Late Night Music Summer Is Almost Over Edition Part 180....."More Obscure Elton John Songs"
With summer ending, I figured
I'd get one last list in before my life becomes too busy to add to my
many lists. Have a great fall everyone.
In order to be considered, the song obviously has to be an Elton John that does not have great mainstream exposure and could not have been on the previous list. Also receiving votes in this category were "Sixty Years On", "Harmony", "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own", and "The Greatest Discovery".
"Burn Down The Mission". This epic ballad closed out EJ's 1970 concept album Tumbleweed Connection and remains one of his most amazingly accomplished musical pieces. Bernie Taupin's vague yet complex lyrics leave this amazing song open to interpretation in many ways. However, a lot of that is lost in this great live performance here. Despite this song never gaining single status or receiving heavy airplay, the musicianship of this song has always been heavily respected in the music community and remains a fan favorite for several EJ enthusiasts. In my opinion, Tumbleweed Connection is easily one of Elton's top 5 studio albums as far as musical content. If I would have been alive then, I think I would have had the foresight to see great things on the horizon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukJiVjxU9wg
"Oceans Away". Late last year, Elton John released yet another spectacular solo effort with his new album The Diving Board. Critically acclaimed by critics and listeners, it showed a stark return to EJ's piano roots and was also the first solo album he released since 1979's Victim Of Love that he recorded without his regular band (but we'll forget that previous album ever existed). EJ performed all lead and background vocals on this and all other tracks showing that even at 67, he is still one of the most talented artists to ever walk the face of the earth. I have also noticed that Bernie Taupin's lyrics have never lost depth after all these years. The previous song of this list was recorded 43 years before this one, but both are equally simple yet complex.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5elcOmjkuU
"I Want Love". In 2001, EJ reunited with Bernie Taupin after a 5 year hiatus with Disney and Broadway projects in between. What was created was his gem album Songs From The West Coast. This entertaining video which featured a special permission to leave drug rehab Robert Downey, Jr. lip syncing, opened to a huge premiere, but failed to make a big impact on the mainstream market despite the single and album's critical praise. After Bernie Taupin's own disappointment in the previous collaboration The Big Picture, Songs From The West Coast once again established the songwriting that made Elton and Bernie some of the greatest masters of the most difficult craft. Despite the song seeing little success in the United States, this single went on to peak at #9 on the British Singles Chart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufbexgPyeJQ
"Pinky". After powerful albums Honky Chateau and his worldwide smash album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton and Bernie went back to basics with Caribou in 1974. Named for the ranch it was recorded at in Colorado, Caribou was recorded in just NINE days so Elton and his band could embark on a world tour that was starting in Japan. More "plain" than his previous albums, this album included appearances from the Tower of Power, The Beach Boys, and Toni Tennille all appearing at different points. This second track of the album following the much maligned "The Bitch is Back" gives a more somber tone to a rather relaxing album after the opening track rock out song. This Sunday afternoon song has long since disappeared from the Elton John repertoire at live shows, but has always been one of my favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4u8qsw3DIM
"Two Rooms At The End Of The World". In 1980, Taupin and John, like most duos took a short hiatus from one another by pursuing their careers away from each other. Elton began working with lyricist Gary Osborne in 1978, and he was also the primary songwriter for Elton's 1980 album 21 at 33, a forgotten album which was named for Elton's 21st album at the age of 33. While Elton's career was starting to slowly decline, this album still showed flashes of brilliance. This album included his #3 Billboard Hit "Little Jeanie" (which ironically, would be Elton's highest charting single written by Gary Osborne). However, Taupin did make an appearance on the album as this creative track about the metaphorical names of Heaven and Hell became one of the most well respected songs on the album from a music standpoint. In fact, the influence of this single on other artists was so great that the 1991 Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute album was called Two Rooms, using this song as inspiration. Like the previous song, this song has all but disappeared from Elton John shows along with the majority of this album. However, for Elton John's fans, this album will always be one his hidden classics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzTKdafOnAo
"Part Time Love". A Single Man, released in 1978 marked a huge change for Sir Elton John. First of all, it was the first album in which Bernie Taupin did not appear as a songwriter in any composition. The entire album was written by the aforementioned Gary Osborne, including this ode to open adultery track that peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. The other major change for Elton was the effect that heavy touring and drug use was beginning to have on his vocal chords. This album was the first in which he began to sing in a lower register than the first part of his career. This problem would last him a few years, and is register change is very noticeable today. I would also like to say that has to be one of Elton's worst looks of his career. He looks like a freaking raving lunatic in this video and on the album art. That being said, this song, despite being hugely immoral, is pretty dang catchy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKfIgrJwZ0Y
"Salvation". In 1972, Elton made the first stark change in his career when he recorded and released the rock influenced album Honky Chateau, named for the Chateau d'Herouville in France where it was recorded. This would also mark the first of SEVEN straight #1 albums on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart that saw Elton dominate the early and mid 70's as one of the biggest acts in the world. This piano/guitar ballad which is one of the first tracks the late Dee Murray was featured on as he was becoming a regular band member until his death in 1992. This song sort of reminds me of the background to the song that started this list "Burn Down The Mission". It seems as if it's a hero talking to a town on the verge of certain death. I'd love to know the inspiration behind this one. It seemed Bernie Taupin had a lot of those kind of songs in him at the beginning of his famed career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8vcyOKYH9g
"Blues For Baby And Me". After the success of Honky Chateau, EJ came back in 1973 with yet another smash when Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player came out and yielded his first #1 single, "Crocodile Rock". This track added a great anthem which featured a string arrangement by famed British orchestra director Paul Buckmaster. According to Elton John himself, this album was the first where he was completely comfortable experimenting vocally unlike the other albums. This ode to teenage rebellion is one of the best songs ever after a long task that did nothing but make you mad. It's great to remember sometimes that it's all over now. This is one of my favorite songs that I've never seen performed by EJ on any live set or live special. Sometimes the best songs are best to be kept in their rare original form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyBJoj1zK_4
"Club At The End Of the Street". For some odd reason, I have always seen this song as needing to be a country cover. Call me crazy, but EJ just brings out his inner redneck in this song from 1989's Sleeping With The Past. This upbeat song not only pays homage to soul legends Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding, but was his first animated music video, made at the request of nationally known AIDS patient and Elton John friend Ryan White. Elton was too busy supporting the young AIDS spokesperson that he was not even available to film a video. It was around this time that Elton John began to pay attention to his obviously degrading health and appearance which was also another reason this song was made with an animated video. This catchy tune was a small splash compared to other Elton John songs when it merely peaked at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgYVoBjHFuk
"Written In The Stars" (featuring LeAnn Rimes). This has GOT to be one of Elton John's most underrated songs of all time. Recorded for the 1999 concept album Tim Rice and Elton John's Aida, released before the actual Broadway show of the same name, featured all the songs from the hit musical performed by popular artists, including 3 performed by John himself including this great duet with country star LeAnn Rimes. Also included on Rimes 2002 album I Need You. I think this track does a great job of showcasing both artists ability to be diverse by performing gracefully with an artist who was far from their own genre. This song would go on to be the climax of the musical in which Heather Headley and Adam Pascal do a great job in their own right. I SO smell a bonus video. Few people realize that if had not been for the success of "The Lion King", that "Aida" would have probably never been written. However, Tim Rice and Elton John have proven that they are just as a magical of a combo as Bernie and Elton. This version peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and gave the record setting Broadway show a huge intro to the mainstream before opening on Broadway in 2000.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcx5DIeUU3I
"Hey Ahab" (featuring Leon Russell). In 2010, Elton John took a break from the usual and recorded a duet album with Leon Russell called The Union. In this great performance from "The Late Show with David Letterman", Russell and EJ show their great chemistry and perform this song which has become a staple at Elton John performances that has become one of the fans favorite. The Union was critically acclaimed and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. Again, this shows that Elton can play any style with any artist. Name any other artist that can do that at his age.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5hZ6maMj3A
"Take Me To The Pilot". I'll never forget seeing this song performed live in 1997 in Memphis. This song is still rocking 44 years later, just as it was when it was released on his self-titled American debut in 1970. Despite being the album's first single, it failed to make a big mainstream splash like the follow up "Your Song" did. Despite that, this song is played at basically every EJ live performance just due to its raw energy that still has crowds exploding worldwide. Also, I can tell you what most John/Taupin songs are about at least in a figurative sense, but on this one, I have no idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi0xN499IXE
"Grey Seal". Talk about another hidden gem! This song usually follows "Take Me To The Pilot" in any upbeat Elton John upbeat medley. This track was hidden in 1973's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road which is almost in consensus as Elton John's greatest album ever. This version was re recorded and included on the album after it was the B-Side of his 1970 standalone single "Rock n' Roll Madonna", where it gained a cult following among fans. This track has the unfortunate luck of being included on a 17 track masterpiece that can easily be listened to all the way through without even batting an eye. Like most of his other upbeat songs, this song can still rock just like it did so many years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsozyGR6Eo4
"Bad Blood" (Neil Sedaka featuring Elton John). I cheated just a little bit on this one. Even though Neil Sedaka had a pretty successful career in his own right, he isn't quite the household name of Sir Elton John. However, in 1975, Elton John lended uncredited background vocals to this song from Sedaka's album The Hungry Years that went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. In a hilarious twist of irony, this song was knocked out of the top spot by Elton's own single "Island Girl" from his album Rock of the Westies. Sedaka always seemed appreciative of Elton John and even joked once that you "may have heard of the guy who sang background on this song".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTTVx--i3m0
"I Just Can't Wait To Be King". Here is a great rare version from The Lion King Soundtrack that people forget Elton John actually wrote. Disney struck absolute gold in 1994 when they signed Elton John to write 5 songs for this blockbuster film. Besides his two singles "Circle of Life" and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" EJ also wrote this song along with "Hakuna Matata" and "Be Prepared". In an astounding achievement, he was nominated for a whopping THREE songs in the same category at the 1995 Academy Awards, an award that would eventually go to "Can You Feel The Love Tonight". This track is pretty awesome, but did Disney really want to give us an overkill?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb2mNiFlWuw
"The King Must Die". If you actually knew this song before this list, you get the award for Super Elton John fan. This amazing piano piece opens up an epic John/Taupin piece that was included on his 1970 eponymous American debut self-titled album. This song has made appearances at John live shows over the years, and remains one of his most musically amazing pieces he ever wrote in my opinion. This track closes out what at least to me, is a very underrated album in the grand scope of music of the 1970's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OHa8pAXJBs
"Bad Side Of The Moon". In 1969, Elton John recorded this song in his Empty Sky sessions, but it was left off the final cut. Eventually, it was included as the B-Side of his debut American single "Border Song" and remained in his repertoire during his early live performance days including a memorable performance on his critically acclaimed live album 11-17-70. Originally picked to follow "The King Must Die", it was cut yet again from the final cut of Elton John, only to be included 25 years later in the CD reissue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88d0rPTB7dc
"Bitter Fingers". In 1975, Elton and Bernie wrote their most intimate album up to that point, when Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy debuted at #1 in the summer of 1975. Based largely on their beginnings struggling in London and their early life, this song gives a upbeat yet depressing look into the minds of the two young artists struggling in their early 20's. This song shows the frustration they had having to write songs for other people rather than writing for themselves. What a great way to take out your frustration. This album also contains some of my favorite piano pieces that Elton John ever recorded. It was around this time that he wrote some of his most musically challenging music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvJ36qr0mYg
"Chameleon". Bernie and Elton followed his mammoth world tour of 1975 with a concept album which was a stark contrast and much darker than anything he had ever written when Blue Moves hit the record stores in the fall of 1976 (exactly 5 years before the day I was born). Around this time, Elton John made a public decision to stop touring, and this polarizing album ended his streak of #1 albums when it only peaked at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. Elton wouldn't return to the top 10 again until 1992 when The One peaked at #8. Despite that, this post breakup song is one of my favorite Elton John songs of all time despite it's deeply sad mood which is consistent with the entire album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmiDN0Rt4CQ
"Heartache All Over The World". I'll end this list with probably the most ridiculous song Elton John ever released as a single. The fact that this song has a video is even more hilarious. Only Elton John could make a song this bad halfway decent and catchy. This single from his forgettable 1986 album Leather Jackets, which Elton himself said is his "worst album ever". This single somehow peaked at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100 to put an exclamation point on the easily the worst stretch of his career. Luckily for all of us, he would see a surge the next year with Reg Strikes Back and eventually The One 5 years later. In the meantime, just enjoy laughing at this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh2hkTzcT7c
BONUS VIDEOS- "Written In The Stars"- Adam Pascal and Heather Headley.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG2u-kAA2-c
"Hakuna Matata"- From "The Lion King".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB5ceAruYrI
"Enchantment Passing Through"- Dru Hill from "Aida"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_puELhHrQg
"The Gods Love Nubia"- Michelle Williams live on Broadway 2003 from "Aida"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm9l5pRG8-A
Elton John
The Diving Board
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Sleeping With the Past
Songs From the West Coast
A Single Man
Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
In order to be considered, the song obviously has to be an Elton John that does not have great mainstream exposure and could not have been on the previous list. Also receiving votes in this category were "Sixty Years On", "Harmony", "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own", and "The Greatest Discovery".
"Burn Down The Mission". This epic ballad closed out EJ's 1970 concept album Tumbleweed Connection and remains one of his most amazingly accomplished musical pieces. Bernie Taupin's vague yet complex lyrics leave this amazing song open to interpretation in many ways. However, a lot of that is lost in this great live performance here. Despite this song never gaining single status or receiving heavy airplay, the musicianship of this song has always been heavily respected in the music community and remains a fan favorite for several EJ enthusiasts. In my opinion, Tumbleweed Connection is easily one of Elton's top 5 studio albums as far as musical content. If I would have been alive then, I think I would have had the foresight to see great things on the horizon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukJiVjxU9wg
"Oceans Away". Late last year, Elton John released yet another spectacular solo effort with his new album The Diving Board. Critically acclaimed by critics and listeners, it showed a stark return to EJ's piano roots and was also the first solo album he released since 1979's Victim Of Love that he recorded without his regular band (but we'll forget that previous album ever existed). EJ performed all lead and background vocals on this and all other tracks showing that even at 67, he is still one of the most talented artists to ever walk the face of the earth. I have also noticed that Bernie Taupin's lyrics have never lost depth after all these years. The previous song of this list was recorded 43 years before this one, but both are equally simple yet complex.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5elcOmjkuU
"I Want Love". In 2001, EJ reunited with Bernie Taupin after a 5 year hiatus with Disney and Broadway projects in between. What was created was his gem album Songs From The West Coast. This entertaining video which featured a special permission to leave drug rehab Robert Downey, Jr. lip syncing, opened to a huge premiere, but failed to make a big impact on the mainstream market despite the single and album's critical praise. After Bernie Taupin's own disappointment in the previous collaboration The Big Picture, Songs From The West Coast once again established the songwriting that made Elton and Bernie some of the greatest masters of the most difficult craft. Despite the song seeing little success in the United States, this single went on to peak at #9 on the British Singles Chart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufbexgPyeJQ
"Pinky". After powerful albums Honky Chateau and his worldwide smash album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton and Bernie went back to basics with Caribou in 1974. Named for the ranch it was recorded at in Colorado, Caribou was recorded in just NINE days so Elton and his band could embark on a world tour that was starting in Japan. More "plain" than his previous albums, this album included appearances from the Tower of Power, The Beach Boys, and Toni Tennille all appearing at different points. This second track of the album following the much maligned "The Bitch is Back" gives a more somber tone to a rather relaxing album after the opening track rock out song. This Sunday afternoon song has long since disappeared from the Elton John repertoire at live shows, but has always been one of my favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4u8qsw3DIM
"Two Rooms At The End Of The World". In 1980, Taupin and John, like most duos took a short hiatus from one another by pursuing their careers away from each other. Elton began working with lyricist Gary Osborne in 1978, and he was also the primary songwriter for Elton's 1980 album 21 at 33, a forgotten album which was named for Elton's 21st album at the age of 33. While Elton's career was starting to slowly decline, this album still showed flashes of brilliance. This album included his #3 Billboard Hit "Little Jeanie" (which ironically, would be Elton's highest charting single written by Gary Osborne). However, Taupin did make an appearance on the album as this creative track about the metaphorical names of Heaven and Hell became one of the most well respected songs on the album from a music standpoint. In fact, the influence of this single on other artists was so great that the 1991 Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute album was called Two Rooms, using this song as inspiration. Like the previous song, this song has all but disappeared from Elton John shows along with the majority of this album. However, for Elton John's fans, this album will always be one his hidden classics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzTKdafOnAo
"Part Time Love". A Single Man, released in 1978 marked a huge change for Sir Elton John. First of all, it was the first album in which Bernie Taupin did not appear as a songwriter in any composition. The entire album was written by the aforementioned Gary Osborne, including this ode to open adultery track that peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. The other major change for Elton was the effect that heavy touring and drug use was beginning to have on his vocal chords. This album was the first in which he began to sing in a lower register than the first part of his career. This problem would last him a few years, and is register change is very noticeable today. I would also like to say that has to be one of Elton's worst looks of his career. He looks like a freaking raving lunatic in this video and on the album art. That being said, this song, despite being hugely immoral, is pretty dang catchy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKfIgrJwZ0Y
"Salvation". In 1972, Elton made the first stark change in his career when he recorded and released the rock influenced album Honky Chateau, named for the Chateau d'Herouville in France where it was recorded. This would also mark the first of SEVEN straight #1 albums on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart that saw Elton dominate the early and mid 70's as one of the biggest acts in the world. This piano/guitar ballad which is one of the first tracks the late Dee Murray was featured on as he was becoming a regular band member until his death in 1992. This song sort of reminds me of the background to the song that started this list "Burn Down The Mission". It seems as if it's a hero talking to a town on the verge of certain death. I'd love to know the inspiration behind this one. It seemed Bernie Taupin had a lot of those kind of songs in him at the beginning of his famed career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8vcyOKYH9g
"Blues For Baby And Me". After the success of Honky Chateau, EJ came back in 1973 with yet another smash when Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player came out and yielded his first #1 single, "Crocodile Rock". This track added a great anthem which featured a string arrangement by famed British orchestra director Paul Buckmaster. According to Elton John himself, this album was the first where he was completely comfortable experimenting vocally unlike the other albums. This ode to teenage rebellion is one of the best songs ever after a long task that did nothing but make you mad. It's great to remember sometimes that it's all over now. This is one of my favorite songs that I've never seen performed by EJ on any live set or live special. Sometimes the best songs are best to be kept in their rare original form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyBJoj1zK_4
"Club At The End Of the Street". For some odd reason, I have always seen this song as needing to be a country cover. Call me crazy, but EJ just brings out his inner redneck in this song from 1989's Sleeping With The Past. This upbeat song not only pays homage to soul legends Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding, but was his first animated music video, made at the request of nationally known AIDS patient and Elton John friend Ryan White. Elton was too busy supporting the young AIDS spokesperson that he was not even available to film a video. It was around this time that Elton John began to pay attention to his obviously degrading health and appearance which was also another reason this song was made with an animated video. This catchy tune was a small splash compared to other Elton John songs when it merely peaked at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgYVoBjHFuk
"Written In The Stars" (featuring LeAnn Rimes). This has GOT to be one of Elton John's most underrated songs of all time. Recorded for the 1999 concept album Tim Rice and Elton John's Aida, released before the actual Broadway show of the same name, featured all the songs from the hit musical performed by popular artists, including 3 performed by John himself including this great duet with country star LeAnn Rimes. Also included on Rimes 2002 album I Need You. I think this track does a great job of showcasing both artists ability to be diverse by performing gracefully with an artist who was far from their own genre. This song would go on to be the climax of the musical in which Heather Headley and Adam Pascal do a great job in their own right. I SO smell a bonus video. Few people realize that if had not been for the success of "The Lion King", that "Aida" would have probably never been written. However, Tim Rice and Elton John have proven that they are just as a magical of a combo as Bernie and Elton. This version peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and gave the record setting Broadway show a huge intro to the mainstream before opening on Broadway in 2000.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcx5DIeUU3I
"Hey Ahab" (featuring Leon Russell). In 2010, Elton John took a break from the usual and recorded a duet album with Leon Russell called The Union. In this great performance from "The Late Show with David Letterman", Russell and EJ show their great chemistry and perform this song which has become a staple at Elton John performances that has become one of the fans favorite. The Union was critically acclaimed and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. Again, this shows that Elton can play any style with any artist. Name any other artist that can do that at his age.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5hZ6maMj3A
"Take Me To The Pilot". I'll never forget seeing this song performed live in 1997 in Memphis. This song is still rocking 44 years later, just as it was when it was released on his self-titled American debut in 1970. Despite being the album's first single, it failed to make a big mainstream splash like the follow up "Your Song" did. Despite that, this song is played at basically every EJ live performance just due to its raw energy that still has crowds exploding worldwide. Also, I can tell you what most John/Taupin songs are about at least in a figurative sense, but on this one, I have no idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi0xN499IXE
"Grey Seal". Talk about another hidden gem! This song usually follows "Take Me To The Pilot" in any upbeat Elton John upbeat medley. This track was hidden in 1973's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road which is almost in consensus as Elton John's greatest album ever. This version was re recorded and included on the album after it was the B-Side of his 1970 standalone single "Rock n' Roll Madonna", where it gained a cult following among fans. This track has the unfortunate luck of being included on a 17 track masterpiece that can easily be listened to all the way through without even batting an eye. Like most of his other upbeat songs, this song can still rock just like it did so many years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsozyGR6Eo4
"Bad Blood" (Neil Sedaka featuring Elton John). I cheated just a little bit on this one. Even though Neil Sedaka had a pretty successful career in his own right, he isn't quite the household name of Sir Elton John. However, in 1975, Elton John lended uncredited background vocals to this song from Sedaka's album The Hungry Years that went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. In a hilarious twist of irony, this song was knocked out of the top spot by Elton's own single "Island Girl" from his album Rock of the Westies. Sedaka always seemed appreciative of Elton John and even joked once that you "may have heard of the guy who sang background on this song".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTTVx--i3m0
"I Just Can't Wait To Be King". Here is a great rare version from The Lion King Soundtrack that people forget Elton John actually wrote. Disney struck absolute gold in 1994 when they signed Elton John to write 5 songs for this blockbuster film. Besides his two singles "Circle of Life" and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" EJ also wrote this song along with "Hakuna Matata" and "Be Prepared". In an astounding achievement, he was nominated for a whopping THREE songs in the same category at the 1995 Academy Awards, an award that would eventually go to "Can You Feel The Love Tonight". This track is pretty awesome, but did Disney really want to give us an overkill?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb2mNiFlWuw
"The King Must Die". If you actually knew this song before this list, you get the award for Super Elton John fan. This amazing piano piece opens up an epic John/Taupin piece that was included on his 1970 eponymous American debut self-titled album. This song has made appearances at John live shows over the years, and remains one of his most musically amazing pieces he ever wrote in my opinion. This track closes out what at least to me, is a very underrated album in the grand scope of music of the 1970's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OHa8pAXJBs
"Bad Side Of The Moon". In 1969, Elton John recorded this song in his Empty Sky sessions, but it was left off the final cut. Eventually, it was included as the B-Side of his debut American single "Border Song" and remained in his repertoire during his early live performance days including a memorable performance on his critically acclaimed live album 11-17-70. Originally picked to follow "The King Must Die", it was cut yet again from the final cut of Elton John, only to be included 25 years later in the CD reissue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88d0rPTB7dc
"Bitter Fingers". In 1975, Elton and Bernie wrote their most intimate album up to that point, when Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy debuted at #1 in the summer of 1975. Based largely on their beginnings struggling in London and their early life, this song gives a upbeat yet depressing look into the minds of the two young artists struggling in their early 20's. This song shows the frustration they had having to write songs for other people rather than writing for themselves. What a great way to take out your frustration. This album also contains some of my favorite piano pieces that Elton John ever recorded. It was around this time that he wrote some of his most musically challenging music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvJ36qr0mYg
"Chameleon". Bernie and Elton followed his mammoth world tour of 1975 with a concept album which was a stark contrast and much darker than anything he had ever written when Blue Moves hit the record stores in the fall of 1976 (exactly 5 years before the day I was born). Around this time, Elton John made a public decision to stop touring, and this polarizing album ended his streak of #1 albums when it only peaked at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. Elton wouldn't return to the top 10 again until 1992 when The One peaked at #8. Despite that, this post breakup song is one of my favorite Elton John songs of all time despite it's deeply sad mood which is consistent with the entire album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmiDN0Rt4CQ
"Heartache All Over The World". I'll end this list with probably the most ridiculous song Elton John ever released as a single. The fact that this song has a video is even more hilarious. Only Elton John could make a song this bad halfway decent and catchy. This single from his forgettable 1986 album Leather Jackets, which Elton himself said is his "worst album ever". This single somehow peaked at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100 to put an exclamation point on the easily the worst stretch of his career. Luckily for all of us, he would see a surge the next year with Reg Strikes Back and eventually The One 5 years later. In the meantime, just enjoy laughing at this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh2hkTzcT7c
BONUS VIDEOS- "Written In The Stars"- Adam Pascal and Heather Headley.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG2u-kAA2-c
"Hakuna Matata"- From "The Lion King".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB5ceAruYrI
"Enchantment Passing Through"- Dru Hill from "Aida"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_puELhHrQg
"The Gods Love Nubia"- Michelle Williams live on Broadway 2003 from "Aida"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm9l5pRG8-A
Elton JohnThe Diving BoardCaptain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt CowboySleeping With the PastSongs From the West CoastA Single ManDon't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano PlayerGoodbye Yellow Brick Road
posted by General 5A Pigott at 4:02 PM
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