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

sorry I loathe this – so gormless.

I WANT YOU TO BE MY ACROBAT indeed

also I wish they would do a special reissue of madman with an actual embroidered cover, it's so sad that they printed it as flat art all those years ago. Kind of dulled the effect of all that lady's work

The album cover for Madman Across the Water was embroidered over two weeks by Janis Larkham, wife of the album art director David Larkham. She used the back of an old Levi's jacket, and the original was gifted to John. There was no initial run of expensive album covers with similar embroidery, nor embossed versions; it was flat printed, though it did include a lavish booklet. Janis chose to credit herself as "Yanis" for this artwork.

xpost it has heaps of gorm wtf are you talking abt

lol

if he's saying "goodbye" to yellow brick road, why is he stepping onto the yellow brick road on the cover?

so much fucking gibberish nonsense with this guy

and not the fun kind of Donovan/Marc Bolan gibberish, just malformed attempts at compelling imagery

(xpost, ha ha!) strange thing about the GBYR cover. he appears to be stepping on to the yellow brick road, not off it. more of a "say hello, hello" gesture than a "goodbye" gesture. unless he's backing out.

mmm gorm I'm hungry

gormbye yellow brick road.

Little Jeannie sounds like a dentist's office. I kinda like it when the rhythm ace backing track comes in after the second verse but again distractingly bad lyrics right there in the chorus and the melody isn't particularly catchy or interesting. Drums are terrible. and then oh look a phased sax solo. barfolicious.

bernie is the one saying goodbye to the ybr. elton just walked him out and is on his way back to oz.

Nigel Gormson
Davey Johnsgorm

The horns in "Little Jeannie" are what kill me.

and not the fun kind of Donovan/Marc Bolan gibberish, just malformed attempts at compelling imagery

― what's up ugly girls? (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, August 20, 2013 3:03 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

17-11-70 cover always reminds me of this:

http://www.herbmusic.net/album/cover/2012/07/7326_elton_john_17_11_70.jpg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bryanburnett/2008/05/images/300_r_rex_electric_warrior_400v.jpg

49. "Too Low For Zero" (1983) [81 points, 4 votes]

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

crossing my fingers for track-by-track trolling from shakey mo

I hope he's up to it!

the affection for TLFZ is awesome!

hahaha, ditto

GYBR cover would have been 100000x better with him stepping off of it, I agree.

xp

I'd remembered this song before voting time, but the past couple weeks of listening has made it a favorite of mine for sure.

Elton's visual statements were his glasses, not his album covers, guys. this is so obvious.

48. "Border Song" (1970) [82 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VIH11m6QGk

Hmm, a favorite of five people who are nowhere to be found, apparently. Holy Moses.

47. "Blue Eyes" (1982) [83 points, 3 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CiyKeSnSxk

Aretha's version of "Border Song" is okay I guess.

I voted for "Blue Eyes"!

I think I voted for Blue Eyes too. it should be corny as all get out. Somehow it's not.

There's an Orbison-esque quality to this song, mixed with a hotel lounge performer's schtick. I dunno. It's working for me.

Too Low For Zero -
lyrics to this are pretty good actually, although totally unrelated to the feel of the music. I suppose that could be intentional but just makes me think that it's the kind of thing Steely Dan or Bryan Ferry would do in a much different and better way. melodically basic but serviceable, wears out its welcome at 6 minutes, that's for sure. strange song to play at Live Aid or whatever that show is. backing band is atrocious.

xxpost yeah, good call re: orbison! it feels legit sad not just 'ahm in lurve with a gurl who has blue eyes'

couldn't bring myself to vote for "blue eyes." it's monumental in my memories. that melody. that vocal. but ouch that lyric. gary osborne, who wrote it, does not hold a candle in the wind to bernie taupin. i complain about bernie as much as the next guy, but his words really do sound good coming out of elton's mouth. gary's words somehow sound even worse when subjected to as good a melody and vocal performance as this.

Border Song
why is he appealling to Moses, I don't get it. the bad water/back to the border bit makes it sound like he went to Tijuana and got diarrhea. first he complains about being around people who aren't like him and then he wants to live in peace... what? the inscrutability here is pretty irritating. as torch songs go the piano refrain is fine, melody is sort of just there, feel like the backing gospel vocals are there to give the song an emotional heft that the narrator and lead vocal line can't deliver by themselves. not bad but pretty unremarkable.

the bad water/back to the border bit makes it sound like he went to Tijuana and got diarrhea.

HA!

"harmony," which i did vote for, is what "blue eyes" would sound like if bernie taupin was there.

Blue Eyes
uh the word "blue" doing a lot of heavy lifting here. godawful synth sounds, like the opening theme to some 80s daytime soap. vocal performance seems like the saving grace, something affecting in his dips into his lower and upper registers here and there. again not really impressed with the melody, so many times it feels like Elton's building up to a halfway decent hook or refrain and then things just... peter out.

TIE-45. "Are You Ready For Love?" (1977) [83 points, 4 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jw7MtB2fm0

^ This is an awesome song that I may have skimmed right past when doing my listening. I'm LOVING IT right now.

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, but a thankful respite from the incoherent nonsense he's usually working with. needs more of the goofy squelchin synth sounds from the end. it seems a bit slight, a throwaway, not that there's anything wrong with that.

It's from the sessions he did with Thom Bell in Philadelphia, so your ear is serving you well.

I dunno why you guys (ahem Shakey) are concentrating for better or worse on lyrics. "Blue Eyes" is about John's vocal and the keyboard harmonics.

eh I'm a 50/50 kind of listener

TIE-45. "Holiday Inn" (1971) [83 points, 4 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=666JAioPDhM

shakey will be playing the role of Simon Cowell for this rollout

here's one I don't know.

I'm a fan of pointless sitar.

There's just so much you can say when a song's lyrical premise is eye color. I voted for "Blue Eyes" for the great melody, and good vocal delivery even if the lyrics are unexceptional.

I like alot of stuff from the Thom Bell sessions, but none stood out enough to make my ballot.

"Holiday Inn" probably would have made my top 25

Gary Osborne's lyrics for "Blue Eyes" are just right: they don't strain, they decorate the melody.

Holiday Inn
This is pretty good! The orchestra breakdowns, the fake sitar, the mandolin picking running through the whole thing. The arrangement effectively shifts the parts of the composition around instead of just relying on bombast or repetition. sentiment of the song isn't all that compelling but whatever, the world always needs another song about world-weary musicians amirite...

Yeah, it's the 'Wanted Dead or Alive' of its day.

Are You Ready For Love? got a second life in the UK circa five years ago thanks to a remix (for no obvious reason). Thought that might've got it a few more votes tbh, it's excellent.