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

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.

The original an R&B #1 iirc

r&b #15 actually. his highest r&b charter except for his part of r&b #1 that's what friends are fo"

Piano on Bennie is my favorite thing

I love the little squelchy synthy things the increase as the song goes along. But yeah, the piano is key!

he had five r&b chart hits, by the way. david bowie had two. so there.

Bennie.. is a classic case of
classic albums with (oddly enough) one live track on them.

that's not actually live, though.

dead?

Except it's just "live", but not really live.

for a song that's all hooks it's just rilly boring

The story goes that Elton and the band and Gus Dudgeon didn't know what to do with Bennie, and then someone started slapping some reverb and audience sounds on it and everyone liked it. I'd love to get a listen to the non-"live" version.

took me some time to figure out why spotify's full of live versions, but I couldn't find an original

mm we had this same live/ not-really-live debate on that actual thread about this and many other 'live' tracks.

After recording the song in the studio, John and the band worried that it was too plain and unoriginal. According to guitarist Davey Johnstone, "'Bennie and the Jets' was one of the oddest songs we ever recorded. We just sat back and said, 'This is really odd.'" While mixing the album, Dudgeon came up with the idea of creating a "live from Playhouse Theatre" sound for the track. He added reverb effects, applause and other audience sounds from John's previous concerts and a loop from the Jimi Hendrix live album Isle of Wight, plus whistles, giving it the "live concert recording" feel that has since become a sort of trademark.
(from wiki)

04. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (1973) [531 points, 21 votes, 2 first place votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ3Bb4UsXhU

lol ilm

I was sure this or Tiny Dancer would be number one.

xxxxxps massive lol at the Soul Train crowd dancing like they're the crowd in any indie club

I love this poll btw. imo we got the top three exactly right.

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.