In 1973, Elton John released the double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and capped off one of the most extraordinary runs in popular music history.
Six albums (one of them a double record) recorded and released over the course of four years, featuring some of the most beloved songs ever written. Twenty-seven of the 37 songs on my personal Elton John playlist come from those four years, his first four as a recording artist.
Jumping back into the lesser-known tracks on my personal Elton John playlist, my next song is another from 1973’s Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player.
‘High Flying Bird’ is the final track on the album and an appropriately sweeping ballad to close out the record. John says he was trying to evoke the music of Van Morrison with this song, which has become one of his favorites.
Keeping up his incredible pace in the early 70s, Elton John released his fifth album in four years with 1973’s Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player. This record, like Honky Chateau before it, went to #1 in the U.S.
Opening track ‘Daniel’ is the standout on this one, and it made my playlist alongside the playful, nostalgic ‘Crocodile Rock’ (shout out to the excellent use of that song in Rocketman). But two songs new to me also made the cut.
Elton John followed Madman Across the Water with Honky Chateau just a year later, in 1972. That’s four albums in three years containing some of the most enduring pop songs of all time. Wow.
The obvious keepers on Honky Chateau are ‘Honky Cat,’ ‘Rocket Man’ and ‘Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters.’ The latter two songs would be at or near the top if I were to rank the 37 songs I ended up with on my Elton John playlist.
‘Rotten Peaches’ is the second track from Elton John’s Madman Across the Water to make my personal playlist.
This is a big, anthemic piano ballad that makes good use of a gospel choir. My hunch is that if it didn’t have such an off-putting title phrase it could have been a hit. This song plus ‘Holiday Inn’ anchor Side Two of Madman Across the Water, making the album a rewarding listen start to finish.
Meet Me In Montauk 