It seems only right that the No.1 entry in our Top 20 countdown of the best Elton John songs should be his first hit – the one that truly announced his arrival and the track that he has performed live more than any other. The original was never a single in the US but was the third British release from the timeless Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and a song that became cherished the world over. That recording, produced by George Martin, became the bestselling single in recording history.
The song, and the Russell Mulcahy-directed video, introduced Elton to the MTV generation.Įlton and Bernie’s salute to Marilyn Monroe became a hit again in 1987, on John’s Live In Australia album, and then in the most heartbreaking circumstances imaginable in 1997, when the lyrics were rewritten in tribute to the late Diana, Princess Of Wales. In the apparently effortless symbiosis of one of the greatest-ever songwriting partnerships, this Too Low For Zero standout describes the resilience of both Taupin and John – both in their private lives and in Elton’s career, which had already survived punk, new romanticism and more (“looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid”). Forever retaining its place among the best Elton John songs, it’s been an anthemic highlight of literally thousands of Elton shows, including his Live Aid performance in 1985. Indeed, it only became a single in the first place thanks to the listeners of black radio station WJLB in Detroit, who called to request it in their droves.
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A 2002 update by boy band Blue, featuring Elton, topped the UK chart another, by Ray Charles for his Genius Loves Company album (again with an Elton cameo), may well have been the last thing The Genius ever recorded.Īsk self-confessed chart obsessive Elton John about his proudest achievements, and to this day he will include the fact that “Bennie And The Jets” was not only a US pop No.1 but reached the Top 20 of the R&B chart. Carl Fortina played the elegant accordion solo. “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” is something of a collector’s item in the John/Taupin catalog: instead of their time-honored “two rooms” process, in which Bernie’s lyrics usually tease a melody out of Elton, here the superstar played his friend a piece of the tune which then inspired the words. The first single from one of Elton John’s most underrated albums, Blue Moves, was a tear-stained love song that stands tall in his inventory of ballads. Best Elton John Songs: 20 Essential Tracks By The Rocket Man 20: Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (1976) Listen to the best of Elton John on Apple Music and Spotify, and scroll to read our best Elton John songs of all time.