Elton John hit #1 with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Elton John

Released: October 5, 1973 Peak: 18 US, 12 UK, 15 CN, 13 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 8.0 US, 0.6 UK, 31.0 world (includes US + UK), 32.85 EAS Genre: pop/classic rock

Tracks: Click on a song title for more details. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding [11:08] Candle in the Wind [3:50] Bennie and the Jets [5:23] Goodbye Yellow Brick Road [3:14] This Song Has No Title [2:23] Grey Seal [3:58] Jamaica Jerk Off [3:39] I’ve Seen That Movie Too [5:59] Sweet Painted Lady [3:52] The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-34) [4:24] Dirty Little Girl [5:01] All the Girls Love Alice [5:08] Your Sister Can’t Twist But She Can Rock ‘N’ Roll [2:42] Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting [4:54] Roy Rogers [4:08] Social Disease [3:44] Harmony [2:45] Total Running Time: 76:12

Rating: 4.481 out of 5.00 (average of 30 ratings) Quotable: It “plays like a greatest hits album, overflowing with classic songs.” – Clark Speicher, The Review Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album In Elton John’s vast (and uneven) catalog” EW’93 this is “his most effective song cycle.” EW’93 He is “at the peak of his powers…on this sprawling opus of an album.” EW’12 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is “considered the high watermark of Elton’s reign of popularity,” CRS his “commercial and creative apex,” ZS “his magnum opus.” CQ It’s also important to note that this “is perhaps the best example of the magic that was the Elton John-Bernie Taupin songwriting partnership.” PM “John had successfully become the biggest hit-maker since The Beatles” CQ and this “pretty much defines what made Elton John a superstar in the early ‘70s.” AM However, this was also where his “personality began to gather more attention than his music.” AM He “achieved superstardom with this effort and never matched its mastery again.” RV This is “more musically ambitious than anything he attempted previously.” TM It “holds claim to a lot of brilliant, very pop-savvy music.” AZ “Its individual moments are spectacular and the glitzy, crowd-pleasing showmanship.” AM “The grandiose rock is filled with an energy unlike any of his other works, giving us a new side to the piano man.” CQ This is “piano glam rock at its finest, strutting a supersonic sound with prowess and ease.” CQ It “plays like a greatest hits album, overflowing with classic songs” RV which “remain standards more than 30 years later thanks to Bernie Taupin’s sharpest lyrics, John’s propulsive keyboard skills and vocals that leap into falsetto without losing any of their power.” TL The album “demonstrates the ease with which John and Taupin could write not only the hit singles, but the outstanding album tracks.” ZS The Triumphs and Perils of a Double Album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road has been called “Elton’s White Album.” ZS Like all double albums, though, there is the danger of being criticized as “overstuffed.” TL Critic Robert Christgau said, “This is one more double album that would make a nifty single.” SS Bill Shaprio echoed that sentiment, noting that there is “some strong material, as well as some pretty forgettable exercises.” SS “Edited down to one disc, this would easily be John’s recorded pinnacle.” SS However, others would argue that this is a “stunning song cycle with no filler.” ZS The “flamboyant tour de force” ZS has been celebrated as “a recap of all the styles and sounds that made John a star.” AM In a 1974 review for Circus magazine, Janis Schacht said “Elton John is back and stronger than he’s been on record in many a blue moon. The lush two-record set moves from mood to mood with no apparent effort and a great sense of timing, class and style.” SS A 1973 Billboard review said “John seems able to sing almost any type of material, from rock to country to Jamaican-flavored tunes.” SS In a largely negative review, Rolling Stone’s Stephen Davis acknowledged that the album mixes “straight ultramodern British music hall revue” SS with “plenty of rock synthesized flash and the inspection of the inner feelings of several different versions of Elton John persona.” SS Bernie Taupin and the Lyrics On the album’s lyrics, “Taupin ranges far and wide, but always on what he considers the ‘other’ side of the tracks, romanticizing your moderately seamy crowd.” SS “Bernie takes us into the mind of a tired sort of man who does his living vicariously, via Roy Rogers movies on the telly, …into bed with a prostitute…And so on.” SS The Writing and Recording The Rolling Stones had just recorded Goats Head Soup in Jamaica and encouraged Elton John to give the “relaxing tropical paradise” SF a chance. However, he and his crew “encountered hostile locals and faulty equipment.” SF “Too frightened to leave his hotel room (things were volatile...) and holed up in his hotel room with a batch of Bernie Taupin's lyrics, Elton wrote twenty-one songs in three days.” SS Attempts to record in Jamaica were abandoned and then “an equally unsatisfactory spell in New York” SS followed. Eventually, they relocated to France at the Château d'Hérouville where he’d recorded his previous two albums. “Originally intended as a single album, by the time Elton John had finished recording tracks…it was clear – to him at any rate – that only a double LP would suffice.” SS Notes A 2003 Deluxe Edition adds “Whenever You’re Ready (We’ll Go Steady),” “Jack Rabbit,” “Screw You (Young Man Blues),” and an alternate version of “Candle in the Wind.” The Songs “John seamlessly shifts from brash to mournful over the course of its 17 tracks, and the result is not unlike when Dorothy steps into the Technicolor land of Oz for the first time.” PM Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: 2 CL, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 29.49 streaming About the Song: The album opens “in a dark and stormy mood. The wind is howling. A lone church bell chimes in the distance, ushering in an eleven-minute faux-goth suite ‘Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding.’” TM The first part is “an eight-minute instrumental prologue featuring grandiose and tasteless typhoon whooshings, booming ecclesiastic organ, [and] some stinging guitar.” SS It segues into “‘Love Lies Bleeding,’ a rocker with a soaring, handsome chorus.” SS The “back-to-back blowouts” CQ have been called both a “prog rock epic” AM and a “Wagnerian-opera-like combo.” 500 “It’s as though the prodigiously talented pianist and his longtime lyricist, Bernie Taupin, mean to bust out of the radio-bonbon business.” TM Critic David Prakel praises the song as a “stunner…in which he musters and commands every last musical talent and trick.” SS

Candle in the Wind Candle in the Wind

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin (see lyrics here) Recorded: May 1973 Released: 2/4/74 (single), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) B-Side: “Bennie and the Jets” First Charted: March 2, 1974 Peak: 6 US, 7 CB, 8 GR, 8 RR, 2 AC, 2 CL, 5 UK, 5 CN, 5 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.4 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 4.0 radio, 40.54 video, 249.94 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: According to Elton John, lyricist Bernie Taupin called “Candle in the Wind” “the best song we’ve ever written.” KL It charted three times in three decades with three versions. The original was a a tribute to legendary film star Marilyn Monroe “from the somewhat tragic viewpoint of a sentimental and obsessive young Monroe fan” LW trying “to reconcile the myths and legends attached” TM to her. However, the song “took its title from a newspaper cutting about the death of Janis Joplin.” SS In his 1973 review for Rolling Stone, Stephen Davis called it “prettily solemn and unbelievably corny, a necrophiliac erection.” SS In his review for Stereo Review, Noel Coppage asserts that “EJ has given it such a nice melody and sings it with such emotional credibility that the words actually do begin to mean something.” SS Despite any dismissiveness, the general public reveled in the song’s sentimentality. The original version was a single in the UK and reached #11. However, in the U.S., when DJs latched on to “Bennie and the Jets” the planned single release was aborted. RS500 “Candle” wasn’t done yet though – a 1987 live version hit the top 10 in the United States. In 1997, the lyrics were revamped as a memorial to Princess Diana and it became the second-biggest-selling song of all time, only behind Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.” “Essentially a piano ballad rooted in a series of gospel-tinged chords, the song actually breaks away from the more traditional structure of a rock ballad but doesn't fail to include some typical John piano flourishes.” LW “It had pathos and a generalized emotional truth that underscored and informed Elton John’s otherwise flamboyant and hugely camp character.” LW

Bennie and the Jets Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John (music), Bernie Taupin (lyrics) (see lyrics here) Recorded: 1973 Released: 2/4/74 (single), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Greatest Hits (1974) B-Side: “Harmony” First Charted: February 16, 1974 Peak: 11 US, 11 CB, 11 HR, 13 RR, 15 RB, 1 CL, 37 UK, 12 CN, 5 AU, 5 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 0.60 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 55.08 video, 624.06 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: Elton John established himself as the most successful act of the 1970s on the strength of hits like “Bennie and the Jets” and five other #1’s that decade. This, however, was his first of only a handful of forays onto the R&B chart, where it reached #15. He was thrilled with the accomplishment, saying “Even if it doesn’t get any higher than 34 I’m gonna stick it up and frame it.” FB He knew, though, that it wasn’t his primary audience. He told Rolling Stone, “What am I going to do on my next American tour? Play the Apollo for a week, open with ‘Bennie’ then say, ‘Thanks, you can all go home now.’” FB It did, however, land him an appearance on Soul Train. WK In the United States, the song was the third single from Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, following “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” and the title cut. In most other territories, “Candle in the Wind” was released as the third single with “Bennie” (spelled “Benny”) as the B-side. WK Elton didn’t want to release “Bennie” as a single because he was sure it would fail. However, a radio station in Ontario started playing it and then it became the #1 song in the Detroit market. WK The record company decided it would make for the better A-side in America and slated “Candle” as the flip side. FB It became his second chart-topper in America after 1972’s “Crocodile Rock.” This is where “Taupin’s snarling outsider cynicism collides most spectacularly with John’s questioning melodies and dizzying etude-book piano arpeggios.” TM The song was sort of an homage to the fictional band of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the glam rock of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust persona. Elton described Bennie as “a sci-fi rock goddess” SF and lyricist Bernie Taupin said Bennie and the Jets “were supposed to be a prototypical female rock ‘n’ roll band out of science fiction.” SF He explained that he “had this wacky science fiction idea about a futuristic rock and roll band of androids fronted by some androgynous kind of Helmut Newton style beauty.” SF He said that Robert Palmer’s video for “Addicted to Love” portrayed how he saw the band: “a dapper frontman backed by robotic models.” SF Taupin also said the song, told from the standpoint of a fan, was a satire on the music industry and its greed and glitz. WK “The heavy metal groupie immortalized in ‘Bennie and the Jets’…engages in ritualistic animal sacrifice,” TM not exactly your standard top-40 fare. Also of note – the song integrates live sound effects from a show Elton played at Royal Festival Hall in 1972 and a falsetto where Elton tries to sound like Frankie Valli of the Four Seasons. SF

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John (music), Bernie Taupin (lyrics) (see lyrics here) Recorded: May 10, 1973 Released: 9/7/73 (UK single), 10/15/73 (US single), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Greatest Hits (1974) B-Side: “Screw You (Young Man’s Blues)” First Charted: September 29, 1973 Peak: 2 BB, 11 CB, 11 GR, 11 HR, 13 RR, 7 AC, 1 CL, 6 UK, 11 CN, 4 AU, 6 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.6 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 4.0 radio, 50.73 video, 602.81 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: The title cut for Elton John’s seventh album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, was released as the second single after “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.” While “Saturday” peaked at #12, “Road” went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts on three of the other major pop charts in America at the time. The song was a top singles pick in the October 20, 1973, issue of Billboard which said, “Elton returns to a medium tempo for his large, round sounding production of a man returning to a simple life. At times it’s hard to understand Elton, but the sonic impression is still strong and haunting. The blending of voices with strings on the bridges is beautiful.” BB Circus magazine’s Janis Schach called the song “delicate and beautiful,” WK asserting that “Elton finally has met his original potential” JS AllMusic.com’s Stewart Mason has called it “a strong contender for the coveted title of John’s finest song ever.” AMG “Extravagant, but not pretentious,” AMG the “arrangement builds slowly…to a full orchestral climax at the end of each chorus.” AMG “The wordless melisma that decorates the bridge between the verse and chorus melodies is straight out of the Beach Boys playbook.” AMG “It’s very likely his single finest vocal moment.” AMG It “harnesses the fantastic imagery of glam to a Gershwin-sweet melody.” 500 Taupin often wrote about Elton, but this song “about giving up a life of opulence for one of simplicity in a rural setting” SF appears to be more about Taupin as John “has enjoyed a very extravagant lifestyle.” SF Taupin said, “I was going through that whole ‘got to get back to my roots’ thing…I don’t believe I was ever turning my back on success…I think I was just hoping that maybe there was a happy medium way to exist successfully in a more tranquil setting.” SF Lyrically, Taupin addresses “the many facets of a dying Hollywood” SS and “faded Hollywood glamour.” AMG While this isn’t “a ‘concept’ album in the strictest sense…[it] does have a recurring theme – disillusionment” TM as Bernie Taupin lyrically The title track is about a boy “stung by the city he once viewed as an Oz,” TM as in The Wizard of Oz.

This Song Has No Title Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 9.50 streaming About the Song: A

Grey Seal Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: 13 CL, 28 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 10.73 streaming About the Song: “Grey Seal” was originally released as the B-side to Elton’s 1970 single “Rock and Roll Madonna.” He re-recorded it for Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and It shows ““just how stacked this record really is.” CQ “Grey Seal” and “This Song Has No Title…had gospel-tinged melodies and progressions.” TB In his largely negative review, Rolling Stone’s Stephen Davis called this “a fine, fast number, episodic and brilliantly-produced, one of the few large-production numbers here that succeeds all the way through.” SS

Jamaica Jerk Off Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 5.29 streaming About the Song: The album also features “novelties [like] Jamiaica Jerk Off…and everything in between.” AM “All of this could only come from the man in the glittery glasses who knew no limits to where his piano could take him and thank God for it.” CQ

I’ve Seen That Movie Too Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 7.56 streaming About the Song: A

Sweet Painted Lady Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 11.53 streaming About the Song: A

The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934) Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 5.76 streaming About the Song: There’s also “the ready-made nostalgia of The Ballad of Danny Bailey” AZ which features “Bernie Taupin’s literary pretensions” AM

Dirty Little Girl Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.86 streaming About the Song: A

All the Girls Love Alice Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: 9 CL, 28 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 9.36 streaming About the Song: There are “darker rockers such as All the Girls Love Alice” EW’93 which “proved to be a ballad of a teenage lesbian,” SS “possibly the earliest rock song to address lesbianism.” SS

Your Sister Can’t Twist But She Can Rock ‘N’ Roll Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.19 streaming About the Song: Elton shows off his rock side with “the fairground jive of Your Sister Can’t Twist.” TB

Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Recorded: May 1973 Released: 6/29/73 (single), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973), Greatest Hits (1974) B-Side: “Jack Rabbit,” “Whenever You’re Ready We’ll Go Steady Again” First Charted: July 7, 1973 Peak: 12 BB, 9 CB, 13 GR, 8 HR, 2 CL, 7 UK, 12, CN, 31 AU, 5 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.4 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, -- video, 209.55 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “Guitarist Davey Johnstone was a rare find when he joined the band” SS and this “omnipresent AM hit…ably testify to his power.” SS “The strutting rock and roll” 500 of “this “rollicking” PM “Stonesy rocker” TB “easily finds itself in the top echelon of fist-pumping rock songs that get your blood boiling and your head banging.” CQ As the lead single from the album, the song “about Bernie Taupin’s raucous teenage days” SS marked Elton’s fifth trip to the top ten in his native UK. Stateside, he’d already had five top-10s, but this one just missed the mark, landing at #12.

Roy Rogers Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.91 streaming About the Song: Roy Rogers is “sentimental and sensitive without ever slipping into that dangerous songwriter’s trap of banality.” SS

Social Disease Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.96 streaming About the Song: A

Harmony Elton John

Writer(s): Elton John, Bernie Taupin Released: 2/4/74 (B-side of “Bennie and the Jets”), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) Peak: 11 CL, 20 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 10.85 streaming About the Song: This song’s “downbeat melodicism” AZ “is a change of pace number. Haunting and subtle, it has great mid-sixties three-part harmony (natch) with backup vocals compliments of Davey Johnstone and Nigel Olsson. The song sounds as if it might have been recorded for the first or second Bee Gees’ LP, way back when they were a great band.” SS The “sunny, symphonic pop finale” SS is “a star track and a perfect end for a near-perfect album.” SS

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com album review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine AMG AllMusic.com review of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” by Stewart Mason AZ Amazon.com review by Rickey Wright BB Billboard (10/20/1973). Page 62. FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 362. CQ Consequence.net (9/12/2022). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” EW’93 Entertainment Weekly (10/29/1993). “100 Greatest CDs: A Love-It-Or-Loathe It Guide to the Essential Disc Library” EW’12 Entertainment Weekly (9/27/2012). “Top 100 Albums” HL Michael Heatley and Spencer Leigh (1998). Behind the Song: The Stories of 100 Great Pop & Rock Classics. Blandford Books: London, UK. Page 66. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh. (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits. Omnibus Press: London, UK. Page 447. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 178. TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 399. CRS Tim Morse (1998). Classic Rock Stories: The Stories Behind the Greatest Rock Songs of All Time. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin. Pages 181-195. PM PasteMagazine.com (6/3/2024). “The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time” RV The Review (Oct./Nov. 2001). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher 500 Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time RS500 Rolling Stone (12/04). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” SF Songfacts.com page for “Benny and the Jets” SF Songfacts page for “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” SS SuperSeventies.com (reviews from multiple sources) TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Page 162. TL Time Magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light WK Wikipedia page for “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” WK Wikipedia page for “Bennie and the Jets” ZS Zagat Survey (2003). Music Guide: 1,000 Top Albums of All Time. Coordinator: Pat Blashill. Music Editor: Holly George-Warren. Editors: Betsy Andrews and Randi Gollin. Zagat Survey, LLC: New York, NY. Page 134. Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/21/2008; last updated 5/31/2026.