of Britney, then Christina A. / Probably gave both of the bitches AIDS." John praised the song as "brave" and "coming from a very pure place."

The top 20 is here! The top 20 is here!!!

20. "Honky Cat" (1972) [254 points, 13 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly07GWoK9aY

tune

The one song I skip on HC!

What makes "Honky Cat" so funky? Is it a backbeat? I don't know musicology.

It's got a slowed down almost Dixieland Jazz tempo, which in and of itself isn't particularly funky, but Elton's playing and vocals have a little added swing.

19. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" w/ Kiki Dee (1976) [261 points, 12 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQmRgFzg0jI

^^ prefer Muppets version

Muppets make most things better.

This and "Philadelphia Freedom" would be the first songs I'd look at if I were trying to understand Elton's mid-'70s megastar moment. I voted for both, but right at the bottom of my ballot. They're both songs I'd probably dislike 99 times out of 100. For reasons I'd have to think about, by him at that moment, they both work.

He seems to be having a lot more fun than her in that video. He practically yanks her over to the mic at the 40-second mark.

haha true

The video was one take & unscripted, not surprising it's a bit rough (my no.2 btw)

18. "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" (1976) [261 points, 12 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3nScN89Klo

My own #1.

I can imagine Shakes arguing that it's bathetic but I disagree. His vocal is just right and breaks at the right moment.

btw one of the few songs for which Elton wrote lyrics:

This was featured in the 1977 film Slap Shot. Elton began writing this song in 1975 in Los Angeles. Normally Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics first then Elton added the music, but in this instance Elton wrote the melody and most of the words as well, with Bernie finishing them off. As Elton explained, "I was sitting there and out it came, 'What have I got to do to make you love me.'"

Taupin added in a Music Connection interview: "I don't think he was intending on writing a song, but we were sitting around an apartment in Los Angeles, and he was playing around on the piano and he came up with this melody line, and I said, 'Hey, that's really nice.' For some reason this lyrical line, 'Sorry seems to be the hardest word' ran through my head, and it fit perfectly with what he was playing. So I said, 'Don't do anything more to that, let me go write something,' so I wrote it out in a few minutes and we had the song.

"Honky Cat"
re: questions about the rhythm, this is clearly a New Orleans funk thing, borrowed from the Allen Toussaint/Prof Longhair/Dr, John school of piano-playing. fuck him for including that stupid faux chinese melody at the beginning and ending. this is another song where the weird mythologized Americana just reads cheap and wrong to me, like these guys are just playing dress-up but do not actually have any grasp of American psychology or history or anything. There's no nuance or shades of detail in the character, it's just a cardboard cutout. Musically Elton's piano here is a top notch imitation and his vocal is okay I guess.

"Don't Go Breaking My Heart"
This is the one Eltno tune my wife really likes and it's pretty good as disco/Philly soul pop fluff. hook is great and it bops along nicely, lots of cool little details in the vocal and string arrangements playing off each other. finding that I definitely prefer Elton in throwaway pop mode (still expecting my favorite 80s cut of his to show up) than in serious balladry mode, which has seriously made much of my listening in this thread feel interminable.

I have trouble thinking "Don't Go Breaking..." is a John-Taupin song even though they're hiding behind pseudonyms. It sounds like an outlier, which isn't quite true either if you think "Philadelphia Freedom."

Ah, that's amazing xp. Will never not be blown away by that sort of thing.

Don't Go Breaking My Heart is the epitome of that sort of easy virtuosity for me. No idea whether it actually is or not, but it sounds thrown together effortlessly, like all the melodies, parts and words are just being breezily played and sung for the first time. It's perfect.

"Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word"

kept waiting for some huge drums and gospel chorus to come in, relieved when that didn't happen. Agree w/Alfred that the vocal here is really good, the falsetto is expertly deployed. Accordian/vibraphone on the melody in the breaks is an odd sonic choice I don't really care for, would like this more if that wasn't there. but this is probably the best ballad track so far.

and I'll repeat: his duet with Ray Charles is poignant.

17. "Take Me To The Pilot" (1970) [286 points, 14 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSEX2yrZDks

We never got your take on #21, Shakey

Nobody at all commented on #21. Which is fair.

One of the interviews I watched with EJ recently contains a bit where he's asked about the lyrics of Take Me To The Pilot, and he admits it's just a bunch of phrases that sound good together and is completely meaningless.

Burn Down The Mission

the chords in this are a really odd thing to try and hang a melody on, sounds very forced to my ears. the double-time breakdowns before the last verse come out of nowhere and feel like they're lacking some kind of hook until the "burn it on down" bit comes in. Don't really buy the man-of-the-proletariat act in the lyrics. meh.

Take Me To The Pilot

this is terrible. melody and lyrics are so half-assed. it feels like there is literally nothing to this song, a bunch of empty gestures.

16. "The Bitch Is Back" (1974) [293 points, 15 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rig3tgyYiAM

I'm with Shakey: very little time for Elton ballads, particularly the theatrical ones. end of imperial phase in late seventies made him write less ponderous trifles, at least until the end of the 80s

Is the Unimpressed Skeptic going to be a poll staple now? Not that I mind--it's interesting to hear the other side. I'd like to sign up for Tom Waits and Roxy Music.

Take me to the Pilot is great, I find it very addicting even though it's almost completely meaningless

All of these songs are part of my childhood.

The Bitch Is Back

this is a song I've heard about but never actually heard, I think. does that horn line quote "Good Day Sunshine" or is it me? Lyrics are genuinely catty and funny for once. Hard for me to not to hear this as a third-rate Bowie knockoff though, and the melodic hook is not that great. This is another tune which makes me wonder how Elton was viewed in the context of glam - it seems like he was a little late to the game, and I've never really considered him part of the genre even though its themes and window-dressing are obviously tailor-made for him...? (see also: Rocket Man and Crocodile Rock. From my perspective he was prone to these rather baldfaced ripoffs of other people's tunes from a couple years previous).

I love Bitch Is Back -- Elton's delivery on 'stone cold sober as a matter of fact' is really infectious, one of my favorite songs to sing out loud driving around etc

makes me wonder how Elton was viewed in the context of glam - it seems like he was a little late to the game
There was a bit of retro-fitting by the GBP. It wasn't until "Saturday Night's..." in '73 that we realised - duh - yeah he's sort of glam too innit. That's the track that gets put on the glam rock comps.

I wonder if the skeptics are missing hearing these songs hours at a time on AM/FM radio? It's hard to judge the hookiness of "The Bitch is Back" on one listen. It sounds great on the radio!

15. "Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters" (1972) [302 points, 12 votes, 2 first place votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrOu0oc9aB4

yeah I don't remember hearing any of this stuff on the radio for some reason, apart from the couple I already noted. I dunno if I just ignored them and they just blew by me, or my parents were listening to different stations or what. (My parents were not really Elton John fans, I think my mom had one Greatest Hits comp from the early 80s and she never listened to it)

xp
Two first place votes?? Have at 'em, Shakey! ;-)

(Full confession: I used to like this, but it hasn't aged well.)

14. "Grey Seal" (1973) [306 points, 14 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsozyGR6Eo4

Happy that "Don't Go Breaking" made the top 20, i'd been worried it would be dismissed by too many to get that high. Disappointed that "Bitch" isn't a little higher, fantastic song.

Grey Seal's a standout, one of my favourite discoveries from this

"Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters"

I find his ballads easier to take without the schmaltz and bombast, so I'm thankful for what this song is not, at least. Lyrically again it uses reference points in an irritatingly shallow and clumsy way (surely they could have shoehorned in a reference to Broadway's "bright lights" while they're mining empty cliches...) I dunno, he seems to have tons of these kinds of songs in his catalog, it's not a style I can get into. there's no depth, no ambiguity, no challenge.

"Grey Seal" is a jam.

I didn't know "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" until after he played it at The Concert for New York.

"Grey Seal"

huh this gets downright proggy in spots. melody in the verses is pretty good, descending vocal melody in the chorus is catchy. kinda like the harmonies on this. I do like fiery wah-wah breaks so that gets points too. lyrics are ridiculous nonsense, as usual. this feels like an album opener (I'm guessing that it's not though?), seems like an effective energetic scene-setter for a rock-opera.

13. "Philadelphia Freedom" (1974) [325 points, 13 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhJHL34DiBY

Sorry, 1975.

TOO TOOOOOOOOOOO LOW

12. "Madman Across The Water" (1971) [345 points, 14 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iccMG7drduQ

Original "Grey Seal" not on youtube? I couldn't find it via a quick google.

I kinda prefer the first half of the original (the low key intro on electric piano and the minimal arrangement for the first verse works better IMO) and then the second half of the GYBR version. In fact I once made a splice of those two halves for an EJ mixtape.

Xxpost LOH OH OH OOH OOH OH OH HOO OH HOW

"Grey Seal" in my top ten; it's the peak of Taupin-nonsense.

I dunno HOW I forgot Philadelphia Freedom.

One of my favorite bits of bass playing in an Elton song ("Madman").

Different strokes, etc. The lacunae in "Mona Lisas" are precisely why I find tje track so thrilling

love how on "Philadelphia Freedom" Elton swoops up and down so much, from just about growling in the verses, to falsetto in the chorus.

does Elton do the backing vocals on the verses?

11. "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)" (1973) [363 points, 16 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93JvHkdYNNw

sorry but I have to do this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ecakrMaxkY

haha

I screened Fandango the other night, and thought of this poll when the opening credits came up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9D5mdq07uc

That was totally my introduction to that song, lol. Shockingly low imo.

Xpost

Madman is my first really traumatic Taupin experience. dug the song before I started paying attention

Philadelphia Freedom and Saturday Night are great obviously. too low, both of them

It's got a fantastic guitar riff, good energy. Elton should've tried more uptempo glam/rock stuff when he had the opportunity.

Here's another link for the Spotify playlist - http://spoti.fi/1576dgG - so catch up and get ready for the top 10. I'll brb.

11 	Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting 	1 	16 	363
12 	Madman Across The Water 	1 	14 	345
13 	Philadelphia Freedom 	1 	13 	325
14 	Grey Seal 		14 	306
15 	Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters 	2 	12 	302
16 	The Bitch Is Back 		15 	293
17 	Take Me To The Pilot 		14 	286
18 	Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word 	1 	12 	261
19 	Don't Go Breaking My Heart 		12 	261
20 	Honky Cat 		13 	254
21 	Burn Down The Mission 	1 	9 	244
22 	Daniel 		11 	219
23 	Elderberry Wine 	1 	9 	214
24 	Candle In The Wind 		11 	201
25 	Sacrifice 		9 	183
26 	Amoreena 	1 	8 	173
27 	Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me 		7 	147
28 	Tower Of Babel 		6 	139
29 	Harmony 		5 	138
30 	Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy 		6 	131
31 	All The Girls Love Alice 		7 	129
32 	The Ballad Of Danny Bailey 		5 	124
33 	I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That 		7 	123
34 	Mellow 		7 	115
35 	Crocodile Rock 		5 	113
36 	My Father's Gun 		5 	111
37 	High Flying Bird 		4 	108
38 	I've Seen That Movie Too 		5 	95
39 	Razor Face 		4 	93
40 	I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford) 		5 	90
41 	The Last Song 		4 	89
42 	We All Fall In Love Sometimes 	1 	3 	87
43 	Where To Now St. Peter? 		4 	85
44 	Island Girl 		5 	84
45 	Are You Ready For Love? 		4 	83
45 	Holiday Inn 		4 	83
47 	Blue Eyes 		3 	83
48 	Border Song 		5 	82
49 	Too Low For Zero 		4 	81
50 	Little Jeannie 		4 	73

Baaaaaaffled by ''Madman'' placing this high! Okay album track, great title, but I can't even remember how half of it goes.

It's funny - I don't really remember hearing ''Philadelphia Freedom'' or ''Bitch is Back'' until I was an adult, though both were hits. I suspect southern classic rock radio has little use for these two glammiest, showiest, campiest, vampiest out-n-proudest (but not) Elton numbers. I can easily foresee me only getting more in love with both.

Sadly, I have found myself unable to un-hear ''As I live and breathe, it's Philadelphia Cream Cheese!'' from the day that it first occurred to me.

"Philadelphia Freedom"
so much better at this bubblegum disco stuff than the overwrought theatrical ballads. still can't get past Taupin's tendency to use signifiers he seemingly has no understanding or grasp of, but it's a little more forgivable on pop fluff like this. this has kind of a disco-version of Proud Mary feel to it, as much because for the vocal mannerisms as the music and lyrical sentiments. 5 1/2 minutes of this is too much tho.

"Madman Across The Water"
more cowbell.

"Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)"
heard this one before. it's okay but another one that just sounds like a Bowie rip (Suffragete City maybe?) to me. lol @ Elton pretending to be a street fightin man. wtf is this 8 minute version, this song should be 2 1/2 minutes tops.

what mix are you listening to?

btw glam Bowie only got as good as Elton did with "Saturday Night" in "Watch That Man."

it's a GOOD bowie rip!

"mona lisas and mad hatters" was my #1, and i'm surprised it didn't make the top 10. it's all about that two-part harmony on the chorus. it's a really beautiful ballad melody throughout, and a great vocal performance. i've never had a clue what it was about, and i never cared.

Baaaaaaffled by ''Madman'' placing this high!

tbh i'm more baffled that "Levon" is slated to place Top 10.

"sorry seems" was high for me too. there's a live solo performance on the voting thread, from carson's "tonight show" I think, that completely melted me and kicked it up several spots.

xpost ILX wears war wounds like crowns.

alvin tostig had a poll today...

"Madman" now and forever

this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppKem3YLvFo

The ILX Times said 'Geir Is Dead'.

xp yes that one!

shakie mo's "lack of depth" hetero-rockist criticisms itt have less substance and are becoming more grating than any elton schmaltz represented herein

what mix are you listening to?

I'm just goin off the youtubes in the thread

hetero-rockist?

being gay /= being shallow

Wasn't Elton hetero during most of these tunes? Not rockist I'll grant you.

"shallow" as a criticism is meaningless and is usually a cover-up for "female" or "gay"

xp Never realized those hits in "Madman" were cowbell. That might just be from the live version posted here (which f'in owns btw).

I don't mind Shakey playing Waldorf, and glad he offers at times musicological reasons for disagreeing, but the way you harp on about lyrics -- on an Elton John thread where every contributor has made peace with Taupin's often stupid words -- annoys me, yes.

Also, you're giving Bowie too much credit for depth.

or, rather, by comparing the two implying that Elton John is the shallow one.

hetero-rockist?

i.e. elton john just doesn't get american song tradition blah blah. well he gets it a lot more than you apparently do if you're calling the opening lick in honky cat "chinese," wtf

I didn't hear "The Bitch Is Back" much growing up but now it seems like one of his mosy played songs on at least my local classic rock station

my boss told me that "The Bitch is Back" and "Rich Girl" were favorites when he was in high school because he got to say "bitch" sitting in the back seat while one of those songs played.

10. "Your Song" (1970) [365 points, 13 votes, 2 first place votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTa8U0Wa0q8

xp he said faux chinese, and i've always heard it that way too.

"shallow" as a criticism is meaningless and is usually a cover-up for "female" or "gay"

thought I was being pretty clear that I was referring to Taupin's tendency to throw around referents, symbols, and cliches without any apparent grasp of what they actually mean or refer to (see pretty much any reference to American geography or history), and to his tendency to write characters who have one trait or emotional state and that's it. there's no "twists" in any of these characters or stories, nothing that has any mystery or ambiguity or requires a little thought to tease out what's really being gotten at. there's plenty of random imagery thrown around but its all a bunch of noise obscuring the fact that Taupin can't write a narrative that contains anything other than the most basic elements (tragic protagonist is tragic! jilted lover feels jilted!) I can rattle off scores of GAY and FEMALE songwriters, from this era as well, who do this shit better (Lou Reed and Joni Mitchell spring to mind) and am kind of offended at the implication that I'm attempting to disguise some bias here.

xp

i think there's something distinct and weird about the way ej inhabits these traditions that's very of its time, all shakey seems to hear is violations of authenticity + wishing e.j. was something else altogether. xp

come on, that's ragtime

but then again, NO PLEASE NOT THAT ONE

xp

as for bernie and the lyrics, not everyone cares as much about Creative Writing rules as you do

the faux chinese riff is this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrEOZk23FzA

and its totally in there and it was stupid and (even more) racist when Bowie did it too

xp

Elton reverses the last couple notes of the phrase, Bowie just did it outright

"your song" was the first real song i learned on piano, and it holds a special place in my heart because of that. but it's rather a slight melody as elton goes and i find it a bit hard to sit through these days.

prefer Rod Stewart's version.

we should poll Rod Stewart

"Yer lyricist can't do twists, but he can rock and roll"

Now that both Daniel and Your Song are out of the way (#10 is exactly right for Your Song I think), it's time to post this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z61jJDMoHg8

you're giving Bowie too much credit for depth

it's funny that Elton sort of followed Bowie through the glam to philly soul to new wave transition, I have a hard time believing that Elton wasn't taking notes. but that doesn't mean I think Bowie has all that much more depth. I don't have a hard time at all believing that Bowie is more well read, or admitting that I'm just more biased towards his sources (Burroughs etc.) and that makes a lot of his songs more interesting to me. Kind of a toss-up between who's a better piano player - Elton's better at the Jerry Lee Lewis/American school of piano playing, but I haven't heard anything in this thread that reaches the compositional heights of "Life on Mars", for example.

Bowie barely plays piano; it's Mick Ronson or Mike Garson on the glam stuff.

btw when I meant depth I didn't have their biographies or reading lists.

09. "I'm Still Standing" (1983) [371 points, 15 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHwVBirqD2s

This is a good 'un

The last great Elton John single

*have = mean

The last great Elton John single

― Lee626,

last great Elton single is the NEXT single from this album.

well I am displaying a bias there in that ime musicians who read a lot tend to write better, that's what I was getting at. who knows wtf Taupin reads.

(apparently it's Wakeman playing piano on the album version of Life on Mars! Bowie wrote it on the piano though, according to that bowiesongs blog, and yes I was thinking primarily of the piano songs on Hunky Dory)

xp - that one got my vote too

maybe should have added "that was a huge hit"

I thought "I Want Love" was pretty great.

"Your Song"
Effective vocal here, feel like this is as good as his piano balladry gets. Plaintive and relatively simple, restraint goes a long way sometimes.

"I'm Still Standing"
this is the one single of his that has always really stood out to me, catchy as hell, and I remember hearing it/seeing the video as a kid. Later on as an adult the "living through the AIDS crisis" subtext of this song became more obvious, giving the song some shading and emotional heft I had previously missed. The shift from the major key in the verse to the minor in the choruses is great, a v old school trick put to good use. synth patches don't overrun the arrangement, fuzz guitar break pops in and out like it should. good shit.

love love I'm Still Standing. And it's kinda danceable too which is nice for the last exciting gasp that this album was/is.

good karaoke tune too

and I know 'Your Song' is corny as all get-out but I love it and I think this is a time when Taupin is mercifully straightforward and plainspoken and it works very well for me

08. "Levon" (1971) [448 points, 21 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9eCVXKr4t4

YES

glad to see that "A Word in Spanish" is gonna beat that dog of a song

This song always puts me in a cool mood.

I voted for this, surprised to see it has so many fans though

07. "Heartache All Over The World" (1971) [450 points, 2235 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh2hkTzcT7c

haha!

the kind of surprises that makes ILX polling a glorious place