Hello Eltonites, welcome to the last season of AllSongsList, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the list, with new guests. Having studied clarinet and piano in his youth, the opener is someone who has been a fan of Elton's music ever since he heard "Rocket Man" for the first time on the radio and learned the words to "Crocodile Rock" in his junior high school music class back in the fall of 1972. In high school, he remembers hearing "Island Girl" blasting out of the radio of one of his classmates in their drafting class. His name is John Kwok, a former paleobiologist and a member of the National Center for Science Education (http://www.ncse.com). He's currently working on the keyboard as a freelance writer and book doctor. He's written an unpublished near future alternate history post-cyberpunk science fiction novel set in the USA and Ireland; an excerpt was published here:
http://www.trickhouse.org/vol15/door_09_charlesalexander/charlesalexander.html (A book publicist once told him he was writing William Gibson meets the McCourts.). He intends to write a near future cyberpunk science fiction novel devoted to his life-long love of paleobiology and the music of a certain well known British pop and rock and roll musician. (Think William Gibson meets Gary Shteyngart meets Captain Fantastic.).
When I was asked by Miquel Sala to produce a Top Thirty list of Elton John/Bernie Taupin songs, I knew this would be a difficult, almost impossible, task given the extensive breadth and depth of their back catalogue; a catalogue which demonstrates why they should be viewed as the finest songwriting team of the latter half of the 20th Century, and perhaps, the early 21st Century too. The songs I have chosen, in the order ranked, tend to emphasize more their relatively recent songwriting, from the late 1980s to the present, simply because of the sophisticated artistry demonstrated by both in their melodies and lyrics. For these reasons I have presented a list of what I view as their forty one best songs, and one which omits some obvious choices and lesser known ones.
Under consideration were these songs from 1969
to 1980; “Skyline Pigeon”, “Border Song”, “Sixty Years On”, “The King Must
Die”, “Take Me to the Pilot”, “Friends”, “Come Down in Time”, “Ballad of a
Well-Known Gun”, “Where to Now Saint Peter?”,
“Burn Down The Mission”, “Country Comfort”, “Amoreena”, “Madman Across the Water”, “Holiday Inn”,
“Honky Cat”, “Hercules”, “Mellow”, “Salvation”, “Slave”, “Teacher I Need
You”, “Blues for Baby and Me”, “High
Flying Bird”, “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”, “Grey Seal”,
“Harmony”, “Roy Rogers”, “Sweet Painted Lady”, “All The Young Girls Love
Alice”, “I’ve Seen That Movie Too”, “The Ballad of Danny Bailey”, “Your Sister
Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock ‘N’ Roll)”, “Social Disease”, “Step into Christmas”, “Pinky”, “Grimsby”, “Dixie Lily”,
“Ticking”, “Captain Fantastic And The
Brown Dirt Cowboy”, “Bitter Fingers”, “Tell Me When The Whistle Blows”, “(Gotta
Get A) Meal Ticket”, “Better Off Dead”,
“We All Fall In Love Sometimes”, “Island Girl”, “I Feel Like a Bullet
(In the Gun of Robert Ford)”, “Grow Some Funk of Your Own”, “Crazy Water”, “Cage the Songbird”,
“Chameleon”, “Tonight”, “Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance)”, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, “Two Rooms At
The End Of The World”, and “White Lady
White Powder”.
I also considered these from the 80s and 90s;
“Just Like Belgium”, “The Retreat”,
“Spiteful Child”, “All Quiet On The Western Front”, “Cold as Christmas”, “Too
Low for Zero”, “Kiss The Bride”, “Saint”, “One Small Arrow”, “Breaking Hearts”, “Burning Buildings”, “Who
Wears These Shoes?”, “Passengers”, “In Neon”,
“Restless”, “Soul Glove”, “Wrap Her Up”, “Cry to Heaven”, “Candy by the Pound”, “Act of War”,
“Paris”, “Hoop of Fire”, “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (Part Two)”, “ A Word in Spanish”, “Japanese Hands”, “The
Camera Never Lies”, “Durban Deep”, “Healing Hands”, “Club at the End of the
Street”, “Amazes Me”, “Blue Avenue”,
“You Gotta Love Someone”, “Simple Life”,
“Sweat It Out”, “Runaway Train”, “Whitewash County”, “When A Woman
Doesn’t Want You”, “Emily”, “On Dark Street”, “House”, ”Belfast”, “Man”,
“Latitude”, “Please”, “Pain”, “Lies”, “Blessed”, “You Can Make History (Young
Again)”, “If The River Can Bend”, and
“Recover Your Soul”.
Finally, these from 2001 to the present were
also considered; “Dark Diamond”, “Birds”, “Ballad Of The Boy In Red Shoes”,
”Mansfield”, “Answer in the Sky”, “Turn the Lights Out When You Leave”, “All
That I’m Allowed”, “And The House Fell
Down”, “The Bridge”, “Blues Never Fade Away”, “I Must Have Lost It On The
Wind”, “Old 67”, “The Captain And The
Kid”, “Jimmie Rodgers’ Dream”, “Mandalay Again”, and “My Quicksand”.
If I had included songs Elton wrote with other
lyricists, these co-written with lyricist Gary Osborne, “Little Jeannie” and
“Blue Eyes”, would rank high on my Top Thirty list, at 15 and 5 respectively.
So too would those Elton co-wrote with lyricist Tim Rice, with “Circle of Life”
at 10, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” at 5, and “Written in the Stars” at 4,
alongside one of Elton’s best from the 1980s.
I haven’t included Elton’s hit cover versions of The Beatles’ “Lucy in
the Sky with Diamonds” and The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” because he didn’t compose
their melodies.
Honorable
Mentions:
Of the songs I considered, these came close to
making the Top Thirty List; “Sixty Years On”, “Burn Down The Mission”, “Madman
Across the Water”, “Honky Cat”, “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”,
“Harmony”, “Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy”, “Cage the Songbird”,
“Tonight”, “One More Arrow”, “Burning Buildings”, “In Neon”, “Cry to Heaven”,
“Paris”, “Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters (Part Two)”, “A Word in Spanish”, “Healing
Hands”, “Amazes Me”, “Blue Avenue”, “Runaway Train”, “On Dark Street”,
“Blessed”, “Ballad Of The Boy In Red Shoes”, “Answer in the Sky”, “All That I’m
Allowed”, “The Bridge”, “Old 67”, and “The Captain And The Kid”.
John’s
Top Thirty list:
30 Hey
Ahab/Home Again/5th Avenue
29
American Triangle/The Wasteland/When Love Is Dying
“American Triangle” (“Songs from the West
Coast”) is an especially moving tribute to Matthew Shepard, the University of
Wyoming undergraduate who was senselessly murdered simply for his
homosexuality; the recorded version includes memorable backup vocals from
Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright. Also from the same album, “The
Wasteland” is Elton and Bernie’s blues and soul-tinged hard-rocking tribute to
legendary American Blues pioneer Robert Johnson, whose music would – and still
does – influence many noted contemporary musicians in blues, soul, gospel and
rock. “When Love is Dying” (“The Union”) may be Elton and Bernie’s best
love-lost ballad in years, at least since “Sacrifice”, if not before, with the
studio version benefitting greatly from Brian Wilson’s choir-like vocal
arrangement.
28 Oscar
Wilde Gets Out
With a memorable minor key melody from Elton and
especially compelling lyrics from Bernie chronicling the tragic fall of Irish
writer Oscar Wilde during the final decades of his life, “Oscar Wilde Gets Out”
is the best song of theirs on the latest album, “The Diving Board”. Without a
doubt, the most compelling renditions of it are those performed live with Davey
Johnstone on banjo, Matt Bissonette on bass, Kim Bullard on keyboards, Nigel
Olsson on drums and John Mahon on percussion, accompanied by 2 Cellos who also
performed on its original studio recording. I believe this song, as well as
“Home Again”, should have been featured on the USA leg of the recent “The
Diving Board” tour.
27 Gone
to Shiloh
Some of Bernie Taupin’s finest lyrics have dealt
with his life-long love affair with Americana and American history, and his
lyrics for “Gone to Shiloh” (“The Union”) are no exception, especially since
they remain amongst his most thoughtful reflections on the American Civil War
itself. It’s a compelling saga about a young Union soldier from the bitterly
contested state of Tennessee leaving his younger siblings – or maybe, his
children - and the family farm, bound for an epic battle between the Union and
Confederate armies at Shiloh, Tennessee. The song ends on a downbeat note, with
a dire warning to the South if Union General William Tecumseh Sherman opts to
wage total war – which he did – against it.
26
Nikita/Tinderbox
25 I’m
Still Standing/I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That
These are two of Elton and Bernie’s best hard
rock anthems of self-affirmation, with Elton singing why he is still on top in
“I’m Still Standing” (“Too Low for Zero”), which remains a fan favorite during
his concerts. The phenomenally popular – at least here in the United States,
but now rarely performed – “I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That” (“Reg
Strikes Back”) was Elton’s highest-charting USA single in the 1980s, with Elton
bidding a most fond adieu to his soon-to-be ex-lover.
24 Bitch
is Back/Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting
These hard rockers, “Bitch is Back” (“Caribou”)
and “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” (“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”), are
easily still among the most familiar songs from Elton and Bernie for both
long-time fans and those barely acquainted with their impressive body of work.
Tina Turner has covered frequently “Bitch is Back” in her live performances,
providing her own unique gospel and soul-infused hard-rocking spin to this
song. “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” is quite simply, their hardest
rocking song, period.
23
Crocodile Rock/Bennie and the Jets
Others
might rank “Crocodile Rock” (“Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player”) and
“Bennie and the Jets” (“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”) much higher on their Elton
John Top Thirty Song list and I would have too if I had excluded great songs
ranging from “Sacrifice” in the late 1980s to the recently released “Home
Again”. Yet these are still sentimental favorites of mine, even while
recognizing that musically and lyrically, both Elton and Bernie have made major
artistic leaps since writing them back in the early 1970s. “Crocodile Rock”
truly takes us back “…when rock was young”, capturing the innocent sweetness of
1950s American rock and roll. “Bennie and
the Jets” remains Elton and Bernie’s great funky glam rock anthem, unexpectedly
becoming a hit song on African-American rhythm and blues radio stations before
it became a hit played frequently on American AM and FM rock and pop radio
stations.
22 Tiny
Dancer
One of the greatest love songs written by Elton
and Bernie, with Bernie writing poignantly about his first wife, the
“seamstress for the band”, still sounds as fresh and as vibrant in concert as
it did when it debuted on the “Madman Across the Water” album and was performed
live by the original trio consisting of Elton, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson. In
recent performances, Kim Bullard on synthesizers and 2 Cellos on electric
cellos perform Paul Buckmaster’s superb arrangement for string orchestra that
is heard prominently on the original studio recording.
21
Levon/Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Yet another memorable song from the “Madman
Across the Water” album, “Levon” remains a perennial favorite with audiences
during Elton John Band concert performances. (On a more personal note, this may
be the third Elton John/Bernie Taupin song – after “Rocket Man” and “Crocodile
Rock” – that I fell instantly in love with and memorized the lyrics too, still
recalling a Brooklyn, NY YMCA day camp counselor who sang an acoustic version
of it on his guitar back one summer in the early 1970s.) Much to his credit, Bernie Taupin has
excelled for years in crafting song lyrics that are genuine short stories in miniature,
and this is one of the finest early examples of him recounting the saga of that
“good man”, and proud war veteran, Levon.
The original studio recording features one of Paul Buckmaster’s great
orchestral arrangements, which are being performed now in concert via Kim
Bullard’s keyboard programming and 2 Cellos’ memorable playing on their
electric cellos. “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” (“Honky Chateau”) is Elton and
Bernie’s finest ode to New York City, and one made memorable by the virtuoso
playing by Dee Murray on bass and Davey Johnstone on mandolin in the original
studio recording. Much to my surprise, this was replicated again with Matt
Bissonette on bass, and especially, Davey Johnstone on mandolin, yielding one
of the most memorable musical highlights I heard during the December 4, 2013
Madison Square Garden concert.
20
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
19
Philadelphia Freedom
Originally written as a musical tribute to
Elton’s friend, the great professional tennis player Billie Jean King and her
tennis team, the Philadelphia Freedoms, it is also a magnificent soul and rock
tribute to the “Philly Sound” that emerged out of Philadelphia in the late 1960s
and early 1970s and the only hit single from Elton John and Bernie Taupin that
was released only as a single, not as a track on one of their early to mid
1970s albums. Having heard this recently live in concert and watching videos
from other recent concerts, I can say that Elton is singing it better than ever
– at least since his mid 1980s vocal surgery – accompanied by exceptional
musicianship from Davey Johnstone, Nigel Olsson and the rest of the band.
18 I
Want Love / This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore
Elton John is channeling John Lennon in “I Want
Love” the smash hit song from the “Songs from the West Coast” album, in a
musical style that pays ample homage to Lennon’s post-Beatles songwriting. I
think this will be remembered as the first great 21st Century Elton
John/Bernie Taupin song, having heard a riveting acoustic version of it during
an Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute concert at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium
several years ago; the concert itself was noteworthy just for Phoebe Snow’s rendition
of “Empty Garden”. The final song on the “Songs from the West Coast” album,
“This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore”, is his and Bernie’s most poignant
post-“Captain Fantastic” autobiographical ballad, with Elton viewing his career
as an older train that was once “the main express”; it remains, along with
“Original Sin”, as one of my two favorite songs from this album, featuring an
exceptional orchestral arrangement from Paul Buckmaster, who composed all of
the album’s arrangements.
17 Your
Song
There’s an almost timeless quality to Elton’s
music and Bernie’s heart-felt, poignant lyrics for this early song of theirs
which debuted on the “Elton John” album. It certainly remains one of their
great love songs, and one which is sung forcefully with more conviction by
Elton now in concert than I have heard on either the original studio recording
or in concert performances from the 1970s and early 1980s.
16 Sorry
Seems to be the Hardest Word
15 Don’t
Let the Sun Go Down On Me
Quite possibly the greatest ballad ever written
by Elton and Bernie from their classic 70s period, this quintessential song
became a chart-topping hit for Elton and
then, many years later, in the great duo version with him and George Michael.
The original studio version (“Caribou”) features great backup vocals from Toni
Tennille and several others associated with the Beach Boys.
14 Sad
Songs (Say So Much)
“Sad Songs (Say So Much)” remains one of the
great Elton John/Bernie Taupin soul-infused rock ballads, and one especially
memorable in its original studio version (“Breaking Hearts”) courtesy of great
harmonizing from Davey Johnstone, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson.
13 The
Last Song
12 Empty
Garden
This poignant, heart-felt, tribute to the late
John Lennon from the “Jump Up” album, demonstrates not only a genuine return to
form of the Elton John/Bernie Taupin songwriting partnership by 1981, but
also greater sophistication in their
melodies and lyrics than what they wrote during their classic 1970s period. I
think this will be another great song of theirs that will be covered by singers
for generations; indeed I heard a great, rousing rendition of it from Phoebe
Snow at an Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute concert held at Carnegie Hall’s
Stern auditorium several years ago.
11
Original Sin
Elton didn’t exaggerate when he said that this
was the best song he had written during the “Songs from the West Coast” tour.
It may be the best love song that he’s written with Bernie since “The One”.
With its exquisitely beautiful melody and sophisticated lyrics referencing
Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, I am surprised he hasn’t performed this much
as part of his typical set list with the Elton John Band.
10 Live
Like Horses
9
Something About the Way You Look Tonight
The B-side to the “Candle in the Wind 1997”
single, “Something About the Way You Look Tonight” is the other great ballad
from “The Big Picture”, a country-western-flavored love song sung by Elton to
the beautiful woman he has seen, acknowledging his emotional salvation in
finding her, the love of his life.
8
Believe
A rousing anthem in celebration of the power of
love, “Believe” remains one of the greatest songs ever written by Elton John
and Bernie Taupin, and one made especially memorable courtesy of a great string
orchestral arrangement from none other
than Paul Buckmaster, who resumed a long-overdue musical collaboration with
Elton on the “Made in England” album. In recent concert performances, Kim
Bullard on synthesizers and 2 Cellos have performed Buckmaster’s superb
arrangement.
7
Sacrifice
From the “Sleeping with the Past” album, Elton
and Bernie wrote a late 1980s version of “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word”
that is musically and lyrically, far more nuanced and elaborate than their
earlier love-lost ballad. It may be their most poignant musical portrait of a
love affair, and especially, a marriage, in ruins. It is yet another song of
theirs that should be viewed as a timeless classic, worthy of being covered by
other singers as notable as Frank Sinatra and Joe Cocker.
6
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
The title song from the “Goodbye Yellow Brick
Road” album has a great chorus for the audience to join in, as Elton has
announced during recent concert performances of it. This may be their most
memorable, image-laden, “kiss off” song, evoking not only the “Wizard of Oz”,
but an idealized, bucolic view of rural America as imagined by the much younger
Elton and Bernie. During her latest tour, the young American singer-songwriter
Sara Bareilles – who has been compared favorably with the likes of Billy Joel,
Tori Amos and Regina Spektor and whom I regard as a much better songwriter than
Lady Gaga – has sung “Goodbye Yellow
Brick Road”, offering listeners a truly compelling, original twist to it, which
bodes well for its future as yet another timeless classic from the Elton
John/Bernie Taupin songwriting team.
5
Candle in the Wind
4 I
Guess Why They Call It The Blues
Many might regard this as the best song Elton
co-wrote with Bernie and Davey Johnstone, and they may be right. Instead I
think of it as the best song from the “Too Low for Zero” album. It’s a terrific
bluesy rock anthem of a love song in which Elton now plays up its blues
inflections in both his singing and piano playing during his live performances.
The original studio recording features a harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder and
great vocal harmonizing from Davey, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson.
3
Daniel
Quite possibly their greatest folk rock ballad,
“Daniel” (“Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player”) is frequently cited as
the best song ever written by the John/Taupin songwriting team. It’s a
reasonable assessment, not least because it contains a great Elton John melody
and excellent Bernie Taupin lyrics that are yet again, a most memorable short
story rendered as poetry. Taupin’s lyrics are hauntingly beautiful and
ambiguous, if only because Elton had crossed out the final verse explaining who
Daniel really was, since he thought the song might be too long if he had
retained it. The original studio
recording features great acoustic bass and guitar playing from Dee Murray and
Davey Johnstone and melodic drumming from Nigel Olsson, which is echoed now, in
recent live performances, by Matt Bissonette on bass and John Mahon on
percussion, as well as by Davey and Nigel.
2
Rocket Man
This is the finest folk rock ballad I’ve ever
heard about manned spaceflight and the loneliness of space experienced by an
astronaut “burning up his fuse up there alone”. Bernie Taupin’s lyrics are
poignantly more realistic than David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” lyrics, coupled to
an especially memorable Elton John melody that evokes not only the loneliness,
but even boredom, experienced by astronauts during the Apollo lunar landing
missions, that is still relevant for those serving today aboard the
International Space Station. Having heard the original studio recording from
the “Honky Chateau” album played at an Apple Store in New
York, NY, I was struck immediately by the song’s excellent production values
courtesy of Gus Dudgeon and his sound engineers, yielding a recording that
still sounds as fresh and as vibrant today as it was when it was recorded at
Strawberry Studios back in the early 1970s; a
recording that sounds vastly superior to any made by T Bone Burnett and
his engineers for the recording sessions of both “The Union” and “The Diving
Board”. On the “Two Rooms” tribute album, Kate Bush sang a reggae-inflected
version that earned in 2007, The Observer readers’ award for best Cover of all
time.
1 The
One
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