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

unless... we blow the order... ::suspense::

Not sure why I didn't vote for "Bennie and the Jets." Always liked it, didn't forget it, just didn't vote for it. I'd add it to the short list of Elton's quasi-glam moves.

"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" I've never liked.

GBYBR is my alltime favorite elton song by a mile

everything about it makes me long for ~something~ and I get all emotional and it's totally just because of the way he sings those lines, it's so great

I can see that. "You can't plant me in your penthouse" makes me laugh, but it wasn't until years later that I took notice of it.

oooOOOoooh aaaAAAaaaAAAH oooOOOoooh...

MAYBE THEY'LL GEEEEET A REPLAAAAAAACEMEEENNNNT

the pastoral taupinisms are hysterical but, welp, see thread title. huntin' that toad, y'all!

this one's another set of legit good Taupin lyrics - at least in my humble opinion

Anyone seen his Live Aid perf of BATJ? Solid.

Fake glam bands: Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars, Bennie & the Jets, and I bet no one remembers Ricky & the Balloons.

03. "Tiny Dancer" (1971) [631 points, 24 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xuSYEeo9Wc

"Levon"
this is okay, the belabored pun in the chorus is a bit much. I don't think I'd heard this before.

"Heartache All Over The World"
man what an amazing song. when the blazing guitar solo shreds its way through those gated drums you just know you are in the presence of greatness. Elton's heartfelt search for female companionship has never sounded more achingly convincing then it does here, and for once the gospel backing is appropriate, as if their voices are echoing resoundingly across the capitals of the globe. should've been #1 imo

"I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues"
have hated this song since hearing it when it came out. sorry.

"Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding"
man has every song on this album posted now or what? Even though I haven't listened to this album all the way through, just judging from the cuts here it's clear this contained a lot of his most sonically ambitious material, there's a pretty wide range of instrumentation represented. Great mellotron opening, then gets melancholy with the lonely piano and flute duet. ooh twin guitar leads! this is SUPER-proggy, really pulling out all the stops. Is this the last track on the album or something? Cool harmonies, rhythm section really working overtime too. In general 10-minute prog-pop epics are not my thing but this is very well done, the rock parts actually rock for once.

"Recover Your Soul"
ugh this is something that I sonically just have a lot of problems with from top to bottom (ie from the chiming synths to the drum loop). about the only instruments that don't sound like total gloopy underwater shit are the hammond, the bass, and Elton's voice. vocal performance is pretty good for what it is, could do without the call and response with the backing singer on those "recover"s. lyrically pretty good, although I did lol at "What's going on, it's cold in here"

Got all the way to #3 with no first place votes. xp

I'd've had it at no.1 on another day

Is this the last track on the album or something? Cool harmonies, rhythm section really working overtime too. In general 10-minute prog-pop epics are not my thing but this is very well done, the rock parts actually rock for once.

It's the opener.

(xpost) Same. I wonder how many people first heard it in Almost Famous--it used to get occasional classic-rock airplay, but not that much.

"Heartache All Over The World"
"Recover Your Soul"

These were joeks btw.

Is it okay to admit that Almost Famous plays quite a big part in why I love Tiny Dancer?

I was familiar with Tiny Dancer before Almost Famous, as I went through my heavy Elton phase in 1995/96 when the first cd reissues came out. Always liked it before, and thought it was used really well in the film.

Hope I didn't imply that coming to it through Almost Famous was not good. That's a great scene.

I dunno. It's certainly better than that. and pace other comments itt I remember it as a pretty solid aor staple. think moulin rouge did more for "your song" than almost famous did for this.

(agree it was used well tho)

"Tiny Dancer" was a modest Classic Rock staple pre-AF (heard it and "Levon" more often than several of the mid-'70s hits), but yeah, that movie...

"Bennie and the Jets"
yeah I know this one cuz of hip hop. it's weird how slow it is. the swooping falsetto in the chorus refrain again reminding me of Bowie, and then yeah the whole mythical band thing (altho that's a gimmick much older than Bowie). the chord structure of this seems much simpler than usual, the way it just pounds back and forth from the major and then a step down to the minor 7th, lumbering along while the falsetto squeals over the top. synth fills are a nice little detail. I can get with this song.

"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
Agree the lyrics work here for once, and tied to one of his better melodies. hard for me not to think the Judy Garland/gay icon allusion was not some intentional, coded gesture. This is impeccably arranged, the strings buttressing the vocal effectively, stately chiming guitar arpeggios and all. and under 3 1/2 minutes, no bloat.

"Tiny Dancer"
Tony Danza

These were joeks btw.

you don't say

"Heartache all Over The World" somehow was a top-10 hit in Austrailia. Bombed everywhere else. Never heard it before today - and hopefully never will again

02. "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long Long Time)" (1972) [650 points, 26 votes, 3 first place votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76itSz-QEcE

Taupin's finest moment imo, clanger and all

and much much much better than "Space Oddity"

TOO LOW

ismael otm. our number one is grebt but rocket man is perfect.

"I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" my #1 also

didn't vote for "Rocket Man", verses not my thing

Never realized it officially had a parenthetical title.

I skipped it to. I'll sing along when it's on the radio but never one of my favorites.

^^ disgusting savages itt

I like the guitar slides.

and much much much better than "Space Oddity"

disagree on almost every level - Space Oddity much more evocative of the narrator's alienation ("tell my wife I love her very much/she knows" cuts several different ways) and much more disorienting sonically, pings and beeps orbiting around the listener. Rocket Man is good but it's not THAT good.

I have no idea what no. 1 is btw

You'll find out soon, sugar bear.

i think "space oddity" is a league above "rocket man," for the reasons shakey lays out and more. and i love "rocket man." it would've been fitting, though, for bernie's most obvi bowie moment to win the poll after all the bowie discussion herein.

01. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" (1975) [655 points, 21 votes, 5 first place votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia-s7rY175k

this poll has repped for elton really well. not the biggest fan of #1 though.

A personal poll first: my #1 is the poll #1. Yay!

"i miss the earth so much/i miss my wife" > "tell my wife i love her very much/she knows"

Wow it was close.

Hurray at this being number one, easily my favourite song of his. The "DAMMIT, Listen to me good" bit gets me every single time.

I had no idea either, I think only the Neil Young poll has kept it under wraps all the way

I'm glad this poll exists but it made me realize that I don't really like Elton John, only a tiny subset before he became a chart topping machine.

Thanks for running this Johnny!

I like and voted for "Saved My Life" but don't get what makes this so #1-worthy endearing. Thought either "Tiny Dancer" or "Your Song" would be on top.

"i miss the earth so much/i miss my wife" > "tell my wife i love her very much/she knows"

Can I just...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H06kpn2C3Fk