28 March 1975, Elton presented his own show on Radio One: Don't Shoot Me! I am Only The Diskjockey". There's so much satisfaction too to have this man on my side. This is a fan of statistics, charts, numbers, like me, or me like him. He's a 26 years old Elton
fan from Turku, Finland: "Miquel asked me to
write an article for allsongslist, and as a
long time member of first Crazywater and then on Hercules message boards, I've followed the
evolution of allsongslist closely. It is a great
blog indeed, and the list of all Elton songs is
very well done, I will definitely check it
once again when it appears to the blog". He is the one who posted "Song Of The Day" on Hercules website, and let eltonites to vote their favourites. Hard worker, very supportive, he's Antti Honkasalo. It's your turn, Antti.
So, Miquel asked me to write about
myself, how I became an Elton fan and how Elton
has affected my life. Well, my Elton fandom
started more than ten years ago. I wasn't much
interested about music during my childhood, although
I sang in a choir and played first violin and
then guitar. Our home wasn't filled with music,
and we only had a few cd's and vinyls, and the
ones I remember listening were a few Phil
Collins cd's, a cd by Chris Rea, one by Pet Shop
Boys and one by Paul Young, but not much others.
The change happened when I was in upper-level
comprehensive school, when my father bought an
Elton John compilation as a Christmas present
to my mother. Our family listened to that
compilation in our car, and I remember that I was very
impressed. The first songs that captured my
interest were "The One" and "Live
Like Horses" with Luciano Pavarotti. Although the compilation
was a present to my mother, I was able to
listen to it with my stereos that father bought
me (they were pretty much silent before Elton
John!). Soon I started to like other songs as
well. Elton's music was so good, that I wanted to
hear other artists. Second came The Beatles,
then Elvis Presley, and more. My world was
suddenly surrounded with wonderful music, and
all I could thank for that was Elton.
It took a few years before I started
to buy by myself more Elton music. I started
from the best known albums, and then slowly bought
them all. When I had all Elton's studio
albums, I thought that I could call myself a fan, and
I joined the Crazywater community. I met great
people to talk with, and I also started slowly
collecting rare Elton songs from other fans. I
remember the excitement around the release of The
Captain And The Kid, an album idea that I was
probably behind. I can't sware it's true, but
I sent a message to eltonjohn.com editor,
where I presented the idea, and wondered how
much more stories they (or Bernie) could tell
their fans about their career. Anyway, I was of
course very happy with the results, and The
Captain And The Kid remains as one of my favorite
Elton albums. I have only seen Elton once live,
and that was after the release of Peachtree Road
in my home town. I also wrote a message to
eltonjohn.com about the event, and was very
pleased as they even published it!
Fortunately, Elton gave me even more
than great music fandom. I started to write own
music, and nowadays I have five demos at myspace.com/anttihonkasalo that you
can listen to. The songs lack professionality,
of course, but I have done my best to make them
as good as possible. I'm currently searching
for more education to make my music even
better. Hopefully some day my music will be professionally made and released, so
that others can also enjoy of my creations. If I
could meet Elton one day, I would definitely
thank you him of making my life so much happier
because of his wonderful music.
And finally, my top 30 Elton songs
list. I've decided to put my current favorites
in it, in
order. That is hard, because
different songs are great because of different things,
but I do my best. So, here is the list:
Here's a mostly forgotten rocker,
from Elton's probably least liked Classic Years
album. It's aggressive and lyrics make it even
more fun.
29. Nikita
This song was one of the biggest
hits of the eighties. It is throughout musically
really wonderful song, and although
"Nikita" is a Russian male name, it doesn't matter
too much.
My favorite part of it is the
instrumental solo.
28. Sacrifice
Another big hit, Elton's first UK
solo number one. Both musically and lyrically touching
song.
27. El Dorado
This is the first song from The Road
To El Dorado soundtrack. Although it
wasn't very
succesful, this song strikes me with
it's beauty and hopeful lyrics.
26. Healing Hands
From the Sleeping With The Past
album, this song is also a big fan favorite
generally. What I like in it the most is it's power.
25. Emily
This song is real A-side material,
but it wasn't used as a single. The simple but
touching melody has sometimes turned me to tears.
24. All The Nasties
One of the lesser known songs from
Madman album. It has very interesting verses,
chorus is more ordinary, but still great and outro
is something like "Curtains" would be
later on.
23. Rock Me When He's Gone
Although this song has no drums, it
still has lots of energy and it's great fun -
all that a
good rock & roll song should
have.
22. Circle Of Life
An A-side from The Lion King. I like
this much more than "Can You Feel The
Love Tonight?", where the problem is the chorus. But
this song is great throughout, and sounds
powerful.
21. Ticking
Probably the best ever album closer
from Elton. The lyrics are astonishingly great,
and keep the song interesting to the end.
Elton's piano playing is also stunning. Deeply
loved by fans.
20. Nice And Slow
An Eltonbernie song from The
Complete Thom Bell Sessions, an EP that could have been
a hit album. It's incredibly catchy, although it
has some structural issues that decreses that
impression.
19. Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters
A beautiful song about New Yourk
city. The lyrics sometimes irritate me a little:
"Rich man can ride and the hobo he can
drown". Does it really have to go that way?
Daniel is a love/hate type of song,
which has mostly fans' attraction but there
are also
people who dislike this song. It is
a beautiful song, but maybe some think it's too
sugary. I
don't - I've always loved it.
17. Rocket Man (live from Here And
There Disc 2)
The reason why I chose this live
version, is Elton's vocal. It sounds so nicely mellow. A classic song and a great live
version.
16. Don't Go Breaking My Heart
Another love/hate type of song. It
might be too commercial for some, but not for me.
15. Bennie And The Jets (live from
Here And There Disc 2)
Another live version from Here And
There. This is my favorite version of
"Bennie", also because of the vocals, but not because of
mellow vocals, but because of the screaming vocals in
the end.
14. Your Song (live from Here And
There Disc 2)
And yet one more song from Here And
There. This is my favorite version of this
most-loved Elton song, mostly because of passinate
vocals in the end, and the best live audience
Elton has had.
13. Made In England
An uptempo song from the album of
the same name. Not a wonder that it wasn't a bigger
hit, as the other hits of that time were so much
different. I like it's energy and happy sound.
12. Candle In The Wing (live from
Live In Australia)
I chose this live version from Live
In Australia because the sympony orchestral
arrangement is brilliant, and Elton sings very
passionately.
A relaxed, easy going pop single
from The Complete Thom Bell Sessions. Lyrics
aren't as great, but that doesn't matter much.
Bonus points from Elton's wonderful vocals.
10. I Guess That's Why They Call It
The Blues
One of the biggest hit singles of
the eighties. I love this song, but only this
version. Elton has never succeed performing this
song well live, and least on One Night Only.
9. Someone Saved My Life Tonight
A slowly growing melodic
masterpiece. It could have more passionate drumming like
"Curtains", but even without it it's simply
stunning.
8. The One
This song was my favorite when the
fandom began. It just is brilliantly arranged and
produced, and the composition and lyrics are
also brilliant.
7. Are You Ready For Love? (with The
Spinners)
I chose the version with The
Spinners because it's longer than the '79 version. It's
lots of energetic fun. Not a wonder that it
would be a big hit much later after the
release, not this version though.
6. Island Girl
The number one hit from Rock of the
Westies. This song is also brilliantly
arranged and
produced, and extremely catchy.
5. Don't Trust That Woman
Now this is the first time you
think, "what the heck is this song doing
here?!". I find it brilliantly arranged and produced,
and catchy, just like the previous song. I hope
more fans could actually get into this song.
It's one of those songs from Leather Jackets
that make it a decent album.
4. Philadelphia Freedom
Another catchy, well arranged and
produced song, and also a number one hit. What I
especially like in this song are the strings.
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A song that gave me my profile name.
It's an energetic, almost endlessly growing
rocker, that definitely rocks everyone as much as
it can. Some complain about the lyrics, but I
don't have a problem with them.
2. Saturday Night's Alright (live
from Captain Fantastic Deluxe)
I chose this live version because it
is longer than the original version, the
audience is really in great mood, clapping all the
time. The energy of the performance is really high.
In the end you can hear some fanatic screaming
from the audience, making certain that at
least this song succeeded in the concert.
1. Hard Luck Story
This song has been my favorite song
for a few years. First, I overlooked this
song, but suddenly it started to attract me with it's
catchiness. It's greatly arranged, and lyrics
are fun. This is my most played Elton song too,
with 245 in last.fm (there would be more if the
cd plays and mp3 player counts would be added).
Antti's Eltonite's Day in 2009:
http://eltonjohnallsongslist.blogspot.com.es/2010/07/eltonites-get-up-stand-up-to-receive.html
Antti's Eltonite's Day in 2009:
http://eltonjohnallsongslist.blogspot.com.es/2010/07/eltonites-get-up-stand-up-to-receive.html
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