Tag Archives: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

25 Days Of Christmas Music 2023: Day 11

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Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the countdown.

A sweet vintage Christmas card image from Pinterest. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Today’s holiday song is celebrating its golden anniversary this year. Elton John released it in November 1973 to cap off the remarkable success of a year where he had two #1 albums: Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player and the smash, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which was in the top spot when today’s track was released.

Written with his magnificent lyricist, Bernie Taupin, and released with a performance video of Elton and his band enjoying every minute of their time performing this song, it is not played nearly enough each December while we are inundated with tracks many of us wish were retired long ago. But fifty years later, we can count on EJ to provide a really fun part of the festive season.

“Welcome to my Christmas song
I’d like to thank you for the year
So I’m sending you this Christmas card
To say it’s nice to have you here“.

ej
images

Top: The sleeve for Elton John’s 1973 holiday song. Bottom: Bernie Taupin (L) and Elton (R) circa 1974. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Elton John: “Step Into Christmas“: (1973, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin).

What are some of your favorite Christmas songs?

Until next time, happy listening!!!

Music Monday: November 27, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another triple edition (plus a bonus track) of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Note: This will be the final Music Monday for 2023. Starting December 1st, the Christmas Countdown begins and will end on the last Monday of the year, which is Christmas Day. I would love to hear about some of your favorite holiday songs so please email me or comment below with your top choices. Music Mondays will resume on January 1, 2024. And now to the music.

Happy 60th anniversary to With The Beatles, the band’s second studio album. It was released on November 22, 1963 and included six cover songs. Today’s first feature was The Fab Four’s salute to Motown. I love that one of my favorite bands saluted one of my favorite genres (and theirs, too) with one of my favorite songs. The harmony between the group really shines through on this track.

Exactly five years later came the release of The Beatles, more commonly known by its nickname, The White Album. It was the band’s ninth studio album and the only double record of their career. It was also the first time the band had another famous musician join them in the studio. Eric Clapton played lead guitar on today’s second feature which is one of my all time favorites by George Harrison.

Nearly five years after that, Ringo Starr had the #1 song in the country. The tune hit the top spot on the chart on November 24, 1973 for one week, only two months after it was released. Co-written with his old Beatles chum Harrison, the track was the lead single from Starr’s third solo album-aptly titled Ringo-released the same month. It peaked at the #2 position on the Billboard album chart, but never hit the top spot because another chap from England-Elton John-was in that spot for the last eight weeks of that year with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Starr’s album went on to produce another #1 record two months later when the second single-his cover of “You’re Sixteen”-topped the charts for one week in January 1974. But it was the lead track that took a very sentimental turn for Starr who performed it in tribute to Harrison at “The Concert For George” in 2002. Harrison died 22 years ago on November 29, 2001. But thanks to some recordings he did in the 1990’s with Starr and McCartney together with a pre-recorded assist from Lennon, the world received an early Christmas gift: “the last Beatles song”. The track has a really sweet sentiment and the video takes us on a great walk down memory lane of the four lads from Liverpool we met on a Sunday night one February almost 60 years ago.

With The Beatles
White Album pics
Ringo George 1960 ish
Jeff Kravitz
Ringo

Picture 1: The Beatles’ 1963 album. Picture 2: The four pictures that came inside The White Album (L-R: George Harrison, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney). Picture 3: Ringo and George in the early days of The Beatles era, circa 1963. Picture 4: George and Ringo circa 1990. Bottom: Ringo’s self-titled 1973 album. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

The Beatles: “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” (1963, written by William Robinson Jr.).

The Beatles: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (1968, written George Harrison).

Ringo Starr: “Photograph” (1973, written by George Harrison and Richard Starkey).

Bonus: The Beatles: “Now And Then” (2023, written by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Richard Starkey).

Stay safe and well.

Music Monday: Oct 2, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

One of Sir Elton John’s most revered records is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, his first double LP, his seventh studio album and the one widely regarded as his crowning achievement, was released September 29, 1973. (That is according to EJ’s Instagram page, although his website lists the date as “October 5, 1973, on MCA Records in the US and Canada”). It hit the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 Albums chart for the last eight weeks of 1973. As of 2020, it has reportedly sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Between the title track (which peaked at #2 in December 1973), today’s three featured songs (see below for stats), his ode to Marilyn Monroe, “Candle In The Wind” (which was re-written in 1997 to honor his friend, Princess Diana. That version spent 14 weeks in the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 that year) and all the other incredible tracks on this record, it is easy to see why it is one of EJ’s most successful and well loved albums.

elton-john-goodbye-yellow-brick-road

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

It bears mentioning that Goodbye was the second album he released in 1973. In January he and Taupin gave us, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player (a #1 record for two weeks in March 1973), which gave us gems like “Daniel” (which peaked at #2 in June 1973) and “Crocodile Rock” (a #1 song for three weeks in February 1973). Both of these songs, especially “Daniel”, were the main reason I purchased EJ’s “Greatest Hits” (1974), the first album I ever bought myself. They began the soundtrack of my life. And my love affair with John-Taupin music has never waned.

Elton_John_-_Don't_Shoot_Me_I'm_Only_the_Piano_Player

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

As if the golden anniversary of these two albums were not enough to celebrate, both men remain as vital and active today as they ever were. EJ just retired from the road but is still doing music collaborations, hosting his Aids Foundation Oscar gala each year and his “Rocket Hour” radio show on Apple Music. He and his husband, David Furnish, have been together since 2005, married since 2014 and are raising two sons. Last month Taupin released his autobiography, “Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, and Me”. I just received my copy and cannot wait to read the journey from Taupin’s perspective. He and and his wife, Heather, will be married 20 years in 2024 and have two daughters.

Thank you, Elton and Bernie, for every record, every note and every word. I cannot imagine the universe without the two of you in it. “How wonderful life is” with your presence in my world and everyone else’s.

bernie book
bernie

(Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Elton John: “Bennie And The Jets” (1973, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It hit #1 for one week in April 1974).

Elton John: “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” (1973, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It peaked at #12 in September 1973).

Elton John: “Harmony” (1973, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin).

Stay safe and well.

Music Monday: May 2, 2022

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to May & this week’s edition of Music Monday.

Music Monday

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

May 6th marks my Dad’s 83rd birth anniversary. Both of my parents loved music & filled my childhood with some of the best. But as I got older my father did not always agree or understand the singers I fell in love with. In fact, he was not a fan of today’s artist until he heard “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” & today’s track. Then my father was a fan for life. And he was sitting right next to me the first time I heard today’s song live. I am so grateful for that experience & cherish that memory. Music is yet another powerful tie that binds our past, present & beyond.

Army picture

Elton 1975

Top: My father, Phil, in his army photo circa 1957. Bottom: Elton John at Dodger Stadium, 1975.

(Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Elton John: “Bennie & The Jets” (1973, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin).

Stay safe & well.

Let’s Take A Moment Day 239

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Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

Thoreau quote 2

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are in a serious situation, but I need a break from the gloom, doom and bullying by way of hoarding. Music has always been my refuge and watching those beautiful Italians singing to each other from their balconies reaffirmed my belief that music is the answer. So until the old normal returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day.  And if this helps anyone else, even better.

Day 203 commemorated the release date of Elton John’s opus, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”. Well, on this day in 1973, the album hit #1 in America and held that spot for eight consecutive weeks. The year ended with his record in the top spot and, coincidently, so did 1974. That year came to a close with “Elton John’s Great Hits” in the #1 album spot.

The title track of “Brick Road” was released before the album and peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 chart. But even if it was never a hit, I would still consider it one of John’s best songs of all time. It was always one of the high points at every concert of his I ever attended. And it was featured in one of the most riveting scenes from John’s 2019 biopic, “Rocketman”.

“You know you can’t hold me forever
I didn’t sign up with you
I’m not a present for your friends to open
This boy’s too young to be singing the blues“.

Elton circa 1977

Elton John circa 1974. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Elton John: “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (1973, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

Let’s Take A Moment Day 203

Posted in Music by

Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

Jane Austen Music Quote

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are in a serious situation, but I need a break from the gloom, doom and bullying by way of hoarding. Music has always been my refuge and watching those beautiful Italians singing to each other from their balconies reaffirmed my belief that music is the answer. So until the old normal returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day.  And if this helps anyone else, even better.

Forty seven years ago today-October 5, 1973-Elton John released “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”. It contained the original version of “Candle In The Wind”, “Bennie & the Jets” (see Day 51), “Saturday Night’s All Right For Fighting”, the title track and today’s song. This was the second album I ever bought by John & his sent-from-heaven collaborator, Bernie Taupin, and I love every track (the first was their “Greatest Hits” record from 1974). I spent nearly two years listening to nothing but their albums & my Motown collection before I discovered my other great musical loves (Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, The Beatles), so John & Taupin’s music holds a very special place in my heart. I adore the entire “Brick Road” record, but I was enchanted by today’s track from the first time I heard it. All these years later, that has not changed.

“Harmony and me
We’re pretty good company
Looking for an island
In our boat upon the sea“.

EJ

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Elton John: “Harmony” (1973, written by Elton John & Bernie Taupin).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.