Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: Elton John

AS REG Dwight, his real name, Elton formed his own band Bluesology in the early sixties.

Being just the piano player he eventually became disillusioned and left borrowing the names of his saxophonist Elton Dean and singer Long John Baldry and reinvented himself as Elton John.

He saw an advert in a music paper from a man named Bernie Taupin, a lyricist looking for someone to compose music with him.

They first communicated by mail, one of their earlier compositions I've Been Loving you Too Long was a contender on a list of possible suggestions for the Eurovision Song Contest to be performed by Lulu. The song was voted bottom of the list, Lulu went on to win with Boom-Bang-A-Bang.

Imagine the disappointment they must have felt. Fast forward to present day with more than 300 million records sold and the recipient of many music awards, Elton John must look back and smile.

Released in 1973, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, a double album remains his best seller with sales of more than 30 million copies.

What is so remarkable is that Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics in a little over two days; Elton composed most of the music in three weeks.

It sparked three hits in the UK, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting and Candle In The Wind.

Most people will remember the song as a homage to Marilyn Monroe, although the next generation will probably remember it as a tribute to Princess Diana.

In the USA Candle In The Wind did not chart, radio DJ's decided the B side Bennie And The Jets was a better song and played that. No one was more surprised than Elton, when informed it had become a No1 hit in America.

With a picture of Elton on the cover preparing to leave the Yellow Brick Road, it relates to a longing for a childhood that is lost somewhere in the past, hence the title of the album.

Most of the songs will be familiar apart from one forgotten gem that is seemingly never played Roy Rogers. Roy was a Hollywood actor in the forties and fifties who was known as 'The King Of The Cowboys.' This song is an acknowledgement to him and for their affection for the old American West. This song is claimed to be symbolic to everyone who lives a boring, humdrum life and longs to escape.

Elton's first two releases, I've Been Loving You Too Long and I Can't Go On (Living Without You), are valued at £200 each.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is valued at £45.

Michael Brooks

Rock historian