![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Though many people mistakenly believe the song was recorded live, the applause and crowd whooping noises were added in the studio from recordings of audiences at previous Elton and Jimi Hendrix concerts. How wrong he was the song gave him his second US number one, and had sold 2.8 million copies across the pond by 1976. This incredibly catchy mid-paced piano boogie, about a glitzy fictional band, regularly turns up in polls of Elton’s most adored songs – even though the singer himself wasn’t sure it would be a hit, admitting that he “fought tooth and nail against Bennie coming out as a single”. Itself recorded in part as a homage to the classic Phil Spector-produced Christmas songs of the Sixties, which John adored, Step into Christmas shows Elton at his most playful – it even had a B-side called Ho, Ho, Ho (Who’d Be a Turkey at Christmas). Aptly, Elton gave a tender performance of the song at the Concert for New York benefit shortly after 9/11.įrom an age when Christmas songs were more than just novelty throwaways, this 1973 effort was recorded in the Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road era, and duly borrowed some of that album’s glam-rock stomp and irresistible melody. ![]() Taupin’s lyrics – which were in part inspired by Ben E King’s classic soul cut Spanish Harlem – relate his take on the characters he encountered in a bustling New York City. Though it was never released as a single, this wistful ballad from Elton’s third album, Honky Chateau, is known to be one of the singer’s personal favourites. In 2011 the song was used to wake up astronauts on the Space Shuttle Atlantis, following a personal message from Elton. Bernie Taupin’s fantastical lyric told the tale of an astronaut torn between doing his work duty and leaving his family behind, and drew inspiration from a short story by science fiction writer Ray Bradbury (and, Taupin has admitted, a song also called Rocket Man by US psychedelic rock band Pearls Before Swine). The song was immortalised by Cameron Crowe’s 2000 rock‘n’roll coming of age film Almost Famous during a scene in which all the main protagonists sing along to it on a tour bus.Īnother of Elton’s most beloved songs, Rocket Man reached number two in the UK chart in 1972. Its slight country twang – complete with pedal-steel – was something of a departure for John in 1972, but by the time the track swells to a string-laden crescendo, it sounds akin to his many other piano ballad classics. The track won a new generation of fans when it was revived by British singer Ellie Goulding in 2010 for that year’s John Lewis Christmas advert.Įlton’s greatest hit that was never actually a hit (it limped to number 42 in the US, and wasn’t even released as a single in the UK), Tiny Dancer was Taupin’s ode to the Californian women he met on his first visit to the USA in 1970. Your Song was originally the B-side to the song Take Me to the Pilot, but radio play eventually helped it to make the top 10 in both the UK and US. The former is said to have written the music in around 10 minutes, while the latter completed the lyrics over breakfast in the flat the two shared. This simple, piano-driven love song was written in 1969 by Elton and his long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin. Elton John’s first hit is also one of his most enduring. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |