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

Always loved "Levon"'s (slightly disguised) reference to this:

http://www.conversantlife.com/files/imagecache/blog_wizard/files/blog_wizard/Is+God+Dead%3F.jpg

The real #7...

07. "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" (1983) [452 points, 17 votes, 2 first place votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6KYAVn8ons

Confession: my #1. I adore this song: he's so confident he knows which syllables to stress vs throw away.

This was def one of the tracks I was juggling around for my own #1.

I saw a clip recently in which he changed the line to "Never forget you're my man."

I didn't vote for this, but I've come round since I put my ballot in. Beautiful song.

and of course the Stevie Wonder harmonica

and those descending melody lines ("Laughing like children/living like lovers/rolling like THUNDER")

harmonica is a really beautiful bow on an already beautiful song

time on my hands
could be time spent with you

so lovely

Johnny Fever you're kinda mean for trolling me with Heartache All Over The World ;_;

yeah Fever

Alfred did it!

TOKYO TO ROME

clearly I can't read

Alfred you are dead to me

like Godd?

I really should have ranked this higher on my ballot. Great song.

xpost I don't know what that means

YOU'RE A JERK IS WHAT I'M SAYING

Levon/Time cover/Alfred being dead 2 u

hmph

06. "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" (1973) [478 points, 17 votes, 2 first place votes]

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

high five to my fellow voter of Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters at number 1!

I still want Shakey to review "Heartache All Over the World."

love love love

I even like the Funeral For a Friend intro when I'm in the right mood, though admittedly sometimes I skip to the song

I can do without the instrumental bit but I like this quite a bit.

Is this one particularly famous for anything? I didn't know it before this poll, but I've definitely heard the title in some context.

I first heard about it in the 'songs that make you cry' thread from like 5 years back or more, quite a few ppl repped for that and it made me seek it out

05. "Recover Your Soul" (1998) [481 points, 20 votes, 3 first place votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_xkMf75-uQ

(xp) it was elton's "stairway to heaven"/"carry on my wayward son"/"november rain"!

no more fakes, plz

can you tell I need a drink?

voted for "love lies bleeding" only, ad "funeral" has not aged well. i assume those kind of votes were included here?

ad = as

Yeah this was the FM radio epic he had to deliver at some point.

Votes for both and for either were included in the total points.

The fanfare is like WHOA LOOK OUT ELTON AND SYNTHESIZERS

weeee I'm flying

it reminds me of the Jim Steinman keyboard freakout intro to Bat Out Of Hell

I still like it as a whole. I recall hearing it for the first time while my parents were listening and I asked "is he ever gonna sing?" about 3 seconds before the singing part begins.

xp to Ismael =

http://www.redhotvelvet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/68f7043833.jpg

for the record if anyone shows up to my funeral wearing a polo shirt over a longsleeve shirt I will come back to haunt them

but the kiss tie is totally welcome.

05. "Bennie And The Jets" (1973) [486 points, 18 votes, 4 first place votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vLlpJc9mW0

This was my early guess for the poll winner, but until the final couple days of voting, it hadn't even secured a place in the top 10. I do ILM wrong, I guess.

blech

love the bridge in this song

xp NO!

It is divine!

Frank is a fan! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS_K2eg7Gx8

biz markie version http://vimeo.com/5125762

Gosh, thought this was a sure winner. It's the one instance of Elton going right out there that really works imo.

xp so is Mary J. Blige

I guess I've gotten used to "Bennie" by now, but its a song--unavoidable due to classic rock radio, GYBR and the otherwise fantastic first Greatest Hits volume--that has been annoying me most of my life.