Here are our top five favorite Elton John songs — what are yours?
By Tad Dickens | 777-6474
A key figure in the all-time pop culture soundtrack, singer/pianist/songwriter Elton John, will be at Roanoke Civic Center on Thursday. And that’s huge news for folks of a certain age.
After all, many of those who came of age in the 1970s and ’80s still feel the resonance in many of John’s hits. And those numbers, written with lyricist Bernie Taupin, remain the highlights of his career in my judgment.
When we found out that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, class of 1994, would not be doing interviews during his tour, we went with plan B. The idea was to select my five favorite EJ songs.
That became more difficult the longer I thought about it. At least 10 still hold up for me. But I’ve whittled it down to five and will post them on The Roanoke Times music blog, blogs.roanoke.com/cutnscratch. You’re invited to comment with your own top five.
And now, with respect to the man born Reginald Dwight, who grew up to become a knight, these are my songs — with lyrical memory refreshment and relative accuracy courtesy of eltonography.com.
1. ‘Bennie and the Jets’
(“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” 1973)
The title cut from this album might be the most beloved number on this masterwork of a double-record. But “Bennie” is the baddest.
It was definitely a rock song, but John — dressed like St. Patrick’s Day at the disco — performed it on “Soul Train,” too. Check out the performance at youtu.be/8vLlpJc9mW0. That’s crossover power.
Taupin’s lyrics, about a band with the power to inspire youthful rebellion, matched the piano-driven low boil. John sings: “Hey kids, plug into the faithless/Maybe they’re blinded/But Bennie makes them ageless/We shall survive, let us take ourselves along/Where we fight our parents out in the streets/To find who’s right and who’s wrong.”
John slides into and out of a strong falsetto as he sings “Oh Bennie she’s really keen/She’s got electric boots a mohair suit/You know I read it in a magazine,” one of his best vocal moves.
Remarkably, two of the performers common to all of these recordings — guitarist Davey Johnstone and drummer Nigel Olsson — will be onstage with John at the civic center.
2. ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight’
(“Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy,” 1975)
According to Rolling Stone magazine, in its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time collection, Taupin wrote the lyrics to “Captain Fantastic” in an attempt at “a self-mythologizing album about his and John’s rise to fame.” It includes this number, one of the pop canon’s most haunting.
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight” was about Taupin stopping John from committing suicide with a gas oven, according to the Stone piece.
Lyrical details of despair in crazy times are all over the song, both in the chorus (“You nearly had me roped and tied/Altar-bound, hypnotized/Sweet freedom whispered in my ear”) and more directly in the second verse (I never realized the passing hours of evening showers/A slip noose hanging in my darkest dreams/I’m strangled by your haunted social scene/Just a pawn out-played by a dominating queen … I’m sleeping with myself tonight/Saved in time, thank God my music’s still alive”).
Combine that theme with John’s typically brilliant match of chord changes to lyrical content — plus the Beach Boys-like harmonies of Johnstone, Olsson and original John bassist Dee Murray, and you have something for the time capsule.
3. ‘Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me’
(“Caribou,” 1974)
Maybe one of the most beautiful and majestic pop songs ever written from a stalker’s point of view. But John’s powerful vocals make the listener feel sympathy with this creep that Taupin has created.
“I’d just allow a fragment of your life to wander free … I can’t find, oh the right romantic line/But see me once and see the way I feel/Don’t discard me just because you think I mean you harm/But these cuts I have they need love to help them heal.”
Somebody call the cops!
4. ‘Honky Cat’
(“Honky Chateau,” 1972)
This one starts with some barroom-style piano before John’s band comes in with its funky, jazzy groove.
John shows the blues and soul vocal chops that would make his voice among pop music’s most recognizable as he spits Taupin’s lyric about a country boy exposed to the city life. “They said get back honky cat/Better get back to the woods/Well I quit those days and my redneck ways/And oh the change is gonna do me good.”
As the song moves toward the fade, the band gets all syncopated while John wails, “Get back, honky cat/Get back, honky cat/Get back — wooo!”
Yes.
5. ‘Saturday Night’s All Right (For Fighting)’
(“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” 1973)
Olsson’s snare punch and Johnstone’s compressed, slashing guitar intro signal that this song, too, is going to be a tough rocker. The promise holds true through nearly five minutes of hard, barrelhouse riffing.
The anthemic chorus, “Don’t give us none of your aggravation/We had it with your discipline/Saturday night’s alright for fighting/Get a little action in,” sounds just about right for those new country guys covering classic rock hits. But here’s hoping none of them will go for it — they won’t come close to John’s gritty vocal here, using a little muscle to get what he needs.
Elton John
- When: 8 p.m. Thursday
- Where: Roanoke Civic Center
- How much: $38, $89, $139
- Info: Roanoke Civic Center box office, 877-482-8496, HomeTownBankTix.com, EltonJohn.com
March 9, 2012 - 4:46 PM
Add “Burn Down the Mission” and “Border Song” and I’d say this list is spot on.
Daniel, Benny and the jets, crocodile rock, guess thats why they call it the blues and of course…tiny dancer.
(1) “Funeral for a Friend”
(2) “Grey Seal”
(3) “Ballad of Danny Bailey”
(4) “All the Young Girls Love Alice”
(5) “The One”/”The B**ch is Back”
Yes, most of my favorite Elton tunes are from “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” That album (yes, vinyl) was my very first exposure to this living legend…I have purchased “…..Road” in vinyl, cassette and CD. And….on the 15th of this month, I will sit in the Roanoke Civic Center and see him FOR THE 12TH TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. Oh good heavens how could I have forgotten “Tiny Dancer”?
1)Take me to the pilot
2)Daniel
3)Levon
4)Funeral for a friend
5)too low for zero (2 V 4 0)
Funeral for a Friend
Take me to the Pilot
Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters
Sorry Seems to be the Hardest
Levon
Can’t wait for Thurs night!
1. Amy, 2.Funeral for a Friend,2.Take me to the Pilot,3.Madman across the Water,4.Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, I Feel Like a Bullet(in the gun of Robert Ford),5.Salvation
l. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
2. Funeral For a Friend
3. Your Song
4. Crocodile Rock
5. Levon
All reflections of life in the rearview mirror.Someone Saved My Life was written after Elton was talked out of proposing..to a girlfriend. (His own words.) Philadelphia Freedom memorable for having been written (and later performed at Madison Sq.Garden) with John Lennon’s help.
These are all fantastic…Elton is so great, one can hardly pick just five songs. I might add: Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road; Pinball Wizard.
my 5 favorites are Levon, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Your Song, Philadelphia Freedom, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me, Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Candle in the Wind. ut oh… that’s more than 5! Oh well. I could keep naming them off. lol
Favorite song of all time by any artist is Your Song. Simple and lovely and real.
Then, in no particular order,
Blue Eyes
Madman Across the Water
Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me
Tiny Dancer
Philadelphia Freedom, Island Girl, This Song Has No Title, I’m Still Standing, Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues, Sad Songs Say So Much, Pinball Wizard, Grey Seal
1. Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters
2. Bennie and the Jets
3. Philadelphia Freedom
4. Tiny Dancer
5. Rocket Man
This Train Don’t Stop Here Anymore
Levon, Tiny Dancer, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Rocket Man, Empty Garden
Everyone listed great songs, and songs that I never of heard. Thanks for sharing your list.
Here’s my: Bennie and the Jets, Goodbye Norma Jean, The Way You Tonight, Rocket man, and Empty Garden
1. Your Song
2. Candle in the Wind
3. Don’t Let the sun go Down on Me
4. Daniel
5. Philadelphia Freedom
In no order:
Tower of Babel
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Levon
Take me to the Pilot
Tie: Madman Across the Water and Burn Down the Mission
Curtains
Someone Saved my Life Tonight
Candle in the Wind (1973)
High Flying Bird
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
+
Rocket Man, Original Sin, Tiny Dancer, Your Song, The Last Song, Gone to Shiloh, Daniel, Mandalay Again, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, The One, Believe, Best Part of the Day, Blues Never Fade Away, American Triangle, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I’ve Seen that Movie Too, Levon, Where to now St Peter?, Come Down in Time, Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, We All Fall in Love Sometimes, Indian Sunset, Empty Garden, Porch Swing in Tupelo, The Bridge, Bennie and the Jets, Tonight…
so many treasures…an incredible catalogue.