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

^^ 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