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9. Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975) Album Review
12 Plays13 days ago
Dominic & Anthony continue to search for a meal ticket, as they review Elton's ninth studio album; can Captain Fantastic top the Elton v Elton charts, or would we all be better off dead?
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Welcome to Elton v Elton: The Album Battle! This is the podcast where two pals (Anthony & Dominic) & Elton fans rage over which of Elton's albums we think is the best. We'll be keeping score as we go, as we delve into each of Elton's solo studio albums, discussing the tracks individually, the musicians involved, the album art, random trivia, cover versions & anything else in between!
We'd love to hear from you with your ratings, opinions and any other insights into Elton's work you have. Drop us an email via eltonveltonpod@gmail.com
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Thanks go to everyone involved in bringing Elton's work to the bigger stage, James Cook (http://www.jamescookcomedian.com/) & Paul Savage (https://www.instagram.com/savagecomics_/) who inspired the format of this show and Zapsplat.com for the SFX. Research for the show was done using songfacts.com, , eltonchords.com, https://www.eltonography.com/ and Elton’s autobiography 'Me'.
You can find Dominic on https://www.facebook.com/dominicberry/ and on his poetry website https://dominicberry.net/
You can find Anthony on two other podcasts: Enough of the Falafel (featuring the Vegan Week & Vegan Talk shows) and The Brambling Along Podcast
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Until next time it’s goodbye from Captain Dom-tastic & the Brown Dirt Ant-boy!
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Transcript
Introduction & Trivia Teaser
00:00:00
Speaker
It is the 23rd of May 1975. Margaret Thatcher has just taken charge of the Conservative Party in the UK. But still in charge of the music charts is Elton John, who is releasing his fifth consecutive US number one album, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.
00:00:23
Speaker
I'm Dominic. And I'm Anthony and you are listening to Elton versus Elton, the album battle.
00:00:47
Speaker
Welcome everyone. This is episode nine of Elton versus Elton, the album battle. This is the podcast where two pals, Anthony and Dominic, who love the music of Elton John, We rage over which of his albums we love the best. We've had eight previous ones that we've been reviewing things on. We're onto number nine now. We're doing them in order, but you don't have to listen to things in that order.
00:01:12
Speaker
Just a quick shout out and acknowledgement. Obviously, indebted to everyone involved in bringing Elton's music to the masses and as well to lesser known people, James Cook and Paul Savage.
00:01:23
Speaker
They released a podcast doing this sort of format, but for the men's football World Cups. So we like to give a shout out to them for giving us the idea.
Trivia Answer & 'Caribou' Album Review
00:01:32
Speaker
Yes, yes. yes Before we go any further, let's give you the answer to the trivia teaser in our last episode. We asked you, the 1995 re-release of Caribou includes Elton's cover of Pinball Wizard.
00:01:46
Speaker
It was released as single in 1975, but did it chart higher or lower than the original version by author? Who? Come on then, Dominic. play Play your singles right. What's your guess? Higher or lower? Well, I think it's close. I'm going to say the Elton's version charts ever so slightly lower. I think that the Who's version is like the lower half of the top five.
00:02:15
Speaker
I think that Elton's version is the upper half five. of the, does that make sense? Between six and 10. Yeah, i think he's got to like six, did it? Well, you are right in that it was close. However, you are right in both senses. Elton reached number seven. Oh, I said six, so seven. One out, one out. Yeah. yeah So Elton reached number seven, the Who reached number four.
00:02:38
Speaker
Interesting fact as well, Elton's version is the only cover version of a Who song to reach the yeah UK top 10. And it is a banger, isn't it? I mean, goodness me. well deserved. We, talking of things that arguably might not be well but deserved, we reviewed in our last episode the album Caribou that reached number one in the UK and the US s but despite that me and Dominic rated it as our least favourite Elton album thus far. We gave it a lot of praise, though, a lot of praise. i mean it's got bitches back on it. Don't let the sun go down on me. And I mean, the songs are divisive, but I mean, Ticking, Anthony gave, well, I'll let you listen to it hear what Anthony gave it. But it's like a lot of people's favourite Elton Deep cut. And we speak at length on it.
00:03:25
Speaker
prestige um Yeah, Dominic had not listened to this album ever before this project. And I was really excited to hear his reaction to Solar Prestige, Agamon and Ticking.
Historical Context & Personal Struggles
00:03:40
Speaker
And let's say I was surprised to hear his reactions to both of those. Oh, the notable tracks on that album, Bitch is Back. Don't let the sun go down on me. But we're not in 1974. We're in 1975 now, which means that the world has moved on as well as Elton's music. Dominic normally gives us the updates on what's happening in the world. 1975 then, Dominic, you've already mentioned Maggie Thatcher.
00:04:08
Speaker
Indeed, we've got Microsoft founded, we've got the end of the Vietnam War, and we've got the UK having the number one single, Stand By Your Man, by Tammy Wynette, who would later become a duet partner of Elton John on his duets album. The US number one at the time was Earth, Wind & Fire with Shining Star.
00:04:32
Speaker
So, global context, we have heard. We always talk about Elton's context at the time. Now, it's fair to say that in previous episodes, we've been talking about Elton's personal life becoming more and more difficult. um Lots of struggles, lots of substance use and abuse. And it's fair to say that those struggles are still ah going on. So mental health struggles, bulimia, drug use, depression. I'm saying these things in a throwaway way. And that's that's certainly not the intent in in terms of what they must have been like for him.
00:05:08
Speaker
and for others who live with those things. But they're still a big part of his life. Musically, things are about to change. However, for this album, that change has not yet happened.
00:05:20
Speaker
And something else that's still constant is his relationship with manager John Reid, both in a management sense and in a romantic sense. Yeah, we've got loads of different people featuring on this album. It is the last one with the regular band of Elton, Davy Johnson, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsen.
00:05:41
Speaker
ah Anthony made a joke on our last podcast about Ray Cooper playing whatever was lying about. Well, he's got some cymbals, bongos, congas, tambourine.
'Captain Fantastic' Album Analysis
00:05:53
Speaker
On track one, plays the jawbone. He's got a shaker as well. All kinds of business. We've got some beautiful orchestral arrangements from Gene Page. We've got a really nice synthesizer work on tracks nine and ten from David Henschel. And we have Gus Dudgeon still producing.
00:06:17
Speaker
Still producing in more senses than one. Good old Gus. Gus doesn't slate this album in the same way that he slated Caribou, but we'll give some background for this album as well before we start talking about the tracks. So if you've not listened to this before, or maybe you're like me and when you listen to music, you only listen to the music and you don't listen to the words, you might not be aware.
00:06:40
Speaker
But this album is an autobiographical account and indeed a chronological account of the early musical careers of Elton,
00:06:51
Speaker
i.e. Captain Fantastic, and his long-term lyricist Bernie Taupin, aka the brown dirt cowboy in this. It was received well, reached number one in its first week of release on the US Billboard 200, selling 1.4 million copies within four days of release. Just get your head around that.
00:07:12
Speaker
You know, in a time before streaming and Amazon Prime streaming, selling 1.4 million copies within four days. Stayed in the top position in the chart for seven weeks.
00:07:24
Speaker
Ranked number 158 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003 and in 2012, it retained that position. The Caribou Ranch was used for recording again, um Caribou being the the name of the previous album for the reason of it being recorded there. We've already referenced this album in in terms of it it being well esteemed by by many standing the test of time. it's not It's not like, I don't know, something like Caribou or Rock of the Westies that reached number one, but actually not that many people think think highly of it. And I think it's fair to say that Elton and those involved hold it in that high esteem with the test of time too. In a 2006 interview,
00:08:10
Speaker
Elton said, I've always thought that Captain Fantastic was probably my finest album because it wasn't commercial in any way. We did have songs such as Someone Saved My Life Tonight, which is one of the best songs that Bernie and I have ever written together. But whether a song like that could be a single these days, since it's more than six minutes long, is questionable. Captain Fantastic was written from start to finish in running order as a kind of story about coming to terms with failure We're trying desperately not to be one.
00:08:40
Speaker
And we lived that story. And it's worth pointing out, I didn't know this, Dominic, until i I was researching the show. They worked long hours on this compared to previous albums. We've talked before about Elton Nevy can't make the song work in 45 minutes, he ditches it, moves on to the next one. The album's record being recorded in like three, four days. Not the case here. No, and I think it really shows. And I think compared to Caribou, which I do think has an inherent genius, but it's...
00:09:14
Speaker
a genius that's full of spark and rawness and often underdeveloped. Like this is genius plus graft plus hard work.
00:09:26
Speaker
And, you know, when I was starting out in my career as a poet, I always used to find it really hard reading about record makers who just churned out albums in two or three days and then realising that some artists didn't want to churn them out in two or three days. That's just what they had to do to meet record company demands or maximise expensive studio time that they could only afford so much. Whereas in poetry, we're forced to labour on things. Publishers are always asking us for new edits and deadlines are put back and oh, it can go on forever. We've got the opposite. problem that things just go on and on forever and ever and ever um but yeah i think this album it really shows that um they spent uh i believe uh almost a month uh creating it which is really really wonderful and and elton put down the original
00:10:23
Speaker
You know, when he's composing these things, he's just doing it himself on a piano. And that can be quite a quick process. I think I'm right in saying in the Honky Chateau album, we reported that he wrote Amy, Rocketman and Mona Lisa's and Mad Hatter's before breakfast one morning. Whereas this, he he took a whole boat ride from UK to New York.
00:10:48
Speaker
to put all of these together. So i I'm not sure exactly how long that take, but it's certainly certainly not a few hours. it's That's a several days journey, isn't it So even that side of things is taking longer. um I haven't mentioned some of the sharp positionings and and acclaim for this one. So number one in the US, number two in the UK. It was also number one in New Zealand and Australia and Canada, ah number two in Norway, number three in Spain. So doing well across the board. Also nominated for Grammys, as we said about Caribou. So that was the 1975 Grammys.
00:11:24
Speaker
This one, 1976 Grammys. It was nominated for Album of the Year and nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance Male. It didn't win either. I'm right in thinking, Dominic, that you...
00:11:38
Speaker
I've owned this album for a long time and I'm the same. When did you first get this
Artwork & Personal Connections
00:11:44
Speaker
album? Oh, my word. Well, my stepdad had it on vinyl and we spoke at length about how glorious the sleeve illustrations for Goodbye Yellow Brick Road are and similarly the artwork for every individual song. Like, it really is a book.
00:12:03
Speaker
Unlike Anthony, I would sit down and read the lyrics like it was a novel. with the album playing for everything for David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Kiki D to whatever I was listening. And this was a joy to do so. So I very quickly ah bought it on CD. I bought it again when the re-release with a whole live concert that came out.
00:12:27
Speaker
And I have culled my copy of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, my CD. I just was never listened to the songs that weren't singles. I thought, You know, yeah, I can live without that. When I was moving house, I was desperately getting rid of stuff in this age where we can listen to anything on YouTube. I treasure my experiences listening to Captain Fantastic. it's ah It really is. Yeah, I grew up with it.
00:12:54
Speaker
It's in my blood. What about you, Anthony? Well, I took a little while to get this one. I vividly remember it. it I bought the 1995 style reissue. Not in 1995, I should say. But in my teens, I bought it. But I didn't buy it straight away. And I think what I would do when I was choosing Alton Albums to buy is I would look at the track listings and And I would see how many of them appeared on The Very Best of Elton John. And the only one on here in the main listing was Someone Saved My Life Tonight. Although, as we will go on to say, in the re-release, there was Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Philadelphia Freedom as bonus tracks. So I didn't get it initially because there were just those three and Someone Saved My Life Tonight at the time I wasn't a a big fan of. um but It's not necessarily a song going to grab the ears of of youngsters, is it? It's like it's a very grown-up melody and set of words. Yeah. So I think I think i probably got this by the age of 16, 17, something like that. And we'll get onto this when we talk about the individual tracks. But musically, it really interested me. But I think you really appreciate this album when you listen to it in one go. And you really take in the words. And that wasn't at all how I consumed music then. I mean, it's still, it's still not really, but this project is teaching me the ah benefits of doing so that these podcasts, but I think that really elevates it to another level. So my relationship with this album is entering a new stage, I think. I think it's been underappreciated until quite recently. Shall we talk about the artwork? Stunning. When I saw him on the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, he performed Someone Saved My Life Tonight, and on the screen there was animation of the artwork of this album moving
00:15:01
Speaker
cartoon of Elton John walking through the world. It's very Alice in Wonderland. I mean, I believe that it's um ah drawing on Renaissance artwork. I think the Garden of Earth he denies is the inspiration.
00:15:16
Speaker
is the the the inspiration It's very, very full. It's, it's, you know, there was a lot to look at in the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road artwork. But here, oh my word, I did as a child just stare and stare and stare at the cover. Of course, you'd open out, be able to look at the back.
00:15:35
Speaker
There's um the lyric booklet I mentioned, but there's also um a scraps booklet containing ah photos and snippets of interviews, diary entries. There are lyrics for songs that aren't on the album. There's a song on the album that we will get to, ah ah Curtains, a homage to Scarecrow, a song that at the time, you know, wasn't, you know, like definitely not on the album. but The whole thing is about...
00:16:03
Speaker
It's almost a whole album about stuff not happening, you know, it's ah as well as a lot, very much happening. But in terms of career, it's it's not an album where it ends with them having a hit with your song. That's not where the story ends. And I think it's far stronger for that. It's ah it's a record about hopes.
00:16:25
Speaker
It's just about the hope. And I think the artwork reflects that. It's fantastical. it' see It's imagination. It's glorious. it's It's spectacular. Yeah, I agree with all of those things and controversial opinion.
00:16:42
Speaker
if so If many of Elton's bits of album art weren't utter trash, like Honky Chateau, like Caribou, if they were all like this,
00:16:54
Speaker
I think I'd be looking at this more carefully and deconstructing bits of it. I still agree with you. It's it's imaginative. It's, wow, what's possible? Which is the whole feel of the album. But I think it's such a... This and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I mean, this is far more full on than Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. but But those two are in their own league, album art-wise, compared to the rest of his stuff, that I just take one look at this and go, yep, that's excellent.
00:17:22
Speaker
and and And that's it. There's many, many bits in there that I'm looking at going, and what the dickens is that then? If I'm looking carefully at it, that's that's not a criticism. That's just an observation in terms of, I don't know, art appreciation depends on context, doesn't it? We've said this a lot. It depends what it's next to. It depends what it appears in a series with.
00:17:42
Speaker
But yeah, it's a great one. it's um I did buy the LP. I've never listened to it because I've never had a record player, but I did buy the LP from a charity shop just for the artwork on here because it's great, isn't it?
Song Analysis: Title Track & 'Tower of Babel'
00:18:10
Speaker
We are now going to talk about the tracks, starting with the title track, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, 5 minutes 46 long. brilliant acoustic guitar and organ intro. Right from the start, isn't it? Yeah, right from the start. So on someone who's so... I mean, you said earlier, oh, there's the big change in sound for Rock on the West is less so for that. Well, I disagree. I think that, that you know, just that opening moments is like, oh, this is different from an Elton John album. It's really... I criticised Caribou for having a lot of novelty, like, you know, the Toot Toots and Dixie and, you know, the Saucer's sound effects. I think that this is, oh, we are in real singer-songwriter terrain here.
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. to To be clear, I wasn't necessarily saying that Caribou or Rock of the Westies are bad albums. I think my point was, or what I was intending to say, was the fact that they were number one albums, I think, was could be attributed to what came before them. So you've got some brilliant albums.
00:19:22
Speaker
And people would expect the same from Caribou. and And I don't think it quite matches that. And I'd say the same for Rock of the Westies. I don't think it quite hits the same heights as what came before. I really like this song musically in the context of it being a a whole concept album, a Well, it's ah it's a a ballad album, isn't it? The whole thing is telling... It's rock opera. It's every bit yeah as much of a rock opera as The Who's Tommy.
00:19:53
Speaker
Do you think, though... you could enjoy this song in isolation? could Could you say to somebody, listen to this song in isolation. It's brilliant. I'm not criticising it. I'm just asking. Is it possible to agree? The answer is yes. And I did exactly that with my boyfriend. So I wanted to not play Someone Saved My Life Tonight because I thought that's...
00:20:19
Speaker
of a very somber tone and might not necessarily sell the record because it's really deep and dark so yeah i chose this song i think that um it goes on a fabulous journey from uh seeing their you know origins you know beautiful you mixture of real down-to-earth phrases like you know Two teas both with sugar, please. And the subtle poetry of it's haymaking and hey, mum, do the papers, say anything good. You know, so, so grounded. But then the musicality of the chorus, it builds and it builds. and I think it's a euphoric chorus I think it's real yeah it's rock opera stuff I think that it very much works it's not as in your face as Pinball Wizard but in the same way that the words of Pinball Wizard isolated from the show tell a great story of that deaf dumb and blind kid I think this in itself tells a complete story
00:21:24
Speaker
Yeah, it it and and musically, it it does really interesting things. There's drama in it. there's a There's a bit in it where you've got the... dodoooo do do de dooooo do do do Which is completely changing tempo. We spoke in the previous episode about... o Which song was it where they do that?
00:21:46
Speaker
Was it Grimsby? Yeah. Yes, I think it's Grimsby where they just, in between the end of the chorus and the start of the next verse, they completely do a do-do-do-do-do-do-do and just change the time signature. That experimentation in Caribou that sometimes hit and sometimes missed, I think's implemented even better in this song. And yeah, we do hear the jawbone. We do hear the jawbone very clearly from good old Ray picking up the nearest percussion instrument. It's a fantastic piece of music. And I asked the question, I think the answer is yes to, to can you listen to this in isolation?
00:22:23
Speaker
Can you listen to and enjoy Tower of Babel in isolation to the same degree? I'm not sure. not that Again, that's not a criticism of it. It's just an observation. Do you want to say anything more about Captain Fantastic, Dominic, or should we move on to track two? Oh, every song I could spend an hour speaking about each one. So let's not do that. Our poor listeners have got lives beyond our voices.
00:22:50
Speaker
second track of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Soul Love, is a song that really you have to go on some headcanon journeys to slot that into the overarching narrative of this space rock and roller coming down and forming a band and i think the same with Tower of Babel. I think that again it goes on an interesting journey. I love the chorus.
00:23:19
Speaker
The verses are like funeral slowness, but unlike Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, they're quite short, the verses. It gets to the it gets to the the chorus quite quickly. I don't know if I know what it's about. I think...
00:23:38
Speaker
It's like... I had to look it up. oh Well, i think I think it's like, oh, the music industry is hedonistic. I think that's it, isn't it? Oh, so I didn't... Well, I didn't take it as that, but I see i see how you're getting to that. um When I said I had to look it up, I had to look up the story of the Tower of Bane. okay, I didn't know yeah that reference I didn't attend scripture class. They reference it in 1990s Star Trek. That's how I know the Tower of Babel from Deep Space Nine.
00:24:10
Speaker
That would kind have been a very, very tall tower to reach the Enterprise. Goodness. yeah I mean, for for people people as ignorant as me, ah a synopsis of the Tower of Babel would be people trying to build a tower that gets up to heaven, but there's a an an arrogance or an ambition, I suppose, to the people doing so. It's not that they're just, oh, heaven's a lovely place, let's get there. They're trying that the builders say something like, oh, we'll make a name for ourselves by being the people that build this tower that gets everyone to heaven. So God um gives people different languages. At this point, all the people of the world speak one language and they're uniting in this one thing. but that's the point at which God gives people different languages. And so they're not united anymore. It's harder for them to build bridges between themselves. And I took this as indeed, I took several of the lyrics in this album as, as being a little bit like fate is against us. You know, this, this is a lot harder than we thought it would be. It's, it's almost, it's not right for people
00:25:20
Speaker
to be this ambitious. And so we're we're swimming against the current here. i'm not I'm not saying that Bernie's saying, oh, we don't deserve to be where we are. I interpret it as him saying... That's what the characters are realising. You're not just going to waltz your way in. Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:36
Speaker
but See, the Sodom and Gomorrah, K-Me-Abel, they're not from the same bit of the Bible. And that, you know, so the although the song is called Tower of Babel, the way he sings, Tower of Babel, it's less easy to decipher the words. Whereas Sodom meet Gamora, Cain meet Abel. And like, I wasn't sure as a kid whether that conflict was a bit like the bitches back. Like, oh, it's really great because this is where the rebels are and actually hooray for the rebels, hooray for the ones. who are overthrowing the systems, or whether it's like, oh, the music industry is a den of vipers and it's really scary and it's full of people who are quite unpleasant. And I still don't know, like Soul Love, I think it's like, I think it's a great lyric. think it's a great tune. And I think...
00:26:30
Speaker
it's relatively short as well it's relative like you know verse chorus first chorus bang we're done there's a lovely little instrumental bit in it you know da um And yeah, it's not my favourite song on the album, but I do love it. I do love it. I love it more than Solar Prestige, Come On. And that's quite crazy. Wow. Wow. Yeah, I would agree with you. It's definitely in, relatively speaking, it's one of my least favourite tracks on the album. And I think it's excellent. I'm going to pick Knits here.
00:27:08
Speaker
as someone who doesn't hear lyrics very easily, it doesn't sound like he's saying Tower of Babel. It sounds like town. um And that that that didn't help me listening to it. I was imagining people in a town. I should have just read the lyrics, shouldn't I? but um i yeah but But his singing of the melodies here is fantastic. like the the His singing range It's fantastic.
Song Analysis: 'Bitter Fingers' & 'Tell Me When the Whistle Blows'
00:27:36
Speaker
Yeah, fantastic. I mean, you could you could write it for a melody instrument, like a flute or a saxophone or something like that, and it it would sound it wouldn't sound as good, but like there's that much range in it. It would make an interesting piece of music to play. the
00:27:54
Speaker
The lyrics are ah growing on me. Now I've put the work in and researched it. I think it's great that the album is varied and like we're going to move on to Bitter Fingers, which is a stunning lyric, but far easier to decipher. It's quite straightforward storytelling. And I think the album is stronger for...
00:28:17
Speaker
think this album is sequenced fantastically. I think Tower of Babel is correct to be sung too. And it's like, oh, this is this is this is ah this is a work of art. This this isn't just like, you know listen to one you know, listen to it once and you've got everything you'll ever get from this record. It's like this is a repeat experience. repeat experience record and yeah it's a great track too in our last episode dominic said that he would be very happy to cut the intro to pretty much every song in caribou and i think the complete opposite could be said about this album i i think if you had if it was a completely instrumental album
00:29:02
Speaker
where variations were spun on, you took the intro and then it it went into jazz variations or rock variations or whatever on everything. I think that would be fascinating. And Bitter Fingers might be favourite intro to this, the triplets that he's playing, the diddly diddly diddly diddly.
00:29:20
Speaker
It's wonderful. And then when it comes into the verse, the the time signature changes again, or technically the time signature doesn't change, but because he's not playing those triplets anymore, it sounds completely different. And just just as a musician and and anybody who really listens to the music in a in a song like this this is a fantastic song i'd say the music is far better than than lyrics which are also great but music learning this no the lyrics are stunning it's like i mean yeah all right i'm the guy who praised the lyrics to solar prestige again on so do i have anything of words say. I think for nonsense, for the nonsense genre, that's a skill for writing. And for this, as a prosaic storytelling, that that's still hard to do. It's not Tower of Abel, but this is, it covers, I think the words are great. I would give my... Didn't say they weren't great. I said the music was better.
00:30:25
Speaker
i'd I'd say 10 out of 10 for the music, 9 out of 10 for the lyrics, I would say. Maybe. Sick of tra-la-las and la-dee-da's, and yet he wrote sad songs mean so much. um It's fabulous. i I wonder, well, I don't need to wonder, actually, because this was my experience as a teenager. I was going to say, I wonder how well you can enjoy this album if you don't know that it's an autobiographical account. And I didn't, I mean, call me Nia. I didn't, I didn't. And I loved it. I loved it. But then I kind of just presumed that all singers were writing about themselves. So like, you know, if, ah you know, I mean, that was like, t you and I was often really confused thinking, how does this fit into this singer's life? But um yeah, I didn't know. I didn't know the background of this record when I heard it as a teen. I didn't know anything.
00:31:18
Speaker
you know Yeah, well, I think that it's not a criticism, it's just an observation. i think if you don't properly know that that this is autobiographical, this is close as you get to an autobiography about these two folk until relatively recently as we're recording this I mean goodness me like Elton could have released 10 autobiographies and by 2026 and he's only released one you know I'm thinking of the rate that footballers bring out an autobiography they've normally done about three by the time they've ended their 20s I think that really brings something to but
00:31:56
Speaker
Whereas without that, you're listening to somebody talking about songwriting. And if they're talking about it in general terms, I'm sort of like, oh, okay, that's a bit interesting, I suppose. But if if you know that the speaker is saying, this relates to me, this is my struggle. No, i disagree. I disagree so strongly. I think if Elton John was like, here is the fictional story of a made-up character called Captain Fantastic, then I would be like, wow, the people who've written this lyric...
00:32:24
Speaker
they really understand what it's like to struggle. think it's so impressive that people so far into their career where they were so, they've been successful for so long, still have such a great, they've not forgotten their roots in the way that a lot of rock stars forget their roots. Like they really, the detail, if you said this is a fictional character's journey, I would follow that fictional character because it's so,
00:32:55
Speaker
well described and I'm with that character. And I didn't know, I didn't know the route. I didn't know whether he struggled. I didn't know whether he'd walked into a, yeah you know, whatever the equivalent of, you know, Fame Academy or The Voice was in the seventies and just like been plucked and was an immediate star. I had no idea. So although I did kind of presume it was about him,
00:33:20
Speaker
also like the who's tommy isn't really about them but i'm with the character of tommy i'm with the character of captain fantastic i'm with the character of the brown dirt cowboy because the words are so good these are and these are 10 on 10 uh set of words your score of nine for the lyrics is an absolute blasphemy ah which you should be. Do you know what? I was just about to go back on it. And then you said that, which is making me want to dig my head. In an ideal world, this podcast listeners, we we would have the music playing in the background, but we, you know, we don't want to,
00:33:57
Speaker
uh infringe copyright or you know take them with that sort of thing so when we're talking about this i do have the lyrics up in front of me as as a reference and the more i'm looking at them the more i'm thinking yeah they are really really good i thought they were really good They're really, really good. The last little bit, you know it's just another hit and run from the Tin Pan Alley Twins. And there's a chance that one day you might write a standard, lads. So churn them out quick and fast and we'll still pat your backs because we need what we can get to launch another dozen acts.
00:34:33
Speaker
Are you working? Oh, it's great. It's great. Selling good. Oh, well, do try to smell good. Let's talk about Tell Me When The Whistle Blows. That song golden. I've been waiting for us to talk about this because I want your opinion. So let me pick up the exact point in the music. In Caribou, you were very critical, Dominic.
00:34:54
Speaker
of the toot toot at the start of Dixie Lily and in Tell Me When The Whistle Blows. I really like this. I really like this, but I'm not the man who criticised Dixie Lily's toot toot.
00:35:05
Speaker
After the seventh line... for there's taxi cabs hooting. The orchestral arrangement from Jean Page does have a brass instrument going boop boop, mimicking a taxi hooting.
00:35:17
Speaker
What's your take on that? Are you going to criticise that in the same way that you criticise Dixie Lily's toot toot? I've never noticed it, never noticed and I adore this song. So that's the first thing that you hear, the first thing you hear. I'll tell you what I do hear on this. You previously said in one of our past podcasts that um the live versions of this era didn't differ too much from the studio versions in the way that the earlier live recordings do and the more recent live recordings do. And I agree with you, Anthony, but oh my word, the live recording of this from the day before the album came out, the live recording that's included the backing vocalists on this in the same way that when I listen to Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me, I cannot listen to Don't Let the Sun Go Down Me without hearing a Ladies and gentlemen, and Mr. Elton John. And then, you know, these cuts I have, cuts I have.
00:36:19
Speaker
Well, on this song, it's the same. When I'm listening to the studio version, I still hear the backing vocalists going, take my money, because they're so excellent on the live version so so excellent so maybe that's just like blurring out the the subtle toot that comes i love it i love too i love the toot too okay i really love i mean pretty much every track on this album the music i just think is brilliant and you can as you said dominic you can tell the extra time
00:36:56
Speaker
that they gave to this and I don't think they've been slapdash in previous albums at all I've really enjoyed the music in previous albums but this is a different level I love the music to this one I'm gonna stick my neck out now and I might rein it back in a bit later but I think musically, this is my favorite track of the whole album. The the orchestral arrangement's great. And just just generally, I think it's it's fantastic. I didn't understand the significance, again, of the the the autobiographical nature of this for Bernie.
00:37:30
Speaker
in that apparently every Friday night he would get a train back to Lincolnshire at this stage where Elton and Bernie were working together in London and and and trying to get on the scene, as it were. He would flee back to the countryside for the weekend, which for me makes it all the more brilliant. I still think...
00:37:50
Speaker
It's a fantastic lyric and it's it's talking about you know how grim the city can be and wanting to escape it. Please just take take my money, tell me when the train's going and I'll be on it. you know what What a great sentiment. I wonder, Dominic, was this you in the... definitely. because I grew up in the Welsh countryside, I wanted nothing more than to move to the city and every now and again I would get little jaunts off before I finally made the big plunge and moved ah forever to Manchester where I'm now based. So yeah, like, oh, I praise the earnest yearning of ah the Sorcerer's song on Caribou and I think that carries forward in here, but but with a
00:38:35
Speaker
a better production and a stronger set of words and a better tune. That's my reaction. Yeah, it's up there with my favourites. It really is. I think it's exciting. We've had four super strong songs about four very diverse things. We have. Can I ask your opinion on the strings? I was a big fan of the strings addition to the Elton John album. I really felt that elevated it. At times, you weren't a fan.
00:39:08
Speaker
This song is quite string heavy. Does it do it for you? But it's got tempo. So I think, you know, when we were talking about ticking of the previous album, you said, oh, there isn't much rhythm.
00:39:21
Speaker
There isn't really a a drum ah section. and It's like, yeah, I think that's one of the reasons I struggled with that. And with the eponymous second record, something like 60 Years On didn't grab me because yeah the strings weren't accompanied by a rhythm.
00:39:38
Speaker
There is a dance version of 60 Years on as the final track on the Pinal Good Morning to the Night record. And it's great, Anthony. I had that queued up ready to listen to on my way into work yesterday. You've you've given me second thoughts now.
00:39:56
Speaker
It's the final track. It's the final one. It's the album Closer. okay well It's held in the high place of high regard. And I say dance. I mean, it's it's varied. It's varied. I think...
00:40:08
Speaker
Yeah, um I love it. I love it. I've only discovered it recently, but I love it. And yeah, oh my gosh, we're up we're we're up to the single, aren't we? The single of this album. We're at the the closure of Act One.
00:40:23
Speaker
And, oh, my word. I mean, we could do a whole podcast just talking about this song. Similar to you, when I'm the very best of Elton John, I'll be honest, this weren't my favourite song. I kind of like breeze over i thought it. thought bit long. I thought it was a bit sad. I didn't really connect with the words very much.
00:40:42
Speaker
I did like it, bit like how I say, don't let the sun gets going later on. I like it halfway through the second verse where the drums come in. was like, okay. And I liked the very end where it's like, someone saved, someone saved. I liked that, but it weren't any words.
00:40:58
Speaker
the bitches back it weren't on that level for me as a teenager but now as an adult i join elton john i join elton john elton john was recently interviewed and said this is one of his five favorite elton john songs wow yeah Yeah, it's... And two of the other five were on this album. so ah So we should give context for listeners that might not know the story behind this song. So we we touched on this in episode one when we were talking about the context of Elton's life. In 1968, so couple years before the Elton John album propelled Elton into our consciousness, he was engaged...
00:41:43
Speaker
as Reginald Dwight, not Elton John, to be married to girlfriend Linda Woodrow. And it wasn't necessarily to do with sexuality or anything like that. but it like She was horrible. Yeah, seemingly.
00:41:58
Speaker
Seemingly. Although he's he later went back and and helped her out in life, I feel, didn't he? my Am I confusing him? Do you know what? I'm saying she was horrible. this is me taking the lyrics of the song as like, you know, i was i was gonna I was going to raise this. I think in Elton's autobiography, he talks about her being quite assertive. and things like that. But I didn't pick up any hint of, God, what an awful cow, you know. um But he didn't love her. He felt trapped by the relationship.
00:42:31
Speaker
I mean, I guess his autobiography is written with 50 years of hindsight, whereas this song is released, you know, five or six years after they split. So Elton's feeling desperate, or rather Reg is feeling desperate, and he contemplated suicide. he made what's been called a half-hearted attempt at asphyxiating so himself with a gas oven in his home, although I think he yeah ah left the window open and took took several other steps to try and be caught effectively. But I think the the someone saved my life tonight is not necessarily someone seeing him with his head in the oven, but it's ah Long John Baldry, who he was in a musical relationship with in the late 60s who basically took him out to the pub with Bernie and said what why are you in a relationship with this person you don't love them you're gay and this is getting in the way of your musical aspirations you you just need to stop kidding yourself and you need to end this so that's kind of the the background to the story isn't it Dominic
00:43:38
Speaker
Yeah. Do you know, i feel absolutely terrible saying ah this is like, you know, this is like when people see an actor who's in a soap opera in real life doing their shopping and, you know, the character is like, had an affair and they go, boo, you've been horrible to your wife. And they're like, we're just an actor.
00:43:56
Speaker
We're just an actor. This is comparable in that, you know, I said that I would love this record if it was fictional. And yeah, because like it is portrayed in a certain way.
00:44:08
Speaker
light. I know absolutely nothing about about the woman. I'm going to defend you, Dominic. I do think it is right to call out when people are judgmental without having all the facts on a situation. I think that's ah a horrible trope that most of us fall into from time to time. But I'm going to pick out lyrics. Okay. Sitting like a princess perched in her electric chair.
00:44:30
Speaker
Okay. You almost had your hooks in me, didn't you, dear? You nearly had me roped and tied. I'm strangled by your haunted social scene. Just a pawn outplayed by a dominating queen. It's not portraying her the best light, is it? I think you could be No, it isn't. But these are just Bernie's lyrics. And Bernie isn't necessarily an accurate historian. He's a talented lyricist. So, you know, i feel that, you know, I should hold my hands up and say I haven't done the research. And I'm absolutely sure that, you know, she has her own side to the story. And, yeah, just because just because Bernie's written those things doesn't mean that it's true. And and especially because he's written them really well doesn't mean that it's true. Yeah.
00:45:18
Speaker
but we're We're returning to themes that we had in earlier Elton albums with regards to prisoners, people flying away, people longing for the sky, the butterflies being free to fly.
00:45:30
Speaker
That's a a recurring theme in and this song, isn't it a it? It keeps coming back. I really love that image. And apparently it's a reference to a famous quote from Dickens' Bleak House album.
00:45:42
Speaker
I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold's skin pole what it concedes to the butterflies. i love it. I often criticise long songs, but oh my gosh, I could listen to this all day. there's Someone saved, someone saved. I go along for the ride. i love it. Yeah. adore it.
00:46:03
Speaker
Well, and I think the fact that it's a single that's six minutes 45 long um and nonetheless it reached number four in the US charts, number two in Canada. Fun little bit of trivia, or maybe it's quite dark and macabre, but um good old Gus Dudgeon that we generally sing the praises of. During the recording of the song's lead vocal, Gus said he was pushing Elton for more. in terms of his delivery of the vocal, not paying attention to the lyric. And according to Davy Johnson, the the guitarist, he leaned over and told Gus, you know, he's singing about killing himself. And Gus was apparently mortified by the revelation and backed down.
00:46:49
Speaker
So it's not just you that doesn't listen to the word. It's not just you. Not just you. Hey, if I can be put in the same ballpark as I'm searching, I'm doing all right. but So that's taken us to the end of side one.
00:47:05
Speaker
stormingly good. Stormingly good. Can the second side match it or come even close?
Song Analysis: 'Gotta Get a Meal Ticket' & 'Better Off Dead'
00:47:14
Speaker
Gotta get a meal ticket.
00:47:16
Speaker
Another really distinctive sound. I'd say each of the tracks musically, they've got a different sound, but they're all related, aren't they? This was our chief criticism of Caribou and I suppose Goodbye Yellow Brick Road as well. Very much Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It sounds very, very different in a way that it's hard to join it together. But this really flows. The album is so varied, but so takes you on a journey. And like I say, it is a work of art. It's not just a newspaper to pick up and then use as chip paper the next morning. That was a very poetic image. Didn't expect to be so lyrical then. Oh, Bernie's influencer! Anyway... It's a record that has meant different things at different times. And I listened to Meal Ticket as a teen and loved it because it was fast and rocky. And the I'm on the bottom line is really catchy. This record has got so many hooks. Even the long songs are so full of hooks, so full of catchy bits.
00:48:22
Speaker
Oh, my word. But taking this record with me. when I moved to the city and I was trying to make it in the arts and, you know, I've been a freelancer for many years. I'm really appreciative of the career that I have, but oh, this song sat differently with me, you know, got get a meal ticket, survive, you need a meal ticket. When, you know, I had...
00:48:46
Speaker
20ps and 10ps piled up on my window ledge and that was my money to take to the supermarket having to go around you know that and obviously you know we're in a cost of living crisis now that's a lot of people's lives and I said it before and I'll say it again for the Elton and Bernie to be so successful to have had so many years of success and yet still despite the drug abuse be able to tap in and remember and recall and make art that is so resonant and so precise is hard work and genius. it's so It's a wonderful song and so catchy with it. That's the thing. It's not just worthy. It's like a rollicking melody, rollicking production. rollicking full bands coming in. Yeah. for i I think this really showcases the band. And I, I wondered when we were planning this project and just with reviewing each of the albums, how how much are we going to reveal about what's to come? And we, We have shared the fact that you know two s stalwarts of the band, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsen, this is their last appearance for a while, is this album. And I think both of those, the drum and the bass, are really showcased well in this. Like the tempo is just right. It drives forward at the right points. It holds back at the right points. And I'm being overly sentimental here.
00:50:16
Speaker
But at the ah start of the last verse, there's the line, shake a hand if you want to. And then when you listen to it, you hear D on the bass do a do-do-do-do-do-do. which is really, really nice. And just that yeah the way that the way that Nigel is driving things forward. I think he's using the hi-hat quite a lot, which is often used in in drumming to kind of like keep the tempo up. Really great piece of music. And yeah, like you say, Dominic, a lot of people are going to be um resonating with these lyrics, whether you're trying to make it as an artist or...
00:50:51
Speaker
or just put put food on the table. Yeah, you mentioned the change. We've not done much raging on this record. We're very much in agreement with each other. I think we will rage next time because I love Rock of the West. is I absolutely love it. So I'm really ready to rage in defence of ah the departure of the band and the new recruits who I absolutely love. absolutely adore and I think it's epic.
00:51:16
Speaker
However, yeah, this is this is this is a peak and you could argue, oh it's a shame that they weren't able to see what they could have done immediately afterwards if the same group had had the same length of time. We didn't get that, but we do get them coming back together on records like Too Low for Zero, which, you know, are absolutely brilliant. um Yeah, I love that miserable words have got a great, creative, catchy tune. And the same could be said about...
00:51:52
Speaker
Better off dead. I mean, oh my word. Masterpiece, masterpiece, masterpiece, masterpiece. It's another one where they've played with the time signature. So you've got triplets. This one is predominantly in 12-8, which is quite an unusual ah time signature for a pop piece of popular music. It does drift into 9-8 as well. It's a, it's,
00:52:17
Speaker
You can dance to this, but if you were trying to do a ah ballroom dance or something that needs quite a consistent rhythm, you'd you'd struggle. You'd have to be really thinking about it. And now haven't done a 4-4 remix of this one. No, they haven't. But it's it's fabulous. ah Yeah, musically, it's really clever. So both Dominic and myself enjoying this. I was always almost going to call it a trawling through Elton's work, but it's not. It's a journey of joy. and We have both...
00:52:46
Speaker
inflicted this joy on our romantic partners and i was listening to captain fantastic all the way through this afternoon with my wife alex and she said of this song that she she said what is that noise and i just say it's a sna ah said it's a snare drum but i i see where she's coming from it's um the gunshot that i think it's evoking is used quite a lot. It probably could be paired back a little bit. Oh, no, no. Don't pair anything back. No. I mean, it's better off dead. I mean, it's so powerful. I had a lot of praise to say about the song Daniel for being going from a chorus to a beautiful, you know, not an obvious second verse, but a bit of like, you know, Daniel's got the beautiful...
00:53:39
Speaker
to And then it goes back. Same thing here, same thing here. Like really interesting structure. You know, there's no, there's no death snare in.
00:53:52
Speaker
There's no death snare there. But when it comes, it is trident. Yeah. I mean it's a miserable song, but like it doesn't make you feel miserable listening to it. So there's a lot of misery in it, but there's also um a lot of life in it. There's a lot of life in the song Better Off Dead. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, it's it's not as tongue in cheek in the way that i think I'm going to kill myself from Honky Chateau is. But I don't think we... hear the way in which it's presented and think, oh my goodness, I i i think, you know, Elton's going to top himself here or something like that. You know, it's, there is a fighting spirit to the way in which it's performed, isn't there? I have a question for you, Dominic, as a poet. So Bernie is writing the lyrics in one room
00:54:45
Speaker
and then he's giving them to Elton in another, and he's not communicating, oh, I think this one could be performed in this way or anything like that. Okay. When Elton performs, just the first two lines of this,
00:54:58
Speaker
there was a face on a hoarding that someone one had drawn on and just enough time for the night to pass. No, you see, I can't even do it in in the rhythm, but it's like, he sings it in a way that's a da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I feel that that's unusual for Bernie's lyrics in that very often that they might rhyme.
00:55:20
Speaker
There's not, I wouldn't say there's a ah really strongly implied rhythm to be performing them in. Whereas Elton has... There here. what but But is there here?
00:55:32
Speaker
Is there here? Or is Elton just... No, no, no, there is here. And I i think that Bernie Taupin... I struggle with Take Me to the Piler. I don't get Take Me to the Piler. I think that the music's great, but the words don't connect with me.
00:55:49
Speaker
I think that a lot of people judge Bernie Taupin by Bernie Taupin at his least. genius. I think Bernie Taubin is a hugely underrated lyricist. I think that, um you know, he's done so much material that, yeah, not everything is solid gold, but he shows his diversity. I stand by my praise of solar prestige for being like an excellent piece of nonsense and this is this is rhythmic like that is in the writing as a if a you know often say well i'm a poet who does workshops with children writing poetry and if a child if a teenager brought me those words there was a face on a hoarding that someone had drawn on and just enough time for the night to pass by without warning i would i would hear that i would hear that in the reading Yeah, yeah. I've really studied the musicality of vowel length and consonants. It's a really skillful opening couplet. And I mean, it's one thing writing it and it's another thing. I'm not saying one is harder than the other, but it's another thing for Elton to recognise that.
00:56:58
Speaker
and and to perform it as such without them talking to one another about it. that That's the thing I can't understand. i I mean, i i get why if it's working, you would say, look, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Like, let's not change this formula. But like, that it seems just like such a high stakes risk. Each time you've got these really great lyrics and the really great musician, you're like, yeah, it would be so tempting to just be like,
00:57:25
Speaker
Look, can I just say, with this one here, what I was thinking about it, but but they they don't seem to. Or or I wonder, do do you think maybe they... exaggerate the the extent to which. I've never considered that.
00:57:38
Speaker
I mean, I sometimes wish they did. I've spoken before that I'd love to hear a different arrangement of this song has no title from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I'd love to hear a more sincere melody for the chorus of that. And I wonder if that's what Bernie wanted when he wrote, wish he had popped his head in the room and said, oh, you know how we just did Jamaica Jerk Off. Can you not do that for this one? Or Jamaica Jerk Off. I'll just throw Jamaica Jerk Off in the bin. So, ah yeah, um I don't know. I've never considered that. Is it all a lie? Was a whole tribute album called Two Rooms Made in Deceit? No. In Deceit would it never... I don't think that's consistent with everything. Because I think yeah if there were people that... This is what i choose to believe. If there were people that wanted to perpetuate myths to...
00:58:32
Speaker
make their own reputation better, then you wouldn't say, I don't know what take me to the pilot is. Or you wouldn't say if you're Bernie, I don't really like Crocodile Rock. You know, some people might like it, but I don't like listening to it. I just don't think you'd say those things. So I choose to believe that they worked in separate rooms always without communicating.
00:58:54
Speaker
Another example of where I think Bernie's lyrics have the inherent musicality is in the next song, Writing, which is so very, very good.
Song Analysis: 'Writing' & 'We All Fall In Love Sometimes'
00:59:07
Speaker
And I want to point to lazy days, my razor blade could use a better edge.
00:59:15
Speaker
Oh, my gosh. Like, so before we look, know, the hard A's of lazy day, razor, played like so and then you know bet to edge oh that's so good that's so good phonetically and it's so good the way it that it's worked in musically not just from elton but the rest of the band like this has got quite an up tempo start to it including the start of the verse and then we get to that lazy days my razor blade. And then when it goes to could use a better edge, du de pay we're back again fantastic. It just, it, it, it's all performed like musical theater, isn't it? Or like an opera. I, I, I'm really struggling to understand why it's not been turned into a stage show musical. know, right. I know. Yeah. Well, there's, two vip ticket uh purchases like if anyone's interested in that and it's so catchy like it's so catchy the chorus like yeah like you say this was an instrumental that kind of um and we were up ah oh you know not the kind of you know just if that was played on the violin it sounds epic yeah yeah epic
01:00:41
Speaker
And if you strip away the music and just read the lyrics, spoke a word night, epic. I'm going to throw in i critical opinion that I don't necessarily back, but...
01:00:54
Speaker
I wonder about it. At this point in the album, we're track eight. This song is about, it's called writing. It's talking more about struggles and, you know, we're not really getting anywhere. ah When I listened to it all the way through, in order, by this point, and I don't think it's writing, the song writing's fault,
01:01:19
Speaker
But at this point, we could be feeling like, okay, we've heard this sentiment now. like we've heard this a few times because we've already had a song about writing. No, no, no. But this is, this is a more mature thing. There's a kind of more adult, like the kind of there's a like resignation is often used in a negative sense. Oh, I'm resigned to the fact that I'm a failure.
01:01:44
Speaker
But like, there's an acceptance. You're having baths, having steak and eggs. There's a, there's a, There's an acceptance to these are older people. I mean, older by like maybe a few weeks or a few months. You know, I know it's all set within a very short time period.
01:02:03
Speaker
But yeah, there's a maturity to this. It's perfect. love that this isn't the album where the final track is like and then we had a hit and this is setting ourselves up all the things we write today sounds good tomorrow like we really believe Scarecrow and like
01:02:39
Speaker
yeah it's perfectly sequenced i know i i i loved everything that you just said something different yeah i i think i think the way to enjoy this album is to really pay attention to it to to really get the most out of it because i think like i'm i'm paying more attention to it now than I have when I've been listening to it this week in preparation for this pod. And then I was listening to it more than I was carefree listening to it before. and and
01:03:13
Speaker
And I don't think you can say that about other Elton albums so or indeed most popular music. Like if you sit down and really study it, do you really get more out of it? Or maybe in a nerdy way or whatever. but But I think to really see the difference between writing and Bitter Fingers, for example, i I don't think you get it if you're just paying attention to a surface level. And I think this isn't a criticism of the album. It's just an observation as to how people tend to consume popular music. Well, as some people tend to consume popular music, again, I'm out and proud as an autistic man. And the number of albums I've been really disappointed where I've sat down and read the lyrics and been like,
01:03:59
Speaker
Oh, yeah, it's not really all that, really. I really struggled with Radiohead as a kid. You know, I still do. You know, i love Creep, the one that everyone's meant to hate because it's their popular one. But I sit down with like, you know, the OK Computer album.
01:04:16
Speaker
And like, yeah, like you've got fitter, happier that's relatively comprehensible. But like most of it, I mean, you know, ah no surprises make sense. But a lot of it doesn't. And however many times I listen to Paranoid Androids, it makes no sense. It makes sense. sense and it just feels like and grabbed a handful of words as my hero David Bowie often did I mean for every there's a star man or space oddity there's you know I don't think life on Mars is the best set of lyrics really you know and I think this one every this suited my way of consuming music because that what so yeah that my first listen
01:04:58
Speaker
I sat down. That was the only way as ah as an autistic yet undiagnosed teenager. That was the only way I consumed it. But yes, I'm in agreement with you that you'll get the most out of it yeah by by listening. I love the last stanza.
01:05:14
Speaker
I've... i've ah Because it's it's sung in a really interesting musical and rhythmical way. i don't think I really focused into the lyric, but I'm a naturally optimistic person. I really like this. We could stretch our legs if we'd half a mind, but don't disturb us if you hear us trying to instigate the structure of another line or two, because writing's lighting up and I like life enough to see it through.
01:05:41
Speaker
That's lovely, isn't it? What a lovely way to approach one's struggles. Yeah, exactly. And like really, really takes us forward. I admit I've only recently grown in appreciation for We All Fall In Love Sometimes, which is the second of Elton's top five favourite Elton John songs.
01:06:03
Speaker
on this album the two that aren't on this album are blessed from made in england hooray and your song and then the last two of this album join someone saved my life they're his top five favorite songs three of this album wonderful um it's about bernie torpain is bernie torpain writing from the perspective of elton john loving bernie torpain and not Like necessarily in a romantic yearning way in a kind of like we found something really, really special as a, as I, you know, um I happen to be a gay man. I happen to do martial arts. I've shared ah martial arts spaces with heterosexual men who I've had a really strong platonic love for.
01:06:48
Speaker
Anthony, I have a strong platonic love for you, Anthony. I have a strong platonic love for you. Dominic, when I was listening to this song, I was thinking there's something really special. There's something really special about that kind of friendship. And my dip my mind did go to you. And it's, yeah, it's wonderful. I mean, Elton is said to have teared up when he first read the lyric. The band was almost in tears performing it. to made all the more sad for the fact it's the last time they're performing together for so long. It's it's wonderful. It's my favourite track on the album. It's lovely. Do you know what? Even if you, like me, don't listen to the lyrics very closely most of the time when you're listening to music and you don't realise it's about platonic love, I did think it was about a girl as a kid and I disliked it as a girl, as ah as a kid. But i i I think it works in that way too. Just, just even if you just take the title of it and and the way in which it's sung, it's, hmm, is it melancholic?
01:07:55
Speaker
um I don't know that it is. It's melancholic in an... Or you could take it in a melancholic but upbeat way. it's You're not feeling down on your luck. It's reflective. Thank you, yeah. i it It works really nice. And do you know what? i've I've loved...
01:08:11
Speaker
the music of the whole band and the arrangements and everything like this so far in this album. But there hasn't been a bit of just Elton and a bit of piano. And that is how this one starts. And did it doesn't state it doesn't sustain for the whole track.
01:08:27
Speaker
But I did like a little bit of just Elton and the piano, just for a little bit, just for a little bit. That indulged me, which which is great too. No, it's it's lovely. I love the start of the second verse. The full moon's bright and starlight filled the evening. We wrote it and I played it.
01:08:45
Speaker
Something happened. It's so strange, this feeling. The real hit single are the friends we made along the way. yeah ah Nice, nice um reference to Empty Sky in the last... Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you said that. I was ready. I didn't know that you were going to say this is your favourite on the album and I was ready to rage because listeners who've heard our other shows will know how I'm always defending Empty Sky. And yeah, yeah, when Empty Sky's rough, like, whoa!
01:09:20
Speaker
like tea And that verse comes in beautifully. There's been an instrumental section that, ooh, if I was being critical, I'd say it goes on a little bit too long and it becomes little bit listless. Spoiler, I've got the same critique for curtains, actually. just a little bit too long the instrumental bit. No, share that. I share that.
01:09:47
Speaker
But it then comes back together and this final verse comes in or this final stanza comes in sort of halfway through the instrumental. You you think the instrumental is going to keep coming on but then the vocal kicks in. and only passing time could kill the boredom we acquired running with the losers for a while but our empty sky was filled with laughter just before the flood painting worried faces with a smile it's lovely it's we've said it several times it's a rock opera it's put you can see it being performed on the stage do you know what anthony
01:10:25
Speaker
A few moments ago, I did my impromptu mock final song going, you're a song, the singing. singer and I mean, we do get that. We do get that on the captain and the kids, the the final track of the follow up album.
01:10:42
Speaker
And I love it. I love it. and And the bit, there's a bit on the final song of The Captain and the Kid, which if you don't know, listeners, it's their mid-2000s follow-up album. They waited all that time to a sequel. And yeah, the final song, there's a bit where ah Elton sings, it's a little bit funny, this feeling inside of 67.
01:11:04
Speaker
What a time we had. And I love it. I absolutely love it. But I'm glad it's not on this album but i think that all that time later i mean captain the kid is a masterpiece it's a phenomenal so often sequels don't you know they that they aren't worthy of even sharing i'm not saying it's as good i'm not saying but it's a masterpiece captain and the kid but yeah i do think that curtains goes on a little bit long i adore the production uh The vocal, I used to know this old scarecrow, he was my soul. And, you know, Teenage Dominic got that and got, I mean, probably got it because there was the sleeve notes and it showed you. And i was like, oh, my word, what an original
01:11:52
Speaker
thing and like my go-to thing was thinking so is it one of these hits and then like realizing it wasn't and being so impressed so impressed it's wonderful wish it was a bit shorter explain it to stupid shallow naive anthony please um that ah it's celebrating the beauty of a song that most people haven't even heard. So even though Scarecrow isn't a hit single, it's it's still beautiful. It's a celebration. Is it not? Have I misunderstood it? No, no, no, no, no. I'm...
01:12:32
Speaker
um I genuinely take a very long time to interpret artistic things with any kind of nuance. Like if it smacks you in the face, I can get it, which is why like I've seen that movie too from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I quite liked as a teenager because it's like, oh, okay. So there's a bit of metaphor here, but actually, yeah, it's pretty pretty down the line. Whereas things like this, it takes me so long to get. I mean, a celebration of a song.
01:12:59
Speaker
I might be wrong here. They have released Scarecrow since. But I think Scarecrow was released quite recently, actually. um i believe and I might be wrong. Send us an email if I'm wrong. I believe that at the time of releasing this, no one.
01:13:18
Speaker
in the general public had ever heard the song Scarecrow. The first awareness of Scarecrow was a song about Scarecrow. This is before Tenacious Dean sang the song Tribute, which is a song which is a tribute to a song that we've never heard. It's before that.
01:13:36
Speaker
It's before that. I'm going to jump in with something completely random here. I've i've been tongue in cheek ah prodding Ray Cooper. the last couple of episodes. I think this is one of his finest moments at the outset of this song with the yeah the bells at the start of it. Lovely, lovely sound. The the vocal of Elton in this one, again, we we go up into falsetto is wonderful. Yeah, that the...
01:14:06
Speaker
It sounds like I'm being really negative. like you've You've said so many positive things about it, Dominic, none of which I want to contradict. It's six minutes, 15 long, which you know is the last track of the album. that That's fine in and of itself, but there's a big old loop for the life. I guess we imagine it's a film and that's the end credits. Like, you know, they walk off into the sunset, you know, holding their lyric sheet, saying, well, it wasn't a hit, but we value it. And, you know, there's got to be something playing while people leave the theatre. Like, I guess if you see it in that context, I would prefer it if it was a minute, if not two minutes shorter. Well, we we do have... At the end of Madman Across the Water, the song Goodbye, which is less than two minutes long and I think is a lovely end to the album and I wish it was a bit longer. And i I think you could do something like that with this song. Do you know, I've just realised something for the first time. I think my problem is that I love the start so much, and the start isn't first chorus, first chorus. The start is so... The words are quite dense, so I'm in a different listening phase. If this was two tracks, if there was an instrumental track, there's a wonderful Erykah Badu album, New America, which ah has got a song called... Oh, what's it called now?
01:15:28
Speaker
Oh... I um can't remember what she's singing, but um it's just a repeated bit of melody. I'm going to have to look it up, what it is. um And I get hypnotized by it. And when I first listened to it, I thought, oh, my word, this is like so boring. But then it stopped being boring and I became really hypnotized by it.
01:15:56
Speaker
and fell into the groove so i kind of think that there's the potential for this to do the same thing if it was its own separate track but because I'm so used to uh you know listening to it intensely for the words I'm not in that state of mind my people how could I forget it that's the Erykah Badu song oh my people And like, again, it's just sort celebrating, revealing a sense of belonging. It's a beautiful song. I really recommend Erykah Badu, New America, part one, not so much part two, part one. Stunning record, stunning record. But um maybe they could have done a 12-inch mix. Well, I mean, we'd we'd speak about different arrangements or ordering of these things. What we haven't said thus far is the last two tracks of this album, We All Fall In Love Sometimes and Curtains. are very often joined together and indeed for, well, over a decade in the mid to late 90s and early noughties when performing live, Elton would perform these two as if they were one continuous song. And it almost sounds like that on the album, doesn't it? It's another one of those like, um your sister can't twist, but she can rock and roll and Saturday night's all right for fighting. the The production of the album is such, there's an infinitesimal beat in between the two tracks and they yeah they they do work i i'm not wedded to them being together i could definitely listen to them individually but as we've said repeatedly the album works best when it's listened to continuously and indeed that continuous listening now comes to an end unless you are listening to a subsequent fa release
01:17:43
Speaker
Of which there's been
Album Scoring & Re-release Discussion
01:17:44
Speaker
two. Yeah, well, <unk> I think we've already mentioned this, Dominic, but for those listeners who've not heard it, what would you say the sacrilege is in the 1995 re-release? Well, you've got amazing songs, but they just don't belong on it. They're they're big hit singles. They're wonderful. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, ah then Elton's version of One Day at a Time, the John Lennon song, the storming Philadelphia Freedom. They're brilliant, wonderful.
01:18:10
Speaker
their re-releases they don't belong on this record they're completely different tone that they're wonderful wonderful songs don't belong in it in 2005 the 30th anniversary re-release included the b-side house of cards which does sound like like it belongs on this record. House of Cards is a brilliant song. If you've not heard House of Cards, check it out. I've got great admiration that they cut a song as strong as House of Cards. I love House of Cards. However, it probably was the right one to cut.
01:18:44
Speaker
Although I probably prefer House of Cards to Tower of Babel, I think that, um you know, for variety, House of Cards was the one to go. It's still brilliant. Check it out. Disc two, I've already spoken about. The live from Midsummer Music, the concert Wembley Stadium that was done not long before the record came out. where they yeah It's wonderful. Really, really excellent. I heartily recommend it. Anthony, let's get some scores happening.
01:19:15
Speaker
Indeed, let's do that. We have, in the previous episode, rated the current Last Place album. I wonder, I wonder, have we just been reviewing the First Place album? We shall soon find out.
01:19:30
Speaker
Dominic, Captain Fantastic and the Browner Cowboy, the track. What are you giving that out of 10? It's a track I chose to play out all the tracks to my boyfriend to convince him because love it so much. I give it a 10.
01:19:44
Speaker
Wowza. I have quite a big gap between my eights and my nines. For me, if it's a nine, it's a song that I would listen to in any context.
01:19:54
Speaker
So I'm going to give this an eight. I think it's really good. i think it's really good. It's just not quite a nine for me. Tower of Babel, I'm giving a seven. I'm going to give it a nine. I think it's unique in the Elton John.
01:20:10
Speaker
Canon, I think that it's brilliant and I kind of want to give it a 10 but I'm not because it's a hard listen. It's a nine from me. Nice one. I'm giving a nine for Bitterfingers, primarily for the music but yes I've been convinced that the lyrics are strong too. What about you Dominic? I reckon you're going to it a 10. Easy 10, easy 10 yeah. as is the next song an easy 10. yeah i'm gonna i feel like i'm being harsh oh that yearning getting on the how many songs capture that energy of going somewhere where there's so little somewhere where there's somehow underneath my itching heels oh it's you know take my money take my money anthony
01:21:03
Speaker
I'll give it a nine because I've been harsh on some of the other ones, I think. I'm also going to give a nine to Someone Saved My Life Tonight. Something I didn't say about that one, to play on the piano, that just the intro is quite hard. When you listen to it, the the melody is in the left hand.
01:21:21
Speaker
It's in the bass. And if you're a pianist, you're not used to playing melodies in the bass. And so, yeah, it's if you cross your hands over, it's actually a lot easier to play, but then you just look pretentious. Anyway, someone saved my life tonight. I am giving that a nine. Dominic? Phenomenal. What masterpiece. Ten out of ten.
01:21:41
Speaker
I am giving... Gotta get a meal ticket. I'm going to go back to being slightly harsh. It's an eight. Oh, that hobbit thing. Poverty, Anthony. Okay, that's a harsh, that's a great score. I mean, I told you about how I felt listening to that as a older person recognising I'm on the bottom line. Oh, you know, the yearning, it's a 10 for me.
01:22:02
Speaker
Nice one. Better off dead. I'm giving it a 10. 10. That, that, come on, that time signature. How many songs are that catchy? pop songs in that time let that feature into your scoring um i'm gonna give it an eight and yeah i think this is an anthony i i'm overjoyed yeah yeah yeah i'm gonna give it an eight i think i was influenced by alex's critique of this now i really liked it
01:22:35
Speaker
But I think maybe it was just the volume and the balancing we had in the car listening to it this afternoon. it did It did jar a little bit. But yeah, it's it's great. and like you said, the time signature is great. Writing, I'm also going to give it an eight. It's really strong. It's really strong. It's really strong. I think that I used to want to be Madonna.
01:22:56
Speaker
As in like on a stadium stage singing, you know, I'm 46 years, I'm a bald middle-aged vegan man. I'm probably not set for that part and I think there's an acceptance in writing which resonates me. It's a unique song, I can't think of anything like it, I'm giving it a 10 out of 10.
01:23:18
Speaker
which is what I am giving. We all fall in love sometimes. It's, um, as I probably wouldn't have given it that five years ago. No, I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have. i think that I might not have given it a nine, but it's a 10 from me.
01:23:32
Speaker
I'm going give, we, uh, curtains, I'm going to give it, I love it so much. I'm going to give it a nine. I'm going to give it a nine. I'm doing that martial arts scoring where I start at 10 and I deduct... The ah the only deduction is for length. That's the only... Because it is so joyful and those lyrics are so... I can't think of anything else that celebrates an unsuccessful song with so much heart.
01:23:59
Speaker
And like, yeah, the the bells, the... the Yeah, and I do love the repeated bit. I do love it. I just, yeah, for me, it loses a little bit for just being a bit long. Yeah, I'm going to give it an eight, which arguably is is harsh, but yeah, it just needs to be a bit shorter. So scores wise, my average 8.4. That is a whole 0.3 above my second highest. So that's my highest 9.8 for Dominic, a whole 0.3 above his highest, which was do don't shoot me. I'm only the piano player. But that is not the only thing that we review.
Artwork & Cover Versions Analysis
01:24:44
Speaker
We review other categories. so the album name, I'm going to give it
01:24:51
Speaker
A nine because I think Elton is Captain Fantastic, but I lose one mark for the, it's quite self-grandeerizing. So it loses a bit of a mark for me, but I still think it's great. It's evocative. Dominic? 10.
01:25:07
Speaker
Artwork. I think if I give Goodbye Yellow Brick We Go 10, need to give this 10. So that's definitely 10. Yeah. 10. Cover versions. I did not mention any cover versions.
01:25:21
Speaker
and that's because there are hardly any however chris martin mr coldplay does a fantastic cover of we all fall in love sometimes it's his voice is perfect for it there's Very few voices I prefer to hearing Elton's singing. Not because I think Elton's the best singer in the world, but there's a familiarity to it and he is a good singer.
01:25:46
Speaker
But i I prefer Chris Martin's vocals to it. So I'm... Oh, wow. Cover versions though, oh, it's it's harsh, but I've i've got to give it got to give it four really, because that's that's the only one on note really, but it's very good. Yeah, I'll give it five.
01:26:04
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, lyrics. Dominic? 10. Can't really fault it. My high score thus far is Honky Chateau 9. Oh, it's better than Honky Chateau, come on. Yeah, I think it... Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself is fun, but the complexity of vowel length and consonant, you know, Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself is a silly song. There's no silly, this is crafting on. Okay, I...
01:26:33
Speaker
I will give this 10, but I think I do want to just acknowledge as well that if it's it's like a one-off foot for what it is in the same way that calling your second album Elton John, I think that works fine.
01:26:46
Speaker
But if every of every album name was Elton John or variations on it or every picture was just of his face looking a bit sullen, does that make sense? Like, I think the lyrics work for the concept autobiographical album.
01:27:02
Speaker
but ah you can't do that every time for what they are. Although I'm overjoyed that they do it again on Captain and the Kid. I very much look forward to us reviewing that. ah Music, 10. Yeah, same for me.
01:27:15
Speaker
Flop Dodge is is definitely 10 for me. I don't think there's anything even close. Anything close. Hits. h Now that's an interesting one.
01:27:26
Speaker
Because for me, several of them come just a touch short of a hit. It's collectively. Better off Dead is a hit. Better off Dead is a hit. You know, again, by what standards, like Pixies, I'm a huge fan of Pixies, their entire sound is abrasive and that's what people go to a gig wanting. I give it a nine for HIT. i'm I'm just looking at my other scores. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, eight. Honky Chateau, eight. Madman Across the Water, eight.
01:27:57
Speaker
I'm going to give it eight. struggle to say that Towers of Abel is what I would call a hit. I think it's a great song. I mean, again, we said it's so subjective, isn't it? And, you know, maybe giving a 10 on 10 to an album that literally only had one single, maybe that's a bit strong. But yeah, I'm happy with my scores there.
01:28:17
Speaker
Okay, all the scores are in.
Final Album Ratings & Future Reviews
01:28:20
Speaker
i will tell you that before this episode, our number one album was Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player, 83.5%.
01:28:29
Speaker
I can tell you that Captain Fantastic and Brown Bird Cowboy comes in at 88.75%. It is in
01:28:43
Speaker
domini the thing is we've got twenty two more albums to review are any of them going to knock this off the top spot yeah maybe don't know I mean this is interesting because it's the pair of us isn't it so I think if one of us loves something having us both I mean this album has been us agreeing with each other quite a lot I don't think we will on Rock of the West is like a lot of people I'm surprised at how many fans because I've been reading websites people who love Caribou often don't love Rock of the West is I'm like what
01:29:19
Speaker
I'm going to have a lot of good things to say about Rock of the West. is It was released very soon after, 24th of October, 1975. seventy five And that is going to be on our next episode. We will also answer the teaser trivia question. Each episode we set one. I say we, I put zero effort into this bit. Anthony comes up with a teaser trivia question. So Anthony, what are you going to ask everyone this time? now You put a bit of effort in Dominic. You have a stab at the questions. um We mentioned the Midsummer music event at Wembley Stadium that Elton did a set at just days after the Captain Fantastic album was released. He mentions it in his autobiography.
01:30:05
Speaker
He mentions regretting something about this performance. Can you say what it was that was unique about this performance that Elton, before the end of the set, regretted?
01:30:20
Speaker
Nice bit of niche knowledge for
Listener Engagement & Podcast Promotions
01:30:23
Speaker
this one. We will also, I shall say, as well as giving the answer to that, we will also be mentioning the fantastic Cobb Records based in Porth Madag in the next episode. And oh yeah, I just wanted to give them a shout out because they're awesome. And that is where I bought Rock of the Westies on cassette in 2004, I reckon.
01:30:47
Speaker
listen if you've chosen to tune in because you're a huge fan of the captain fantastic album and you're not sure what to listen to next maybe check out that midsummer music event which i say is the the the second disc it it really is worth listening to a live record worth experiencing or if you're not into live stuff do check out rock of the west is if you happen maybe you've been put off by the bad reviews Really, really, really i looking forward to the next show that Anthony and I do. But that's it for this time. If you want to get in touch to say, oh my word, your syrupy bias can't stand it.
01:31:26
Speaker
You know, where was the love? Where was the love for ticking, Dominic Berry? Where was love? You tell me. Send me an email elton v elton pod at at gmail.com. We sincerely love people messaging us, so please do so. You want to know more about my work as a poet? ah i've got website, it's dominicberry.net and Anthony is on two other podcasts. There is the Brambling Along podcast and Enough of the Falafel. The Vegan Week and Vegan Talk episodes come out regularly and sometimes I'm on them with Anthony, which is super lovely. So until next time, it's goodbye from Captain Domtastic and the Brown Dirt Ant Boy.
01:32:10
Speaker
Goodbye. Goodbye.
01:32:16
Speaker
This podcast is hosted by Zencaster. We've used some sound effects from zapsplat.com. We've taken information from songfacts.com, as well as sireltonjohn.fandom.com, the wiki. And I'd also really personally recommend you read Elton's autobiography, which is called Me. I listened to the audio version. It's narrated by Taron Egerton, which is excellent. We're indebted to all those who've helped create and share Elton's music and thanks again to James Cook and Paul Savage who inspired the format of this show.