Oh, this song......

Nobody knows this song unless they are kind of an Elton John geek.  But it's part of a really important collection of music he and Bernie Taupin wrote between 1970 and 1972.  Nobody knew exactly what to do with this kid calling himself Elton John in 1970.  He'd made one album that didn't sell at all, but he had a unique and interesting style that was undeniable, and his sophisticated music matched against the very literary and esoteric lyrics of his writing partner, Bernie Taupin, needed something beyond a small rock and roll quartet.

A very unusual decision was made by his record label to authorize a sizable recording budget for his follow-up album, and a studio orchestra and new young cutting edge arranger/orchestrator named Paul Buckmaster were brought in to package this unique music in what the label hoped would be a commercially successful way.

The entire album was a sweeping symphonic masterpiece, and they decided to simply call it "Elton John".  That album sent a big ripple through the music industry, and there was clearly an exciting new artist on the horizon.  It produced one hit single, "Your Song", which cracked the top 10 here in the US and became Elton's "breakout" record.  But...before that happened, Elton made an appearance in Los Angeles at the famed "Troubadour" club and set the entire music world on FIRE.  And the song he played with his tiny band consisting only of himself, Nigel Olsson on the drums, and Dee Murray on the bass guitar....was "Sixty Years On". 

I love that he was able to stun the entire music industry establishment playing a song that was recorded with a 20 piece studio orchestra with nothing but a bare bones trio....talk about two extremes!  Anyway....the success of that album, helped along by both the hit single "Your Song", and the impressive lineup of album cuts like "Sixty Years On", led to 3 more studio albums with this formula of sophisticated music, highly poetic lyrics, and a big orchestral production, and produced some of the most celebrated songs in Elton's catalog such as "Tiny Dancer", "Levon", "Burn Down the Mission", "Border Song", "Take Me to the Pilot", and "Madman Across the Water" to name a few.

I guess what I walk away with from this song and others like it from that era is, when you have something unique to say, some segment of the world will be ready to listen.  Elton was definitely a unique and fresh voice....and so many of us are better today for it.

Enjoy my cover of this song from a livestream show I did on July 5, 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and then check out the career making performance by Elton himself at the Troubadour Club in L.A. in 1970 that I mentioned above. 

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If the video doesn't show above, use THIS LINK to see it on YouTube

If the video doesn't show above, use THIS LINK to see it on YouTube