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

"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.