Your Top Ten Elton John Songs

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:00 pm

One thread leads to another. A post on the song title game has had me listening to El all day and sticking a toe in the top ten waters. A childhood fave. I stopped listening after Blue Moves.

1. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters. Just has a lot of resonance for me. Lyrically perfect, musically perfect. Maybe their Greatest Achievement.
2. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me. My cliche choice.
3. Border Song. Holy moses, I have been deceived. More personal resonance.
4. Billy Bones and the White Bird. check it out!
5. Curtains. And just like us, you must have had a once upon a time... devastating.
6. I've Seen The Saucers. This is where the drugs start showing.
7. The Bitch is Back (a personal theme song)
8. Boogie Pilgrim. In some ways a companion piece to -
9. Take Me to The Pilot.
10. Western Ford Gateway. a diamond in the rough from the largely unlistenable Skyline Pigeon. I still have the cassette. It's got to be 30 years old. or more.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:44 pm

Excellent idea, excellent choices!!

mood swung wrote:...I stopped listening after Blue Moves.

That's where he lost me as well. Have you heard the Captain Fantastic sequel?

1. Captain Fantastic And the Brown Dirt Cowboy
2. Burn Down the Mission
3. Skyline Pigeon [1969, fer Chrissakes!]
4. Curtains
5. Come Down In Time
6. I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)
7. Blues For Baby And Me
8. Honky Cat
9. Ticking
10. Blue Eyes

That last one is the sappiest of the sap, but really, it's a beautiful song. Though I only included 2 in my list, I still love a lot of the big hits, including Tiny Dancer, a song never heard on the radio before the film Almost Famous featured it. I also liked the duet with Dr. Winston O'Boogie (wink, wink) Whatever Gets You Through the Night-- pure mainstream Rock-God pleasure.

Hmm. Much harder than I though-- very unsatisfying, maybe cause these will always exist as full albums for me, most of which I bought dutifully on the day of their release for $5.24. ($4.99 + tax, the price was a very important figure in my life, the structure of all allowance and baby-sitting and pizza shop income!)

Goody2Shoes · Post by **Goody2Shoes** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:35 pm

Not the ones I necessarily think are the best ones, but the ones I like the best. It's all also very much tied to my youth as well, and yeah, hard to pick apart albums, esp. Capt. Fantastic and Madman Across the Water.

You Sister Can't Twist But She Can Rock 'N' Roll - somebody help me 'cause the bug bit me!
Razor Face
Border Song
All The Nasties
No Shoestrings On Louise
Burn Down The Mission
Tower Of Babel
Rocket Man
Bitter Fingers
Rotten Peaches
Country Comfort

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 4:50 pm

I haven't heard the CF sequel - I've been afraid. I seem to remember Tiny Dancer being on classic rock radio back when I was commuting to school. A lot. And that would've been way before Almost Famous.

Bitter Fingers!

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:14 pm

Okay, guess I was wrong about Tiny Dancer... let's just say no one played it in the NYC market when the album itself came out, which was well before the idea of classic rock!

Now I can't stop listening to CFATBDC... Tower of Babel's definitely a great one... Bitter Fingers also....

Why do I get the feeling we define some very specific demographic?

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:24 pm

reviews of the sequel were good, but I've never heard the original. I love GYBR, which my bor had, and which I recentloy rebought to relive my youth, and the hits, and had Blue Moves. I also had the one with Song For Guy, but it was a bore. I still have Tumbleweed, but can hardly remember it. Mine is a more hits-based list than all others!

1. Harmony
2. Sweet Painted Lady
3. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
4. Rocket Man
5. Daniel
6. Tonight
7. Funeral For a Friend
8. Love Lies Bleeding
9. Bennie and the Jets
10. Your Song

alexv · Post by **alexv** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:23 pm

1970s A.M. Radio God(dess), and a deserving one too (actually, he was too good for A.M., but I don't think he cares):

1. Bennie
2. Blessed (from his Made in England record, a goodie)
3. Elderberry Wine (from Piano Player, my favorite)
4. I'm Gonna be a Teenage Idol
5. Your Song
6. Daniel
7. Teacher I Need You (Teacher I, Teacher I....)
8. Funeral for A Friend
9. Blues for Baby and me
10.Blue Eyes

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:02 pm

Mechanical Grace wrote:Okay, guess I was wrong about Tiny Dancer...

You guess you were wrong...? Guessing was your problem in the first place. YES you were wrong, that's what tends to happen when you assume.

Mechanical Grace wrote:let's just say no one played it in the NYC market when the album itself came out, which was well before the idea of classic rock!

Yeah let's...., that'll do!

Mechanical Grace wrote:Why do I get the feeling we define some very specific demographic?

Cos you're an idiot......?

1. Tiny Dancer
2. Rocket Man
3. Candle In The Wind
4. Bennie And The Jets
5. Your Song
6. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
7. Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
8. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
9. Blue Eyes
10. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:37 pm

wow....errrr....anyway.

First concert I ever saw, when but a 12 year old, trailing along behind my cousin and her boyfriend, Elton at Western Springs, Auckland NZ in 1973 on the Yellow Brick Road tour.
I think for teenagers in the early seventies that Elton was their/our Beatles to an extent. I spent a WHOLE lot of teenage time in front of an FM radio in the early seventies and I dont remember much airplay for Tiny Dancer either, it definitely got a new lease of life with Almost Famous.
Anyhow...

Ive Seen The Saucers
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Bennie and the Jets
Your Sister Cant Twist (but she can Rock n Roll)
Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
The Bitch Is Back
I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun of Robert Ford)
Saturdays Allright for Fighting
Sugar on the Floor

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:08 pm

Ooooohh, more subtle and devastating invective from Boo, the board's keenest intellect!

Moving on...

I spent my childhood nearly glued to the radio, which for a long time meant AM, mostly WABC and WNBC if you wanted Top 40 music. The influential FM stations like WNEW, WBLS and WPLJ didn't really ramp up until the '70s, and even then album tracks (i.e., songs not released as 45s) were exotic fare. I don't know if it's any better now (I suspect not) but I thing New York radio largely sucked because the market was just too damn big-- advertising stakes were high on every stripe on the band. WLIR was a fantastic exception but unless you lived on Long Island the signal was simply too weak. In any case I was pretty sheltered musically in lots of ways, and I knew that Elton John was not considered cool but I loved his stuff and still do.

oily slick · Post by **oily slick** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:42 pm

A Single Man was not a bore Otis!!

did you know elton recorded songs entitled This Town and Satellite and released them on the same album before elvis did?

Song For Guy
Bennie and the Jets
Chloe
Madman Across the Water
Madness
All Quiet on the Western Front
Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me
Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)
Healing Hands
Shoot Down the Moon

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:37 pm

This was difficult.

I will never forget seeing Elton in the fall of 1983. I had 7th row seats and lept like a frog when he took off his red satin jacket and threw it into the crowd. The damn thing landed right on my head - as did about 75 other people immediately after that. Oh, how I wanted that jacket. I was stepped on time and again, but just to be hit in the head by it, you know?

Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Your Song
Tiny Dancer
Take me to the Pilot
Crocodile Rock
Candle in the Wind (the old version)
Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word
Rocket Man
Someone Saved My Life Tonight

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:30 am

don't know enough to do a top ten. I did always quite like candle in the wind, it is a great shame that it has been spoilt for me by the diana version (i think that it must have been bought by much of the nation though).

back in the early eighties when elton was still chairman of the watford soccer club a watford supporting friend of mine told me that the crowd used to sing "luther's got blue eyes" (luther blissett was a (black) goal striker back in the day). i'm fairly certain that my friend was kidding but wouldn't it be great if it was true. i am not a racist.

i also quite like 'guess that's why they call it the blues'. is that bad?

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:35 am

Not very original -

Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
Daniel
Rocket Man
The Bitch Is Back
All The Girls Love Alice
Levon
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Honky Cat
Bennie And The Jets
and the one I'm most ashamed to admit - Sad Songs (Say So Much)

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:07 am

Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest World
Crocodile Rock
Mad Hatters and Mona Lisas
Levon
Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)
Blue Eyes
Daniel
Rocket Man
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Post by **BlueChair** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 8:57 am

bambooneedle wrote: Cos you're an idiot......?

Hey - go easy on the personal attacks, please. We are all adults here.

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:16 am

so lacklustre wrote: i also quite like 'guess that's why they call it the blues'. is that bad?

Not bad in my opinion because I've always kind of liked it too.

Post by **BlueChair** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:25 am

1. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
2. Levon
3. Take Me To The Pilot
4. Border Song
5. Bennie and the Jets
6. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (althouh George Michael and American Idol have destroyed this song)
7. Crocodile Rock
8. Amoreena
9. Someone Saved My Life Tonight
10. Rocket Man

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:04 am

Just to be clear: in the years 83-86, while I spent lots of time in a '73 VW (yellow) equiped with an 8 track and a radio stuck on WIMZ 103.5, I heard Tiny Dancer enough to learn all the words. The decisive factor is that I never owned that particular album, thus could learn it no other way. I hope this clears everything up! Maybe it was just an East Tennessee thing.

Nothing personal, anybody!

I should've put the Robert Ford song on my list.

Sad Songs, Guess That's Why TCITB, and another one from that Elton Era that refuses to tell me its name this morning - more classic singalongs for me.

Elton was the shit, as my daughter might say (to her friends).

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:47 am

Sad Songs, Guess That's Why..., and Empty Garden are good ones from the later era.

I had 2 tickets to see him in Madison Square Garden in the summer of 1975 (I think? Maybe it was a year earlier?) but couldn't go because my parents then planned a vacation for the same time. I made about $100 profit selling them in the paper, even then! Still, it would've been something to see him at the height of his game. He was absolutely this whitebread suburban girl's idol at the time...

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:54 am

Ron Sexsmith had pictures of him all over his teenage wall, so still finds it amazing when he does things like sing his praises while performing at a recent Canadian show.

Tiny Dancer is interesting to me in that it's often referred to as Elton's crowning moment. I've seen several such mentions in the last year or two, and yet it was a song I hadn't heard until very recently, to my knowledge. It certainly wasn't a hit here, and I don't even know what record it's off. Great song, though.

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:08 pm

It's from Madman Across the Water, which came out in 1971-- a damn long time ago! A Florida guy on Amazon writes, "All the FM stations were playing Tiny Dancer (you could find her in every town from the east coast to the west coast in the early 70's)". Again, that's not my memory of things in the NYC area but anyone who reads this board knows I've been wrong lots of times before. Come to think, it's possible I simply didn't have access to FM radio that early. I was 9, and neither the Panasonic transistor radio I had with me nearly all the time nor our car radio had anything other than AM.

By the by, I apologize to Boo and others for being uncivil. It's been a very bad week for me. I'm finalizing my divorce, which is excruciatingly bittersweet, and it's the 1-yr anniversary of the absolutely crappiest and meanest, to say nothing of cowardly thing anyone's done to me in all my forty-something years (this is separate from the divorce stuff, mind you-- my Ex is far too nice a guy to ever have been such a prick). However, none of that is any reason to take it out on people here. I'm sorry to anyone I've been unfair to or have bothered.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:41 pm

Like SLL I have limited knowledge of EJ's stuff and would probably just do a list of single....so I won't bother. I'm not really a great fan, but I really liked 'This Train Don't Stop There Anymore' from one of his most recent albums................is that bad?

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:29 pm

Nothing is bad! That song was decent. It got lots of praise. He played it on Later and it was cool.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:00 am

I liked that song. Quite a bit. Almost a return to form.

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