Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the seventh studio album by English singer, pianist, and composer Elton John, first released on 5 October 1973 as a double album by DJM Records. The album has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide[3][4] and is widely regarded as John's magnum opus. Among the 17 tracks, the album contains the hits "Candle in the Wind," US number-one single "Bennie and the Jets," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", along with the live favourite "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding."
This article is about the Elton John album. For the song, see Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (song). For the television episode, see Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (FlashForward).Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
5 October 1973
May 1973
Château d'Hérouville, Hérouville, France; remixed and overdubbed at Trident, London
76:20
Recorded at the Studio d'enregistrement Michel Magne at the Château d'Hérouville in France, the album became a double LP once John and his band became inspired by the locale.[5] The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003,[6] and continues to be highly regarded in various rankings. It was ranked number 112 on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
Production[edit]
Under the working titles of Vodka and Tonics and Silent Movies, Talking Pictures, Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics in two and a half weeks, with John composing most of the melodies in three days while staying at the Pink Flamingo Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica.[7] John had wanted to go to Jamaica, in part because the Rolling Stones had just recorded Goats Head Soup there.[8]
Production on the album was started in Jamaica in January 1973, but due to difficulties with the sound system and the studio piano, logistical issues arising from the Joe Frazier–George Foreman boxing match taking place in Kingston, and protests over the political and economic situation in the country, the band decided to move before any productive work was done.[7]
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was recorded in two weeks at the Studio d'enregistrement Michel Magne, at the Château d'Hérouville near Pontoise, in France, where John had previously recorded Honky Château and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player. While a version of "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" was recorded in Jamaica, that recording was discarded; the released version of the song came from the sessions at the Château. The band plays on all the songs except "This Song Has No Title," on which John performs all the piano, keyboard and vocal parts.
According to the album's producer, Gus Dudgeon, the album was not planned as a two-record collection. John and Taupin composed a total of 22 tracks for the album,[7] of which 18 (counting "Funeral for a Friend" and "Love Lies Bleeding" as two distinct tracks) were used, enough that it was released as a double album, John's first (three more such albums followed up to 2011). Through the medium of cinematic metaphor, the album builds on nostalgia for a childhood and culture left in the past.[7][9] Tracks include "Bennie and the Jets," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,"[10] the 11-minute "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding," and the Marilyn Monroe tribute "Candle in the Wind." "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" was inspired by memories of a Market Rasen pub Taupin frequented when younger. "Grey Seal", previously the B-side of the 1970 single "Rock and Roll Madonna," was re-recorded for the album.[11]
"Harmony" the album's final track, was considered as a fourth single, but was not issued at the time because the chart longevity of the album and its singles brought it too close to the upcoming releases of Caribou and its proposed accompanying singles. It was, however, used as the B-side of the American release of the "Bennie and the Jets" single, and was popular on FM playlists of the day, especially WBZ-FM in Boston, whose top 40 chart allowed for the inclusion of LP cuts and B-sides as voted for by listeners. "Harmony" spent three weeks at no. 1 on WBZ-FM's chart in June 1974 and ranked no. 6 for the year, with "Bennie and the Jets" at no. 1 and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" behind "Harmony" at no. 7. "Harmony" was released as a single in Britain in 1980 and failed to chart.
According to the album's liner notes. Track numbers refer to CD and digital releases of the album.
Production