Piano Man Steve's Blog

I Need You to Turn To (Elton John)

Feb 19, 2025

This song really is a hidden gem. I wrote all about Elton John's second eponymous album from 1970 and how the label took an unusual gamble by giving him a substantial budget in order to use a full studio orchestra in my post about another deep cut called "Sixty Years On", which you can read here.

This tune is less famous (as deep cuts go) than "Sixty Years On", but i have a real soft spot for it. It's one of those love songs that you hear and wonder how two kids in their late teens could have come up with it. It's sophisticated and mature beyond its writers' years both musically and lyrically.

It's in a minor key, and has the very unusual effect of being haunting and comforting simultaneously. Elton played harpsichord rather than piano on the original recording, which gives it a slightly Baroque flavor, and sang it with a very sweet yearning in his voice.

I first heard it on an album from 1987 called "Live from Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra". He played piano, but the opening riff was played on a harp to retain the original recording's sonic sensibilities. That whole show was a sweeping masterpiece, and this song immediately put me in a trance the first time I heard it.

At the time he performed that concert, Elton was having terrible problems with his voice. He'd completely lost his falsetto, and had lost his entire voice a couple of times leading up to it. You can hear that his voice is scratchy and rough all through the show (he still sang with so much passion and heart that you don't even mind it), and he had to make all kinds of adjustments to the melodies in order to accommodate the loss of his prolific falsetto voice.

Shortly after the conclusion of that tour, he had throat surgery, which was successful, but it left his voice permanently changed. I always wondered what it must have felt like to be performing those shows, knowing that something could go very wrong in surgery. Would he lose his voice forever? Would he still be able to do his work? What lay on the other side?

I went through something similar in late 2024. After a few bad bouts with Covid over a period of 4 years, the constant coughing and effect from "long Covid" caught up with me and my vocal chords were damaged and badly scuffed up. I didn't need surgery, but I had to take about 3.5 months away from singing, and over a month away from even talking. Elements of my voice had disappeared and didn't work anymore, and I went through a "dark night of the soul" wondering if I would ever have my voice at full capacity again. Thankfully, I healed and am feeling and singing better than ever now, but it was a scary and depressing season in my life, and I can only imagine what it must have been like for Elton.

And then I listen to this song and think about how meaningful it is to have people in your life to "turn to" in dark times. Especially a loving partner. This song is a truly brilliant piece of writing, even if it wasn't a "hit". I'm glad it exists, even if it gathers more dust than other songs.

Enjoy my cover of this song from a livestream show I did on July 12, 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and then check out the amazing performance by Elton himself from Sydney, Australia at the Sydney Entertainment Centre accompanied by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, as well as the original recording to hear the different variations.

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