Side One of ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ – Solid walls of sound. #MusicisLife #TedTocksCovers

In today’s feature we will take a walk down the yellow brick road that represents a quarter of this classic Elton John album. This will include ‘Funeral for a Friend’, ‘Love Lies Bleeding’, Candle in the Wind’ and ‘Bennie and the Jets’.

Elton John released ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ 50 years ago today.

This album has sold over 20 million copies. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003.

Just one more cool recognition is its inclusion in the book ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’.

The accolades should keep on going for another half century, in this writer’s opinion.

It is regarded by music fans worldwide as his opus. The listening experience remains almost indescribable. From the opening notes of ‘Funeral for a Friend’ it is spellbinding. Simply stunning. An epic piece of music. I type away and as I listen, I marvel at the brilliance.

It made me think this is the way people must have felt centuries ago when Beethoven, Bach and Mozart were creating their musical masterpieces.

To think, it all began with the intention of being a single LP. Once Elton John and company arrived at the famed Chateau d’Herouvillle in France they were so inspired by the setting they kept on writing and recording. This is how ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ developed into an acclaimed double album.

Interestingly, the working title was ‘Vodka and Tonics, and Silent Movies, Talking Pictures’. The creative process flowed from themes that portrayed cinematic metaphors. As a pair, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, have an uncanny knack for operating on the same wavelength. Throughout this album they created a number of tracks inspired by the nostalgia the silver screen and its many characters introduced.

As the album unfolds and ‘Funeral for a Friend’ flows into ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ the John/Taupin magic seeps into the grooves.

Speaking of Bernie Taupin’s lyrics, this is a very dark take on a breakup song. Death imagery abounds. In matters of the heart this type of direct prose peels the layers off the hurt. It cuts to the core.

How many jilted lovers and hopeless romantics have used this piece of music and prose as part of their own therapy over the years?

The roses in the window box have tilted to one side
Everything about this house was born to grow and die
Oh, it doesn’t seem a year ago to this very day
You said, “I’m sorry, honey, if I don’t change the pace
I can’t face another day”

And love lies bleedin’ in my hands
Oh, it kills me to think of you with another man
I was playin’ rock and roll, and you were just a fan
But my guitar couldn’t hold you, so I split the band
Love lies bleedin’ in my hands

I wonder if those changes have left a scar on you
Like all the burnin’ hoops of fire that you and I passed through
You’re a bluebird on a telegraph line, I hope you’re happy now
Well, if the wind of change comes down your way, girl
You’ll make it back somehow

And love lies bleedin’ in my hands
Oh, it kills me to think of you with another man
I was playin’ rock and roll, and you were just a fan
But my guitar couldn’t hold you, so I split the band
Love lies bleedin’ in my hands

And love lies bleedin’ in my hands
Oh, it kills me to think of you with another man
I was playin’ rock and roll, and you were just a fan
But my guitar couldn’t hold you, so I split the band
Love lies bleedin’ in my hands”

Bernie Taupin

While ‘Funeral for a Friend’s was an instrumental piece that gives the audience a glimpse into the mind of Elton John, momentarily at least, this creation represents the kind of music Elton would have wanted at his funeral. As an overture ‘Funeral for a Friend’ sets a musical standard drawing from ‘The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909 – 1934)’, ‘I’ve Seen that Movie Too’ and ‘Candle in the Wind’.

I came across this ‘AllMusic’ review from Donald Guarisco while researching today’s post. This is what I was trying to say in my introduction.

Funeral for a Friend’ (is a) a stunning instrumental with a powerful fusion of classical and rock elements where a gentle, lyrical motif is developed and energized until it builds into a powerhouse full of emotion and bombast.”

Donald Guarisco

True to the era, ‘Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding’ was considered to be too long to be released as a single, but the sheer power behind its presentation led to it becoming an FM DJ favourite. Not only is it a fantastic recording, but by clocking in at over 11 minutes, it allowed the DJ a lot of time to get some things done (use your imagination).

Set ten minutes aside and enjoy this incredible live version from ‘One Night Only’ at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This goes back to 2000. Every bit of the song’s orchestration works in the live setting. Absolutely magical.

Before, moving on to a cover of ‘Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding’ take a moment and reflect on the fact that Axl Rose cites this piece of music as one of the primary motivations to write the magnificent Guns ‘n’ Roses song ‘November Rain’.

Now, enjoy Dream Theater and their cover of ‘Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding’ from their 1995 album ‘A Change of Seasons’. Some Elton John purists don’t like this, but count me in on this strong interpretation.

Following this dynamic introduction is Elton John’s powerful salute to Marilyn Monroe, ‘Candle in the Wind’.

I consistently marvel at the dynamic between Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin. For years Elton John has delivered this heartfelt tribute to Marilyn Monroe. The sympathetic tale conveys the feelings of an adolescent who recognizes the anguish the model/actress was enduring while being manipulated by her handlers and even spouses.

Goodbye, Norma Jeane
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your name”

Bernie Taupin

One would leap to the conclusion that Bernie Taupin and Elton John found some sort of bond in their adoration of Marilyn, but the short answer to that assumption is not really. Bernie Taupin put this idea to rest during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

She is absolutely not someone I admired a lot as a kid or anything. She was just a metaphor for fame and dying young, and people sort of overdoing the indulgence, and those that do die young…I think it’s one of the best marriages of lyric and melody that Elton and I have ever put together. But it doesn’t change the fact that I wasn’t particularly enamored by Marilyn Monroe.”

Bernie Taupin

The idea for the song title and theme actually came to Taupin after hearing legendary producer and record company executive, Clive Davis describe the late Janis Joplin as ‘a candle in the wind’ during a tribute. This description grabbed the songwriter.

 I just kept hearing this term [and] I thought, what a great way of describing someone’s life”

Bernie Taupin

It stayed with him until these words poured out onto the page.

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would’ve liked to know you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did”

Bernie Taupin

And now, how many lives have been described in this way. Especially a life that has seen someone die tragically in what is considered to be their prime.

The idea of fame or youth or somebody being cut short in the prime of their life. The song could have been about James Dean, it could have been about Montgomery Clift, it could have been about Jim Morrison … how we glamorise death, how we immortalise people.”

Bernie Taupin

Adding to the premise that the metaphor has a vast application, Taupin emphasized;

It’s not that I didn’t have respect for her. It’s just that the song could just as easily have been about James Dean or Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf. I mean, basically, anybody, any writer, actor, actress, or musician who died young and sort of became this iconic picture of Dorian Gray, that thing where they simply stopped aging. It’s a beauty frozen in time.”

Bernie Taupin

I love that line…“A Beauty frozen in time.”

As a result, ‘Candle in the Wind’ continues to stand as a timeless expression and thanks to Bernie Taupin and Elton John the flickering light has touched many a tribute. Many people are remembered fondly through this beautiful song.

Speaking of this homage, another name that could be included in the long line of artists who have died way too young is Sandy Denny. Here is Denny covering ‘Candle in the Wind’ in 1977.

In 2018, Ed Sheeran recorded ‘Candle in the Wind’ on the album known as ‘Revamp’. Here is the recording for your enjoyment.

‘Revamp’ was seen as Elton John’s project and it featured covers of several hit songs from the Elton John catalogue by many big-name pop, rock and R&B artists. While Elton John worked on ‘Revamp’, Bernie Taupin produced an album called ‘Restoration’ which focused on country artists and their interpretation of songs from the Elton John library.

Fittingly, I will share Elton John’s heartfelt tribute to Lady Diana. Yet another example of everything the song was intended to describe.

Apparently, it took some convincing to get the Royal Family to allow Elton John to perform this song at Lady Diana’s funeral. Eventually, they warmed to the idea as a result of the dean of Westminster Abbey, Very Rev. Dr. Wesley Carr who pleaded with them to understand that this tribute would be an;

…imaginative and generous’ gesture to the public who had turned against the Royal Family after the princess’s death.”

Very Rev. Dr. Wesley Carr

Ten years later Prince Charles asked Elton John to perform ‘Candle in the Wind’ during his set at the 2007 ‘Concert for Diana’ at Wembley Stadium, but Elton declined. He felt it would have been ‘macabre’. Instead, he opted to perform ‘Your Song’.

The soap opera continues…

The closing track on side one of ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ is the ever popular ‘Bennie and the Jets’.

For my money ‘Bennie and the Jets’ sets at third in my rating of the four songs on ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ but I understand the commercial appeal. It is easily the most popular. Through the years, in a live setting it is one of Elton John’s most played songs.

More importantly, it is perhaps the context of ‘Bennie and the Jets’ that has helped it rise in the esteem of this writer. ‘Bennie’ is a glam rock concept conjured up by Elton John to portray a sci-fi rock-goddess. There are similarities to what David Bowie was portraying in ‘Ziggy Stardust’ and ‘Five Years’. In essence, Elton John was creating the female extension of himself. Music is about expression and in this case ‘Bennie and the Jets’ was an outer-worldly female rock and roll band, but with the sci-fi connection, they presented as automatons.

Bernie Taupin is rather humble about his role in ‘Bennie and the Jets’. He attributes the song’s success to two elements of Elton John’s delivery. The first is the classic stutter of B-B-B-Bennie, which he feels lends itself well to the idea of a robotic delivery. The second is the dynamic chord introduction which jolts the audience to attention.

Something big is going to happen.

Taupin’s summary passes all the credit to Elton John.

That’s a little quirk of the song which I’m sad to say I had nothing to do with. That and that wonderful big chord at the beginning. I think those two things are what probably made that song so popular. Neither of which I had anything to do with.”

Bernie Taupin

All humility aside, when you match these lyrics with the concept the pair conjured up, it is clear that as always the Elton John/Bernie Taupin partnership is a thing of beauty.

Hey, kids, shake it loose together
The spotlight’s hitting something
That’s been known to change the weather
We’ll kill the fatted calf tonight
So stick around
You’re gonna hear electric music
Solid walls of sound

Say, Candy and Ronnie. Have you seen them yet?
Ooh, but they’re so spaced out
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets
Oh, but they’re weird and they’re wonderful
Oh, Bennie. She’s really keen
She’s got electric boots, a mohair suit
You know I read it in a magazine, oh
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets”

Bernie Taupin

They knew their audience, and it was growing.

A few other cool anecdotes related to ‘Bennie and the Jets’ include the live audience recording at the beginning. If you were in the audience for the Elton John show at Royal Festival Hall in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1972, that whistling could be you.

Through the years, Elton John was very adept at honouring the American artists who helped him develop his on-stage persona and his recording sound. The falsetto in ‘Bennie and the Jets’ is a direct homage to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

The final intriguing note related to ‘Bennie and the Jets’ is the fact that Bennie is interchangeable with Benny depending on where you live in the world and what recording you purchased. In North America it was ‘Bennie’ on the single which was offered as the A-side. ‘Candle in the Wind’ was the B-side. The ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ album presents ‘Bennie’ in North America as well, while pretty much the rest of the world lists the track as ‘Benny’. When Elton John released the song as a single in the U.S. he had no illusions that it would become a popular song. When it hit #1 he was shocked. For his part, Elton John has openly admitted that he was never very good about assessing which material, he along with his band, and Bernie Taupin released, would rise to the top of the charts.

Suffice to say, it doesn’t really matter because on so many occasions, it just did.

I will close out this portion of the post with a live version of ‘Bennie and the Jets’ from 1974. I had several versions to choose from, but this one really stood out.

Before we get to a cover, how about an interesting sample? Listen to this soulful re-imagining by Mary J. Blige that takes us ‘Deep Inside’. This is from her 1999 album ‘Mary’. It’s a lament.

I don’t have a lot of friends
And sometimes I have to wonder
Is it cash they see when they look at me
‘Cause they’re lookin’ for a ride that’s free
So I made the choice to be
Good to those who are good to me
Don’t judge me, don’t think I’m bitter
For the evil does allow me to see I’m just Mary”

Mary J. Blige

It features Elton John on piano and both Elton and Bernie receive song writing credits.

Here is Elton John with the Muppets in 1999. This is abbreviated, and mostly a skit, but it is just a bit of fun.

Once again, we will turn to ‘Revamp’. Here is P!NK and Logic with Elton John.

There is something poetic about the cover of ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ and everything it symbolized. The image of Elton John wearing ruby red platform shoes and a bead-dazzled sequined jacket stepping onto the golden path as he heads off into the sunset is iconic. He is inviting us to join him in a better place. A better future.

The yellow brick road was the right track.

How did we get so far off course?