elton john goodbye yellow brick road tour 1973

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"Those were crazy times. I wouldn’t change it for the world": how Goodbye Yellow Brick Road reinforced Elton John's status as a global superstar

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the second-biggest-selling album released in 1973, with more than 32 million sales worldwide

‘There were several roads nearby, but it did not take Dorothy long to find the one paved with yellow bricks. Within a short time, she was walking briskly toward the Emerald City; her silver shoes tinkling merrily on the hard, yellow roadbed.’ - The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz , 1900

July 1973. It can now be confirmed. Elton John ’s rocket ship has officially left Earth’s atmosphere. His latest hit-laden album, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player , released at the start of the year, is his second in a row to top the charts in both Britain and America. Now his uncharacteristically barnstorming new single Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting is in the UK Top 10, and Elton is on his way to becoming an authentic rock god – bigger than The Beatles ; stranger than the Stones; more glitter than Gary. 

The transformation begun when Crocodile Rock , already a hit in the UK, gave him his first US No.1 single in February. In Britain, just 12 months before, Elton was still a one-hit wonder known for Your Song . In America his fame was more widespread but still anchored in bearded singer-songwriter mode, respectfully bespectacled crooner of Your Song and its more knowing companion Tiny Dancer . 

Saturday Night’s Alright is his fifth major hit since Rocket Man unlocked the doors to the world’s singles charts the previous summer. Resulting TV appearances sporting ever more bizarre eyewear and a no-limits attitude to on-stage costumery unseen since the diamond daze of Liberace have transformed public perception of the singer from earnest musical artisan to glammed-up, arena-headlining rock star. 

Elton John is 26 and will never be so high again. High in the charts, high on the recent launch of his own record label, Rocket Records, high on his new name, now legally changed to Elton Hercules John. (Hercules because it was the name of the horse in the TV sitcom Steptoe And Son and Elton was a fan, true story.) Soon to be even higher on a new grand passion: cocaine. 

Inside, though, he is still chubby four-eyed Reggie Dwight, the insecure closeted teen from a broken home. As he confessed in his 2019 memoir, Me , despite becoming the biggest-selling star in the world in the early 70s, he was always filled with “self-loathing”. 

“There was no solitude, no reflection,” he confessed. “I was still the little boy from Pinner Hill Road underneath it all.” Nobody would have guessed it from seeing him on Top Of The Pops , dressed in spangly bovver boots and braces, pounding on the piano on Saturday Night’s Alright like Jerry Lee Lewis on black-and-white TV in 1957.

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That single is up to No.7, and even butch Slade and Mott The Hoople fans are stomping their platforms and shaking out their dandruff to it. No one believes for a second that Elton is really a bottlewielding brawler with ‘a bellyful of beer’ any more than they believe his mate Marc Bolan is really a magic elf. But these are still the smoke-filled days when you must fight for your right to be on the UK’s biggest TV music show. You might be David Bowie with Life On Mars , but you are more likely to be Alvin Stardust with My Coo Ca Choo . Elton John wishes to appeal to both sets of fans.

Now his wish is coming true. His real journey has finally begun. He’s travelling the yellow brick road, destination: Emerald City, where everything is the colour of bejewelled greenbacks.

Elton John may have reinvented himself as a singles star, but everyone knew it was his albums where the real treasure was to be found. He’d never made a bad one, had the gold records in America to show for it. Now the unexpected leap from the gloomy prog-rock of Madman Across the Water in 1971 to the swaggering confidence of the glorious Honky Château in ’72 had led to a brace of multimillion-selling albums and no less than five multimillion-selling singles in the space of barely a year. 

With that journey leaving him so completely at ease in his new, more elevated role as rock star with a capital ‘R’, Elton now felt he could turn his hand to anything his writing partner Bernie Taupin’s lyrics suggested. 

His backing group – 22-year-old guitarist Davey Johnstone, 27-yearold bassist Dee Murray and 24-yearold drummer Nigel Olsson, soon to be formally named the Elton John Band – had a sound as instantly identifiable as T.Rex or Rod Stewart . His US label, MCA, thought he’d shit the bed when Saturday Night’s Alright made only No.12 there. But the message got through. This was no longer weepy James Taylor-style soul-searching, this was rock’n’roll genocide à la The Who and Led Zeppelin . 

Outwardly, Elton was on a roll. Inwardly he feared it might all just blow away any second. The only safeguard was to keep going and see how far his new ruby slippers could take him. To that end he had released five albums in the past three years. He had also already recorded the 17 songs that would comprise his seventh, from which Saturday Night’s Alright was the first track to be launched like a fireball. 

However, when he announced that his next album would be a double, enigmatically titled Goodbye Yellow Brick Road , there was a sharp intake of breath. You had to admire the audacity, but surely a sturdy third to complete a Honky Château-Don’t Shoot Me triptych was the right move. MCA certainly thought so. But Elton knew better. The Beatles, he pointed out, “did the White Album and now we’ll have our double too”.

A double album in 1973 was more than an artistic statement, it was a status symbol, a collection demanding everybody’s attention. Only rock giants made double albums. Bob Dylan had framed the conversation in 1966 with Blonde On Blonde , as Jimi Hendrix would do in ’68 with Electric Ladyland . The Rolling Stones followed suit in ’72 with Exile On Main St . All stone-cold classics. Conferring the kind of cachet no amount of money can buy. 

Now Elton wanted his music to be exalted in the same way. Only one caveat: if you were going to release a double album in 1973, it had better be better than good. It had better be fucking good. 

Yet Elton denied he was under pressure. “It felt like there was an unstoppable momentum behind me,” he said.

When Elton and his travelling band arrived in Kingston, Jamaica in January 1973 to begin working on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road , they looked on it as an adventure. It wasn’t until they arrived that the scale of that ultimately doomed enterprise sunk in. 

Byron Lee’s Dynamic Sounds Studio was a 180-degree turn from the elegant confines of the Château d’Hérouville where he’d made both Honky Château and Don’t Shoot Me . The 18th-century Château was situated in lush French countryside 40 miles north of Paris. Converted into a state-of-the-art 16-track residential recording facility in 1969 by the French experimental composer Michel Magne, it boasted 30 rooms, outbuildings, a swimming pool and a tennis court. Gourmet meals would be prepared every night by the resident chef, and fine wines procured from local vineyards. 

Dynamic Sounds, once the home of Bob Marley’s Wailers, Toots And The Maytals and other herbaceous reggae pioneers, was a hot, dusty compound full of out-of-date gear and unsettling vibes. Producer Gus Dudgeon had ordered a raft of new equipment to be ready for when they arrived, but it never showed up. Elton’s grand piano didn’t arrive either, and the cobwebby old studio piano was a joke. The disconcertingly downcast mood was not helped by the facility having 24-hour armed guards patrolling the barbed wire perimeter. 

Elton and entourage had arrived the morning after George Foreman knocked out Joe Frazier at Kingston’s National Stadium in two brutal rounds for the boxing heavyweight championship of the world. Violence hung heavy over the city for days afterwards. With every hotel overflowing, Elton found himself billeted at the Pink Flamingo Hotel, in the middle of teeming Kingston, while everybody else was taken to a luxurious resort location across the island in Ocho Rios.

Elton was too terrified to step outside the hotel. When news arrived that Don’t Shoot Me had gone to No.1 in America, a celebration dinner was arranged at the Pink Flamingo. But Elton refused to join, and sulked in his room. 

When he arrived for the first day’s recording at Dynamic to find Gus and the band still trying to figure out how to make things work, it was the last straw. The vibes, man, they did not augur. “It’s hard to see how they could have been,” said Bernie Taupin, “with guards holding machine-guns outside the door.”

Elton returned in a huff to the Pink Flamingo and didn’t come out again for three days. Unable to sit still without worrying, he worked through a stack of new lyrics from Bernie. Dozens of sheets, neatly typed, that he sat alone in his room and wrote music for on a portable electric piano. By the morning of the fourth day he had 21 new songs, with titles including Bennie And The Jets, Candle In The Wind, Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road . They just needed to be recorded. 

Once it became clear that wouldn’t be happening at Dynamic, they fled to New York, chased to the airport by various shady Jamaican ‘business figures’, many of whom carried guns. 

Better news awaited. The Château was available, opened again after a temporary closure. Recording began the moment they arrived back in France. Two weeks later they were done. 

“It was insane,” guitarist Davey Johnstone recalled when we spoke. “We were this factory, songwriting and recording together. As soon as we recorded it and released it, we’d take it straight out on tour. In the States especially it was just this giant unstoppable juggernaut.”

With a 35-date summer US tour booked to begin in August, first single Saturday Night’s Alright was released in July, the perfect crowd teaser. The clincher came in September with the second single, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road . The cathedral-like title track of the forthcoming album was Elton John and Bernie Taupin at their bitter-sweetest, their most sepulchral yet somehow uplifting. Their giddy peak. Bernie using his countryside upbringing to characterise London life as a place ‘where the dogs of society howl’, all the while dreaming of ‘going back to my plough’. 

Half a century later it would be the last song Elton chose to sing every night on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, elegiac and pure. Bernie’s undisguised autobiography having evolved into Elton’s musical epitaph, the yellow brick road the symbol of his journey from smalltown Pinner to big-time pop stardom.

The rest of the album was a jamboree of familiar Taupin tropes – mythmaking American yarns (Roy Rodgers; The Ballad Of Danny Bailey (1909-1934) ); his parochial childhood, but with a new twist ( Saturday Night’s Alright was less about horny-backed toads and more about the dodgy Lincolnshire dancehalls of his teens); the pitfalls of Hollyweird fame ( Candle In The Wind : the working title of the album Silent Movies , Talking Pictures ); and the sometimes coarse nature of love (the achingly poignant I ’ve Seen That Movie Too ). 

There was also some of the most juvenile material Bernie had ever asked Elton to put music and voice to: the grungy Dirty Little Girl , about, well, an ardent but unhygienic fan; Social Disease , the everyday tale of a bibulous tenant humping his landlady; Sweet Painted Lady , about a sailor’s favourite port-in-a-storm prostitute; All The Girls Love Alice , about a wistful teenage lesbian dreaming of ‘two dykes in a go-go’. 

“It is a pretty blue record,” Bernie reflected years later. “I was a young kid, a horny twenty-three-year-old, among a lot of other horny twenty-somethings… I was basically writing about my fantasies at the time.” 

There was also the ‘problematic’ to modern tastes Jamaica Jerk-Off , Elton chirruping in a faux ‘islands’ accent over a white-bread reggae lilt. But then Paul Simon, who recorded his 1972 hit Mother And Child Reunion at Dynamic the year before, had been similarly ‘inspired’. As was Mick Jagger when the Stones churned out their own ‘reggae-influenced’ track Luxury , also recorded at Dynamic.

On a double album comprised of 17 tracks, however, these were flimsy side salads adjacent on the plate to the juicy steaks of reputation-crowning moments like the 11-minute opus Funeral for A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding , a synth-laden prog overture that slowly builds into a bonfire of blazing cut-glass guitars, strategically detonating drums and a rhythmic hook so heavy it draws blood. 

Next up, Candle in The Wind , Bernie’s eulogy to Marylin Monroe and one of Elton’s finest ever ballads, Johnstone’s guitar motif twinkling like the neon ooze of Sunset Strip at night. Another hit single in the UK in February ’74, at first it wasn’t released in America, where MCA surprisingly chose the jokey Bennie And The Jets instead. 

Elton was not happy. “I said ‘No, I want Candle In The Wind’. Guess who was wrong?” 

For Elton, Candle In The Wind was class; Bennie And The Jets was throwaway. But when two R&B radio stations in Detroit started playing it and saw their listenership skyrocket, MCA made it Elton’s next single. The result, in April 1974, was his second American No.1 single, selling more than two million copies. 

On Bennie , the deliberate-mistake piano intro had prompted Dudgeon to, as he put it, “fake-live this”. Mixing in audience sounds from Elton’s show at London’s Royal Festival Hall a year before, along with audience crackle from Jimi Hendrix’s performance at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival , and some ambient mayhem from an Elton show in Vancouver, it would become the second most famous song on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road . 

Other album highlights: Grey Seal , originally a fey B-side to Elton’s 1970 flop single Rock And Roll Madonna , now reborn as a Bowie-meets-Beatles showstopper; the harum-scarum Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock’n’Roll) ; saving the best for last, almost, with the gorgeously swooning closer Harmony . Any of these could have been hit singles, and ift his had been the CD-driven 80s they would have been. But these were still the two-vinyl-LPs-a-year 70s, and Elton had already recorded his next album, Caribou , due out just nine months after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road . There simply wasn’t time for more singles.

Released in October 1973, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road again topped both the UK and US charts (in the latter for eight consecutive weeks). As befitting its double-album eminence, it came in a lavish gatefold sleeve designed by illustrator and children’s novelist Ian Beck: the cartoon image of a stack-heeled Elton stepping from a down-at-heel city onto a yellow brick road winding towards a sun that was either rising or setting depending on your mood. 

The Goodbye Yellow Brick Road US tour was conducted from the same private Boeing 720B that Led Zeppelin had toured in that summer, the now infamous Starship. It had the words ‘ELTON JOHN BAND TOUR’ now emblazoned down one side of its red, white and blue fuselage, and came fitted with luxury leather lounge seats, proper dinner tables, a pseudo-electric coal fire, a fully stocked bar and TV lounge and – très chic, dear – a new-fangled video player. 

On board was also an electric Thomas organ, which Elton studiously ignored, and, in a rear cabin, a king-sized double bed covered in shaggy white fur which nobody slept in but many guests enjoyed. Unless Elton was having one of his tantrums. Then he would disappear in there for however long it took for him to calm down again. 

In a group photograph taken standing in front of his new floating palace, a wonderfully camp Elton is seen in a white-and-turquoise jumpsuit, a wide-brimmed Panama hat cheerfully atop his head, wielding a soul-brother ebony cane. Surrounded by a vast entourage of tour technicians, record label bigwigs, assistants, gofers,the four-man Muscle Shoals horn section, manager and lover John Reid, plus the band and singer Kiki Dee, recently signed to Elton’s label Rocket, who Davey was “having a scene with”. 

Exactly three years on from his breakthrough shows at the tiny Troubadour club in LA, Elton now headlined the Hollywood Bowl and the Long Beach Arena on consecutive nights. Two weeks after that he headlined New York’s Madison Square Garden for the first time. If Goodbye Yellow Brick Road , in all its versions – single-album-allegory-hymn – is about transcending humdrum reality, then the American tour, which ran until October, found Elton’s life transformed entirely into fantasy.

It was the same for Bernie, who toured with Elton. He didn’t need to, he wanted to. Bernie had been deeply in love with America since he was a child gaping at The Lone Ranger on TV. Most of his songs were about, or set in, or have characters from, or cultural references, dreamscapes and an almost cinematic sense of the real – in America. That America now loved him too was so far over the rainbow for Bernie that he would have trouble coming back. 

It was the same for the band and everyone else rocking in the clouds on the Starship. But while everyone else had a way to turn the volume down a notch if they wanted to – the band idled in peace; Bernie walked unmolested – Elton couldn’t escape any of it for a second. He sang, he wrote, he performed, he did all the press, all the TV and radio, all the business meetings. His was the face everyone knew. Now it had become a human shield for everybody’s bad behaviour but his own. 

“We weren’t angels, but we didn’t get dragged into the spotlight because Elton took the heat for all that,” Davey Johnstone told me frankly. “We did a lot of music together and had a lot of fun together too. A lot of fun.” 

He chuckled. “I’ve got to tell you. I can’t say that it was terrible. Waking up with a hangover after being up for two days was a nightmare. But we were young enough to be able to wake up and go: ‘I’m going to sleep for the next day so I’m okay for what’s coming up.’ But those were crazy times. I wouldn’t change it for the world.” 

In December 1973, Elton finished a 13-date UK tour on a triumphant note with three sold-out shows at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. It coincided nicely with his surprise novelty single Step Into Christmas sharing the Top 10 that week with other soon-to-be-perennial cool Yule classics like Slade ’s Merry Xmas Everybody and Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday . For Elton John, for now, it felt like it was.

Mick Wall is the UK's best-known rock writer, author and TV and radio programme maker, and is the author of numerous critically-acclaimed books, including definitive, bestselling titles on Led Zeppelin ( When Giants Walked the Earth ), Metallica ( Enter Night ), AC/DC ( Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be ), Black Sabbath ( Symptom of the Universe ), Lou Reed, The Doors ( Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre ), Guns N' Roses and Lemmy. He lives in England.

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On his seventh studio album, and second of 1973 alone, Elton’s phenomenal creativity moved up another gear.

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As he reached his seventh studio album – and second of 1973 alone – Elton John ’s phenomenal creativity was ready to move up another gear. On October 5, just nine months after the chart-topping achievements of Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player , he unveiled his first double album, and another career high, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road .

The album was made, like Don’t Shoot Me … and its predecessor, Honky Château , in the now familiar surroundings of Château d’Hérouville, with its studio set in an 18th-century French country house. Here, Team Elton, featuring the well-established Johnstone/Murray/Olsson line-up under the guidance of producer Gus Dudgeon and the lyrical inspiration of Bernie Taupin, could create in comfort. No fewer than 21 songs were recorded in just a dozen days, 17 of which formed the new, four-sided epic.

Writing and recording sessions: ‘There were guys with machine guns’

But Goodbye Yellow Brick Road almost had another sound altogether. As Elton later remembered, he had entertained the idea of a wildly different working environment. “I said, ‘ The Rolling Stones have just done Goats Head Soup in Jamaica, let’s go there,’” he noted. And they did, starting production on the new project in Kingston, where they arrived in January 1973, the day after the so-called “Sunshine Showdown” boxing face-off between George Foreman and Joe Frazier.

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The Jamaican capital may have worked for the Stones, but it didn’t for Elton and co. They found the atmosphere hostile and the recording equipment substandard. “If I remember rightly,” said Taupin, “the studio was surrounded by barbed wire and there were guys with machine guns.” A solitary effort was committed to tape in the form of an early version of “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting,” but it was quickly shelved and Elton and Bernie beat a hasty retreat to New York.

Good news awaited them. Before the Kingston experience, serious consideration had already been given to a return to the château, but a legal dispute about its ownership had closed its doors. Thankfully, the contretemps proved temporary, and with an ambitious and wide-ranging collection of new songs already written in Jamaica, Elton and his allies breezed through their recording.

‘It never ceases to amaze me how quickly I can write’

“Lyrics are always first,” Elton told Circus magazine just after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ’s release. “If I don’t have the lyrics I don’t write any songs. If Taupin is barren, that’s that. We haven’t written anything now, like for eight or nine months. We only write when it’s time to do an album. I don’t write on the road.

“But it never ceases to amaze me how quickly I can write. See, I go in spurts, songs are all done on the spur of the moment. If I were a guitarist, it would be different, but I can’t carry a piano around with me. Actually, I tried it once, and it got stolen.

“I don’t write at home anymore either, I write in the studio,” he continued. “They’ll be bringing the lyrics down from upstairs and typing them up, and the band will sit around and pick it up as I’m composing, and it happens like that. It’s getting silly, because in Jamaica I wrote about 25 songs in three days.”

Singles: ‘Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting’

The perfected “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” preceded the album as a summer 1973 single. Its pugnacious, high-testosterone feel matched a lyric based on Taupin’s true experiences, from his days of under-age drinking at the Aston Arms, in the Lincolnshire town where his secondary school was situated, Market Rasen.

Davey Johnstone’s authoritative lead guitar was the perfect foil for Elton’s frenetic piano, and the song rose to No.7 in the UK, backed by two songs from the Don’t Shoot Me … sessions, “Jack Rabbit” and “Whenever You’re Ready (We’ll Go Steady Again),” both of which were included on subsequent reissues of that album.

‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’

Just after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was unleashed, the title track became its second single, with Taupin calling on different aspects of his childhood in the country, wrapped in Wizard Of Oz imagery. This classic Elton ballad became, and remains, another of his countless standards, topping the chart in Canada and on America’s Cashbox countdown; on the rival Billboard chart, it came to rest at No.2 behind the Carpenters ’ “Top Of The World” and then Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl.”

‘Candle In The Wind’

When it was time for a third single from the set, DJM in the UK opted for the John-Taupin composition that mourned Marilyn Monroe. With considerable prescience, the song observed the starmaking machine that exploited her and would later almost consume Elton himself. “Candle In The Wind” surprisingly stalled at No.11, but has been recurrent ever since, as a No.5 hit from 1987’s Live In Australia album and then as nothing less than the bestselling single of all time , reconfigured to mark the death of the Princess Of Wales in 1997.

‘Bennie And The Jets’

In America, however, MCA opted for “Bennie And The Jets,” despite Elton’s vehement objections. “It’s the strangest track on the whole album,” he told Circus . “It’s a send-up of the glitter rock thing, and I sound like Frankie Valli of the Four Seasons.” But after early AM radio support from CKLW in Windsor, Ontario, the track spread across North America, topping the Hot 100 in April 1974 and even becoming his first hit on the R&B chart, where, to the star’s great satisfaction, it reached No.15.

Later that year, John indulged his love of radio by sitting in for an afternoon on CKLW, billed (as on future occasions, including on BBC radio) as “EJ The DJ.” He played songs by the likes of Cher and Rufus before introducing “Bennie And The Jets” with the words, “This record is a Deee-troit record. You made it! Thank you!”

Album release and reception: ‘A musical in its own right’

As an album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was a trove of varied delights, also including the majestic, slow-building opener “Funeral For A Friend”/“Love Lies Bleeding,” the gentle balladeering of “Sweet Painted Lady” and “Harmony,” the reggaefied “Jamaica Jerk-Off” and spirited upbeat pieces like “Grey Seal” and “All The Girls Love Alice.” Taupin’s Americana inspirations were often on display, as on the story of an ill-fated Kentucky bootlegger of the 30s, “The Ballad Of Danny Bailey (1909-1934).”

The album was rapturously received. Chris Welch in Melody Maker called it a “superb new collection of songs,” noting that John and Taupin had “surpassed themselves with a double-album that is bold, adventurous and vastly entertaining”. He went on to describe it as “a musical in its own right, ranging over a whole gamut of ideas and concepts.

“Beautifully produced by Gus Dudgeon,” Welch went on, “the sound of the Elton John band is occasionally blended with an orchestra, for special effects. But overall it is Elton’s intense, frequently moving vocals, Davey Johnstone’s guitar, Nigel Olsson’s virulent drums, and above all the lyrics that create the greatest impression.”

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road spent Christmas 1973 at No.1 in the UK, in a two-week stay, and surpassed itself with an eight-week reign in the US, from November into the new year. Certified gold there upon release, it had soared to eight-times platinum by 2014, and now resides in the Grammy Hall Of Fame. The album also ranked inside the Top 100 of Rolling Stone ’s all-time Top 500 listing of 2003.

‘At the moment I’m having a really good time’

For its 40th anniversary, in 2014, the deluxe Goodbye Yellow Brick Road reissue included nine covers of songs from the album, newly recorded by modern-day stars. Among them were Ed Sheeran’s reading of “Candle In The Wind,” Zac Brown Band’s “Harmony,” Emeli Sandé’s “All The Girls Love Alice” and a version of “Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock’n’Roll)” by Imelda May.

In another interview at the time of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ’s release, Elton made some fascinating and amusing comments about his future plans. “I’d really like to write lyrics,” he told Phonograph Record . “I really would like to do a solo album – I know that sounds funny, a solo album – and one day I’m going to do it, and it’ll be so f__king doomy and miserable it’ll make Leonard Cohen sound like a jig.

“I’d like to do a film. I’d like to do a comedy,” he continued. “But at the moment there’s so much to do as far as recording and things go, and I’m really getting involved in the record company [Rocket Records, launched by Elton earlier in the year]. I just don’t think that I have any time. All my time is taken up with touring. As soon as I get fed up with touring I’ll stop, but at the moment I’m really having a good time.”

Listen to Elton John’s  Goodbye Yellow Brick Road   album in its 50th anniversary Dolby Atmos mix.

Joe Kuether

February 22, 2019 at 8:33 pm

One of the greatest albums ever.. of ANY era.

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[Review] Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)

This is Elton’s White Album and Exile on Main Street : a double-album masterpiece of creativity.

Kronomyth 8.0: Elton on Main Street.

This is Elton’s White Exile: the double-album chef d’oeuvre that encompassed in a single vista the breadth and depth of his musical world. The albums before and immediately after were twin peaks (typically a ballad and a rocker) in a forest of forgettable midtempo songs. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a tour de force (Troll: What’s the French translation for pretentious weiner?) with eighteen songs where nearly all stand tall, crowned by two great ballads (“Candle in the Wind,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”) and two great rockers (“Bennie and the Jets,” “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting”). In other words, just the sort of multilayer wedding cake to dispel the notion that Elton had irreversibly entered the kitchen of cookie-cutter complacency.

Beyond the best-known hits, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road contains credible forays into nearly every avenue of music that Elton had previously explored: 50s rock & roll (“Your Sister Can’t Twist,” which has a keyboard solo that XTC fans will find prescient), island music (“Jamaica Jerk-Off”), smartly arranged and pristine pop (“Grey Seal”), and a handful of character studies featuring outlaws (“The Ballad of Danny Bailey) and the out-of-place (“All The Girls Love Alice” and, of course, the aforementioned Candle). Like every great double-album should do ( Blue Moves , I’m looking at you), Yellow Brick rewards each return with a handful of keepsakes. Maybe you’ll find yourself singing a few lines of “Sweet Painted Lady,” or it could be the chorus of “Harmony” in your head, but you’ll never walk away from this Road empty. Elton’s 70s albums are admittedly a mixed bag; some of them are great ( Captain Fantastic ), some are mostly stems and seeds ( Caribou ). Few of them are half as good as Goodbye , which for my money is the best thing Elton’s ever done.

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Original 2LP Version

A1. Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding (11:05) A2. Candle In The Wind (3:41) A3. Bennie And The Jets (5:10) B1. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (3:13) B2. This Song Has No Title (2:18) B3. Grey Seal (4:03) B4. Jamaica Jerk-Off (3:36) B5. I’ve Seen That Movie Too (5:59) C1. Sweet Painted Lady (3:52) C2. The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934) (4:24) C3. Dirty Little Girl (5:03) C4. All The Girls Love Alice (5:13) D1. Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock ‘n’ Roll) (2:41) D2. Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting (4:50) D3. Roy Rogers (4:10) D4. Social Disease (3:45) D5. Harmony (2:49)

All lyrics by Bernie Taupin. All music by Elton John.

2CD reissue bonus tracks 18. Whenever You’re Ready (We’ll Go Steady Again) 19. Jack Rabbit 20. Screw You (Young Man’s Blues) 21. Candle In The Wind (acoustic mix)

The Players

Elton John (piano, organ, Farfisa organ, electric piano, mellotron, Leslie piano, vocals), Davey Johnstone (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, steel guitar, banjo, backing vocals), Dee Murray (bass, backing vocals), Nigel Olsson (drums, congas, tambourine, car effects, backing vocals), Bernie Taupin (lyrics) with Ray Cooper (tambourine on C4), Kiki Dee (backing vocals on C4), Leroy Gomez (saxophone on D4), David Hentschel (A.R.P. synthesizer on A1/C4), Del Newman (orchestral arrangements), Prince Rhino (vocal interjections on B3). Produced by Gus Dudgeon; engineered by David Hentschel. Co-ordination by Steve Brown.

The Pictures

Outside cover illustration by Ian Beck. Inside cover illustrations by David Larkham, Michael Ross, David Scutt. Art direction by David Larkham, Michael Ross, David Costa.

The Plastic

Released on 2LP and cassette on October 5, 1973 in the UK (DJM, DJLPD/Y8DJD-1001), the US (MCA, MCA2/MCAT2-10003), Australia (DJM, L/C-70025/6), Italy (Record Bazaar, 2RB-384), Japan (DJM, IFP-93105B) and Mexico (Musart, EDIB-60069) with trifold cover; reached #1 on the UK charts and #1 on the US charts (RIAA-certified 7x platinum record). Also released on yellow vinyl 2LP in the UK (DJM, DJE-29001) and Australia (DJM, L-70025/6) with trifold cover. 8-track features different track order.

• Re-issued on 2LP in Japan (DJM, 40AP-1561/2) with trifold cover.
• Re-issued on 2LP in Japan (DJM, K18P-107/8) with gatefold cover.
• Re-issued on 2LP and cassette in 1980 in Canada (MCA, MCA2/MCAC2-6894) and Portugal (DJM, MM-77001) with trifold cover.
• Re-issued on 2LP in the UK (DJM, PRID-13).
• Re-released on remastered 2LP in 1984 in the US (Mobile Fidelity, MFSL-2-160).
• Re-issued on 2LP in the UK (Rocket, DJE-29001) with trifold cover.
• Re-issued on 2CD in the US (MCA, MCAD2-6894).
• Re-issued on 2CD in Germany (DJM, 821 747).
• Re-issued on compact disc and cassette in the US and Canada (Polydor, P2/P4-21747).
• Re-issued on compact disc in Taiwan (Mercury, 528 159).
• Re-released on audiophile 2LP in the US (MCA, SD2-16614).
• Re-released on remastered compact disc and cassette in 1995 in the UK (Rocket, 528 159-2/4) and the US (Rocket, I2-28159).
• Re-released on expanded, remastered 30 th anniverysary deluxe edition super audio 2CD in 2003 in the UK (Mercury, 9813205) and the US (Island, B0001570-36) with 4 bonus tracks.
• Re-issued on compact disc in 2005 in Japan (Universal, UICY-95011).
• Re-issued on compact disc in 2006 in Japan (Universal, UICY-9107).
• Re-issued on remastered compact disc in the US (Mobile Fidelity, UDCD 526).
• Re-released on 180g vinyl 2LP in 2008 in the UK (Mercury, 03746) with gatefold cover.
• Re-released on super high material 2CD in 2008 in Japan (Universal, UICY-93671/2).
• Re-released on virgin vinyl 2LP in 2009 in the UK (Simply Vinyl, SVLP-159).
• Re-packaged with Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player on 2CD on August 3, 2009 in France (Universal, 86190).

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10 Best Elton John Songs Of All Time As Music Icon Turns 77

S ir Elton John is the iconic greatest musician of all time. Popular for his music, vibrant fashion, and trademark glasses, he has revolutionized the music industry with his pop culture and music. 

He is not only the greatest musician but also a singer, pianist, and composer who started his solo career in 1967. He met ic collaborator Bernie Taupin and became best friends for over 50 years.  Elton's career took off in August 1970 when he performed at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, California. He's since earned 5 Grammys, 2 Academy Awards, ten number-one singles, eight number-one albums, and numerous other prestigious achievements.

The Grammy Award winner Elton and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin have crafted numerous hit songs over the years, making it difficult to choose a favorite. With 31 studio albums and 464 tracks released in his six-decade career, the selection is vast. We'll focus solely on his original compositions, excluding collaborations and covers. Some of Elton John 's standout tracks are.

10. I’m Still Standing (1983)

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I'm Still Standing is a timeless favorite. This upbeat pop song resonates with its charismatic vibe and uplifting message, often seen as an anthem for resilience in tough times. The iconic music video boosted its popularity, especially among younger American fans who were introduced to Elton John's music through MTV.

9. Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting (1973)

Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) is an energetic anthem with early rock and roll influences, featuring strong guitar riffs and rock vocals that always get the crowd going. Bernie Taupin aimed for a classic American rock and roll sound, adding his British upbringing to enrich the song's storytelling. It stands as one of Elton's most iconic and frequently performed tracks.

8. Madman Across The Water (1971)

This six-minute song gives a vibe similar to progressive rock, featuring Rick Wakeman on Organ. This track stands out as one of Sir Elton’s darker and more dramatic tracks with a chilling string arrangement that would suit a scene from Psycho. The song is set in a psychiatric hospital on visiting day and is sung in character by Elton John, who declares himself a madman in the opening verse. He delivers his lines with intensity, especially in the second verse, where he contrasts descriptions of insanity with mundane observations like You better get your coat, dear, it looks like rain.

7. Bennie And The Jets (1973)

The opening chords of this song feature one of the most recognizable piano arrangements ever. It hooks listeners with catchy melodies and intriguing lyrics that tell a story. Elton and Bernie aimed for a futuristic rock and roll vibe in its creation. Despite Elton's initial hesitation to release it as a single, Bennie and The Jets quickly climbed to number one and remains one of his most beloved tracks.

6. Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road (1973)

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road isn't just the title of Elton's acclaimed album; it's also the beloved title track. This emotional piano ballad, featuring impressive falsetto vocals, resonates with its message of returning to one's true self after losing sight of who you don't want to be. Drawing inspiration from The Wizard of Oz, the song received widespread praise from music critics and fans alike. As Elton embarks on his final tour, he concludes his shows with this poignant track, offering fans an emotional yet bittersweet farewell.

5. Rocket Man (1972)

Rocket Man has significantly influenced Elton John's career. The biopic featuring Taron Egerton, released in 2019, was titled Rocketman after this song. This title also became a nickname for Elton. The track, distinguished by space-like synthesized instrumentals, departed from his previous work. Its lyrics were inspired by Ray Bradbury's short story The Rocket Man, leading fans and analysts to interpret it as a metaphor for the isolation experienced by musicians like Elton John.

4. Tiny Dancer (1971)

Tiny Dancer initially faced challenges with its length, but it eventually became one of Elton John's most beloved hits. Starting with simple vocals and piano, it builds into a rich orchestral arrangement with impressive vocal performances. Its storytelling, musical tones, and catchy chorus made it a classic rock staple. Its use in the 2000 film Almost Famous further boosted its popularity, introducing it to a new generation of fans. Recently, its chorus was featured in a remixed song called Hold Me Closer, a collaboration between Elton John and Britney Spears, revitalizing its appeal.

3. Crocodile Rock (1972)

Crocodile Rock marked Elton's first U.S. number-one single. This upbeat pop-rock tune drew inspiration from the 50s and 60s, evoking nostalgia for listeners. Elton aimed to incorporate elements from his upbringing into this record, resulting in a captivating track with storytelling that quickly became a fan favorite. You can't help but dance and sing along whenever this song plays.

2. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (1974)

Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me is a beautifully crafted song with captivating instrumentals and strong vocals that build throughout. The combination of lyrics and music evokes sadness and empowerment by the end. While the solo version succeeded, a live recording featuring Elton John and George Michael became a massive hit.

1. Your Song (1970)

When one thinks of Elton John, Your Song immediately comes to mind. It's not just the song that launched his career, but is also considered one of the greatest songs ever written. Its simplicity, heartfelt lyrics, and beautiful melody make it a timeless love ballad. Over the years, audiences have embraced it and influenced other musicians. Many artists, including Rod Stewart, Lady Gaga, and Ewan McGregor in the movie Moulin Rouge!, have covered it. Your Song also began a long-lasting collaboration between Elton and Bernie. Even 50 years later, this song remains universally cherished, played, and performed.

Elton John is the iconic British singer and five-time Grammy Award winner. His music journey is filled with many top chartbuster songs that everyone still loves listening to. Even though he's retiring from live shows soon, his music and legacy will endure forever. 

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Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour

It is with great excitement that Elton announces the final dates for his award-winning Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour in North America and Europe.

Elton will conclude his world-famous tour at major stadiums which will kick off on May 27, 2022 in Frankfurt. The Final Tour will make stops in Europe in major cities such as Milan, Liverpool, and Paris. Elton will then travel across the pond to take his final bow in North America, playing in major cities including Vancouver, Toronto, East Rutherford, Chicago and more. The North American stadium run will kick off at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on July 15, 2022 before concluding with back-to-back performances at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on November 19 and 20, 2022 — commemorating his iconic performance at the historic venue in October 1975. 2023 kicks off with two shows in Auckland, New Zealand on January 27 and 28, followed by soon-to-be-announced dates in Australia before the epic 4-year tour formally concludes there later that year.

Public on-sales begin Tuesday, June 29 in Europe and Wednesday, June 30 in North America.

Rocket Club members will have access to an exclusive pre-sale beginning on Friday, June 25 in North America and Monday, June 28 in Europe.

Fri, May 27 2022 Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt – Tickets

Sun, May 29 2022 Red Bull Arena, Leipzig – Tickets

Sat, June 04 2022 San Siro Stadium, Milan – Tickets

Tue, June 07 2022 CASA Arena, Horsens – On Sale Sept. ’21

Thu, June 09 2022 Gelredome, Arnhem – Tickets

Sat, June 11 2022 La Defense Arena, Paris – Tickets

Sat, June 12 2022 La Defense Arena, Paris – Tickets

Wed, June 15 2022 Carrow Road, Norwich – Tickets

Fri, June 17 2022 Anfield Stadium, Liverpool – Tickets

Sun, June 19 2022 Stadium of Light, Sunderland – Tickets

Wed, June 22 2022 Ashton Gate Stadium, Bristol – Tickets

Wed, June 29 2022 Liberty Stadium, Swansea – Tickets

Fri, July 1 2022 Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork – On Sale Jul. ’21

Fri, July 15 2022 Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA – Tickets

Mon, July 18 2022 Comerica Park, Detroit, MI – Tickets

Sat, July 23 2022 MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ – Tickets

Thu, July 28 2022 Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, MA – Tickets

Sat, July 30 2022 Progressive Field, Cleveland, OH – Tickets

Fri, August 05 2022 Soldier Field, Chicago, IL – Tickets

Sun, September 07 2022 Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON – Tickets

Sat, September 10 2022 Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY – Tickets

Fri, September 16 2022 PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA – Tickets

Sun, September 18 2022 Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC – Tickets

Thu, September 22 2022 Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA – Tickets

Sat, September 24 2022 Nationals Park, Washington, DC – Tickets

Fri, September 30 2022 Globe Life Field, Arlington, TX – Tickets

Sun, October 02 2022 Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN – Tickets

Fri, October 21 2022 BC Place, Vancouver, BC – Tickets

Sat, October 29 2022 Alamodome, San Antonio, TX – Tickets

Fri, November 04 2022 Minute Maid Park, Houston, TX – Tickets

Sat, November 12 2022 Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ – Tickets

Sat, November 19 2022 Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA – Tickets

Sun, November 20 2022 Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA – Tickets

Become a Rocket Club member and exclusive news will make its way directly to your inbox. Be the first to know where Elton will perform next and get your hands on pre-sale tickets.

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