Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was the first album I ever bought with my own money (an accumulation of weekly allowances of $2 if I remember correctly).
I loved the sheer size and theatricality of that album — from the eery — at least to a 10 year old me — “Funeral for a Friend” to the decadence of “All the Young Girls Love Alice”.
I’ve never followed Elton as closely as I did when I was 10, 11, 12, but I still love some of his work — especially some of that early stuff. Madman Across the Water is a great album, as are a few others from that era, in my opinion — Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Honky Chateau, and Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player.
Elton will play the Savannah Civic Center on September 15th. Tickets go on sale on May 19th. As I write this, the Savannah date is not on his website, but he will be in the South at that point, with listed shows in Jackson, Huntsville, and Johnson City in the days leading up to the Savannah gig.
The Civic Center is a hugely imperfect venue, but I’ve never seen him live. And he’s just turned 65. So I’ll probably try to grab tickets to this one.
A few of those old songs I especially like: