Mama Can't Buy You Love: The Official ILM Track-By-Track ELTON JOHN 1978-1988 Listening Thread

At last! One of my most hated songs ever. Even as a 10-year-old listening to the radio I was like, "What IS this shit?"

it has something to do with apartheid and things

It certainly has the power to terrorise a government into changing its ways.

this was a hit? i have absolutely no recollection of this existing. it's not terrible at all. it might even be good. it sounds like a piece of paul mccartney schlock that could have wound up on the white album as easily as it could have wound up on pipes of peace, and no matter what decade it was you'd ask yourself why is paul mccartney doing this, but then you'd wake up one day and rhe song would suddenly pop into your head, separated from all context, and you'd think to yourself, "wow, this is pretty damn catchy. he was pretty good at that,"

and now that i've let the album keep playing in the background and i'm hearing the proper singer-songwriter elton john stuff that follows, i'm kind of wishing for more like it.

i may wake up tomorrow and feel differently, though.

also, as vaguely ethnic pop goes, i'll take this over "ob-la-di ob-la-da," "island girl" or anything i can remember off the top of my head from "the lion king," which admittedly is not much, but still.

it sounds like a piece of paul mccartney schlock that could have wound up on the white album as easily as it could have wound up on pipes of peace,

yeah, it's a bit like if McCartney had hit #5 with "Temporary Secretary."

more like "Waterfalls"

or "mull of kintyre."

"In Neon"

http://youtu.be/Pe_4rZwegLc

http://eil.com/Gallery/298530b.jpg

A single in America. Better than "Passengers" -- barely.

Elton resembles mid-period Orson Welles on that single sleeve

I have a very dim memory of this one: the "in NEON" hook rang a bell when I heard it again. A vaguely-country "Candle in the Wind" sequel with a chorus that Elton has to sell a bit too hard. As w/ "Passengers," it's odd that this got the single nod when EJ had the title track as an option

some quality parentheses going on.

"Burning Bridges"

http://youtu.be/_o9M9EW-aRk

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/_wgXA9ZnjHg/0.jpg

Another absurd Taupin metaphor (maybe he listened to Talking Heads' "Love --> Building on Fire") but in the service of a good ballad. I'm thinking that the erosion of Elton's high end has made him a better balladeer -- if the material is sturdy.

agreed that his voice is in a nice place here. the arrangement is very captain fantastic (something about the keyboard sounds and the backing vocals, especially). but the melody falls just a hair short, and the joylessness on display here is part of what had me begging for more "passengers" a couple days ago.

yeah a bit of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" in the melody/arrangement. Even by Taupin standards the lyric is ridiculous. You get the sense EJ took on Taupin's most batshit lines like they were Saturday-level NY Times crossword puzzles. & he almost solves it here! but all those clunky "ing" rhymes in the chorus take him down.

"Did He Shoot Her?"

http://youtu.be/CiAgM8VgSFM

http://cloud.lomography.com/576/406/75/f1af89f557af9ca53a9ab28361acc3d9d36378.jpg

poor Renata

so what the hell is this thing?

he shot her with a barrage of tortured metaphors. and she used to be my girl, so now i will do the same to him. also, "it's the 20th century now."

as always, we will forgive bernie when elton figures out that saturday crossword that his lyrics pose (nice way to put it, col). not that he needs our forgiveness; elton has the power to actually make his lyrics be good. elton, unfortunately, does not come close to solving the puzzle here.

poor Renata indeed. Maybe one day there'll be a Todd Haynes film inspired by her

this is a bit of car wreck---Elton seems to be throwing out everything he can think of and nothing really works. Is there sitar in this thing? Surprised there isn't a vuvuzela solo by the end of it

love to imagine Taupin heard Richard & Linda Thompson's "Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?" and was inspired to write this.

Tomorrow: the classic.

So Breaking Hearts is a notch below TLFZ. Bashing out in two weeks in early '84 isn't the same as bashing it out in two weeks in early '73.

yeah, TLFZ had more unity (all Elton albums have a hodgepodge of styles---his LPs are variety shows in which he plays all the roles---but there's more of a "feel" to TLFZ). Breaking Hearts is even more all over the place than usual, though its sequencing deploys the top-rank songs well by spacing them out.

i think the end of the "revival" is nigh: next album could be a tough one.

turn 'em on:

"Sad Songs (Say So Much)"

http://youtu.be/X23v5_K7cXk

http://burningthegrounddjpault.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/a-front12.jpg

Whenever "Sad Songs" came on the transistor radio that we listened to on school bus trips, this one kid would wait until the line "and it's times like these when we all need to hear the radio" and yell "Not this time!" & flick off the radio with a grand flourish of the wrist.

As this was fairly witty for 6th grade, it got some big laughs. Then he kept doing it seemingly every time "Sad Songs" came on during summer '84 and he soon became profoundly irritating, as you have to wait quite a while for that line (it's halfway through the first verse) & by that point you're committed to the song or you're (at least my case) just bracing for him to do his schtick.

this was a valuable lesson on how quickly an inspired bit can rot into sheer irritation. I hope it's served me well over the years.

Funnily enough, this one has disappeared from local easy listening radio, after years as an evergreen, therefore it sounds fresh now. I love the harmonies (AHHHHHHH). Another engaged EJ vocal with odd points of emphasis ("REACH into your ROOM WO-OH-OH-OHHH!), compensating for a tinny keyboard sound.

Not a fan of this one. The song is a bit Drifters (70s edition), with maybe a touch of Steve Winwood in there as well. A blueprint for much of the mediocrity to come from Elton.

top twenty Elton this one.

So after a couple of b-sides we explore the majesty of Ice on Fire.

in which the singles could be the worst things on the album (but maybe not)

"sad songs" is yet another one that sounds ripe for a nashville cover. never particularly loved it, and i still think of sasson jeans when i hear it (one of the few ads i can think of that tangibly damaged a song for me). but it's well constructed and produced and catchy, and it's easy to see why it was a hit. the one thing that irks me after hearing it anew: the "sad songs they say..." bridge, about three minutes in, goes nowhere and sounds like really obvious padding.

but when after the bridge he returns (SOOO turn'em ON-ON!) it's with gusto

The bridge does feel like EJ throwing out an idea and not really taking it anywhere: it's just a garnish. But a nice one! agree that it really helps sock home the chorus.

I like "Sad Songs" now far more than I did then, esp. as Alfred said, the skill of Elton's phrasing, where the emphases sometimes don't land where you expect them to, esp. in the verse. Like "I'm Still Standing" you could argue it's EJ subtly undermining the lyric (minor key triumphant chorus in the former, cheery C major "sad song" here)

Christgau, praising it and "I Guess That's Why..." as EJ's best eighties songs, said it worked despite it not being particularly sad.

but when after the bridge he returns (SOOO turn'em ON-ON!) it's with gusto

that's true. i attribute the gusto to how happy he is that the bridge is over. "take me back to the tonic! please! ahhhh, phew!"

if you're in the mood for song murders, here's a bellow-a-thon version with Elton and Rod Stewart from last year:

http://youtu.be/oIzqM4s3Wmg?t=4m5s

"A Simple Man:

http://youtu.be/nA-ObZ6XrP8

http://liveaid.free.fr/rewind/bbc/images/060eltonjohn/02.jpg

as opposed to "A Single Man"?

there was also the mildly funky "Lonely Boy", which deserved to be on the LP more than "Did He Shoot Her?" at least:

http://youtu.be/AgIVSle4iVo

& finally "Tortured," the flip of the UK "Who Wears These Shoes." again, a cut above like 1/4 of the tracks on the LP

http://youtu.be/Tm0mlaW36N8

talk box on "Lonely Boy"!

Is this the first time the B-sides are better than album tracks?

yeah, I'd say so.

should we do the crazy Millie Jackson duet single before Ice on Fire? (i think it precedes the album)

that's fine. "Tortured" sounds like a Fox outtake written for Barry Manilow.

There was one more B-side, a live recording of a cover of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". It dates from 1977 though, so arguably outside scope for this project.

This may be it:
http://youtu.be/CnDx6e-qT-8

Don't think I know this recording but I remember fondly the 11 minute plus version he did at one of his Moscow gigs in 1979; included a couple of amazing extended piano solos.

thanks Jeff. i'd assumed that one was nowhere to be found on YT (it's weird all the B-sides are there but not the lead-off track of the album, which is fairly well-regarded by fans). It's okay---i'd rather have had an extended piano bit instead of the guitar solo

"Act of War!"

http://youtu.be/omEj8lzaqbE

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/cLiLVv87Ggc/hqdefault.jpg

The mullet years.

the video is the most 1985 of anything 1985 things

if only EJ and Millie had dueted in 1975. or even 1995. This was an ill-starred collaboration. Was Elton trying to go for a Frankie Goes to Hollywood thing? Subtle Cold War metaphor lyric by Taupin a sign of things to come w/"Nikita"

I was hoping the video would end on some pun of "too low for 0".......

rather loud this one