DJ Allyn – The Soundtrack for my Life

Madman Across The Water – Elton John  

Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947, is a five-time Grammy Award winner, and has been one of the more dominating forces in rock and popular music for over forty years. He has sold over a quarter billion albums, and 100 million singles, making him one of the most successful artists of all time.

He is a composer, singer, and pianist who collaborates with songwriter partner Bernie Taupin to write some of the most recognizable music of the 20th century.

Known for some of his most flamboyant fashions and on-stage showmanship.

Madman Across the Water

Madman Across the Water was set to be released on Elton John’s previous album Tumbleweed Connection. However, it was set aside and would eventually serve as the title track of the album, of the same name. Previous versions of the song (from the Tumbleweed era) can still be found, specifically on the remastered Tumbleweed Connection CD.  (I have it posted below)

There have been several theories as to the meaning behind this song.  Some think that it is autobiographical and that the song is about Elton being from the UK and making it big in the US.  Some think it was about Richard Nixon, and some think it was about Bernie Taupin’s inlaws.

I think the song has to do with a person whose family has put him into a home for the mentally insane and he has been trying to cross those waters to sanity but has failed.

I can see very well.
There’s a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well.

He is the boat, and was trying to reach the shore but couldn’t.

There’s a joke and I know it very well,
It’s one of those that I told you long ago.
Take my word I’m a madman don’t you know.

A long time ago he tried to talk to his loved ones (family) about his problem.  They wouldn’t believe him, they thought he must be joking.  Now his family sees him as a sad joke.

Once a fool had a good part in the play,

His family feels that he was born into a good family, with good financial and emotional support. He foolishly squandered his resources and benefits and is now unable to cope.

If it’s so would I still be here today?

If he was raised so good, and his family gave him all the opportunities he could need then, why is he still in the nut house?

It’s quite peculiar in a funny sort of way,
They think it’s very funny everything I say.
Get a load of him, he’s so insane

He feels that his family laughs at him behind his back.

You’d better get your coat dear
It looks like rain.

The visit is over, they are getting to leave.

We’ll come again next Thursday afternoon.
The Inlaws hope they’ll see you very soon.

Things that they are saying to him as they are getting ready to leave.

But is it in your conscience that you’re after
Another glimpse of the Madman across the Water.

The reason why he thinks they visit him is just to take another look at their crazy relative.

The ground’s a long way down but I need more.

The distance from his window to the ground is not far enough to guarantee death if he were to jump.

Is the nightmare black
or are the windows painted?

Many crazy people retreat from the ‘outside world’ or reality into their minds where they are more comfortable. His room represents his inside world and the windows represent a view to the outside world or reality, a place that is “nightmarish” to him.

Will they come again next week,
Can my mind really take it?

He really hates it when he gets visitors. He wishes that they would just forget about him and leave him alone. He feels like a spectacle in a freak show.

I can see very well.
There’s a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well.
There’s a joke and I know it very well,
It’s one of those that I told you long ago.
Take my word I’m a madman don’t you know.

Once a fool had a good part in the play,
If it’s so would I still be here today?
It’s quite peculiar in a funny sort of way,
They think it’s very funny everything I say.
Get a load of him, he’s so insane
You’d better get your coat dear
It looks like rain.

We’ll come agan next Thursday afternoon.
The Inlaws hope they’ll see you very soon.
But is it in your conscience that you’re after
Another glimpse of the Madman across the Water.

I can see very well.
There’s a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well.
There’s a joke and I know it very well,
It’s one of those that I told you long ago.
Take my word I’m a madman don’t you know.

The ground’s a long way down but I need more.
Is the nightmare black
or are the windows painted?
Will they come again next week,
Can my mind really take it?

We’ll come agan next Thursday afternoon.
The Inlaws hope they’ll see you very soon.
But is it in your conscience that you’re after
Another glimpse of the Madman across the Water.

• Audio is the original version from the 1970 album, Tumbleweed Connection (Remastered):

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• Audio from the 1971 album, Madman Across the Water:

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Someone Saved My Life Tonight – Elton John  

Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947, is a five-time Grammy Award winner, and has been one of the more dominating forces in rock and popular music for over forty years. He has sold over a quarter billion albums, and 100 million singles, making him one of the most successful artists of all time.

He is a composer, singer, and pianist who collaborates with songwriter partner Bernie Taupin to write some of the most recognizable music of the 20th century.

Known for some of his most flamboyant fashions and on-stage showmanship.

Someone Saved My Life Tonight

“Someone Saved My Life Tonight” is an Elton John song from his album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. It is written in the key of A-flat, though after having vocal cord surgery in 1987 that resulted in the loss of his falsetto range, John began performing the song in the key of F. It concludes side one in the album’s telling of the history of John’s and lyricist Bernie Taupin’s struggles to find careers within the music industry.

Taupin’s lyric refers to a time in 1969, before John was a popular musician, when John was considering marriage to his girlfriend, Linda Woodrow. John and Woodrow were sharing a flat with Taupin on Furlong Road in the East End of London, hence the opening line “When I think of those East End lights.” While having serious doubts about the looming marriage, John contemplated suicide. He took refuge in his friends, especially Long John Baldry, who convinced John to abandon his plans to marry in order to salvage and maintain his musical career. As a sign of his respect and gratitude for Baldry, Taupin wrote him into the song as the “someone” in the title, and as the “Sugar Bear” mentioned in the lyrics.

When I think of those East End lights, muggy nights
The curtains drawn in the little room downstairs
Prima Donna lord you really should have been there
Sitting like a princess perched in her electric chair
And it’s one more beer and I don’t hear you anymore
We’ve all gone crazy lately
My friends out there rolling round the basement floor

And someone saved my life tonight sugar bear
You almost had your hooks in me didn’t you dear
You nearly had me roped and tied
Altar-bound, hypnotized
Sweet freedom whispered in my ear
You’re a butterfly
And butterflies are free to fly
Fly away, high away, bye bye

I never realised the passing hours of evening showers
A slip noose hanging in my darkest dreams
I’m strangled by your haunted social scene
Just a pawn out-played by a dominating queen
It’s four o’clock in the morning
Damn it listen to me good
I’m sleeping with myself tonight
Saved in time, thank God my music’s still alive

And I would have walked head on into the deep end of the river
Clinging to your stocks and bonds
Paying your H.P. demands forever
They’re coming in the morning with a truck to take me home
Someone saved my life tonight, someone saved my life tonight
Someone saved my life tonight, someone saved my life tonight
Someone saved my life tonight
So save your strength and run the field you play alone

• Audio from the 1975 album, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy:

Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters – Elton John  

Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947, is a five-time Grammy Award winner, and has been one of the more dominating forces in rock and popular music for over forty years. He has sold over a quarter billion albums, and 100 million singles, making him one of the most successful artists of all time.

He is a composer, singer, and pianist who collaborates with songwriter partner Bernie Taupin to write some of the most recognizable music of the 20th century.

Known for some of his most flamboyant fashions and on-stage showmanship.

Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters

Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters is a song that reflects Bernie Taupin’s take on New York City after hearing a gun go off near his hotel window during his first visit to the city.  The song’s lyrics were partly inspired by Ben E. King’s “Spanish Harlem,” in which he sings “There is a rose in Spanish Harlem.” In response to this, Taupin writes, “Now I know Spanish Harlem are not just pretty words to say / I thought I knew, but now I know that rose trees never grow in New York City.”

Rolling Stone magazine’s Jon Landau praised the song when it was released, writing:

“Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” shows how much John can really do in the space of a single cut. Using minimal instrumentation and singing one of Taupin’s most direct lyrics, John effortlessly reveals the myth beneath the myth of “… a rose in Spanish Harlem.” He expresses his involvement with the city, his need for its people, and his final desire to be alone through one of his best tunes, simplest arrangements, and most natural vocal performances.

Elton himself has called the song “one of my all-time favorites,” upon introducing it at his 60th-birthday concert in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

And now I know
Spanish Harlem are not just pretty words to say
I thought I knew
But now I know that rose trees never grow in New York City
Until you’ve seen this trash can dream come true
You stand at the edge while people run you through
And I thank the Lord there’s people out there like you
I thank the Lord there’s people out there like you

While Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Sons of bankers, sons of lawyers
Turn around and say good morning to the night
For unless they see the sky
But they can’t and that is why
They know not if it’s dark outside or light
This Broadway’s got
It’s got a lot of songs to sing
If I knew the tunes I might join in
I’ll go my way alone
Grow my own, my own seeds shall be sown in New York City
Subway’s no way for a good man to go down
Rich man can ride and the hobo he can drown
And I thank the Lord for the people I have found
I thank the Lord for the people I have found

And now I know
Spanish Harlem are not just pretty words to say
I thought I knew
But now I know that rose trees never grow in New York City
Subway’s no way for a good man to go down
Rich man can ride and the hobo he can drown
And I thank the Lord for the people I have found
I thank the Lord for the people I have found

• Audio from the 1972 album, Honky Chateau:

Funeral for a friend (Love Lies Bleeding) ~ Elton John  

Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947, is a five-time Grammy Award winner, and has been one of the more dominating forces in rock and popular music for over forty years. He has sold over a quarter billion albums, and 100 million singles, making him one of the most successful artists of all time.

He is a composer, singer, and pianist who collaborates with songwriter partner Bernie Taupin to write some of the most recognizable music of the 20th century.

Known for some of his most flamboyant fashions and on-stage showmanship.

Funeral for a friend (Love lies bleeding)

“Funeral for a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding)” is the opening song on the two-part album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John. The first part, “Funeral for a Friend”, is an instrumental created by John while thinking of what kind of music he would like at his funeral. This first half segues into “Love Lies Bleeding”.

“Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” was too long for a single release, but got plenty of airplay on FM stations that were predisposed toward rock epics, and remains a favorite whenever John performs it in concert. The whole piece together is just over eleven minutes long.

The roses in the window box
Have tilted to one side
Everything about this house
Was born to grow and die

Oh it doesn’t seem a year ago
To this very day
You said I’m sorry honey
If I don’t change the pace
I can’t face another day

And love lies bleeding in my hand
Oh it kills me to think of you with another man
I was playing rock and roll and you were just a fan
But my guitar couldn’t hold you
So I split the band
Love lies bleeding in my hands

I wonder if those changes
Have left a scar on you
Like all the burning hoops of fire
That you and I passed through

You’re a bluebird on a telegraph line
I hope you’re happy now
Well if the wind of change comes down your way girl
You’ll make it back somehow

• Audio from the 1973 album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road:

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ~ Elton John  

Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947, is a five-time Grammy Award winner, and has been one of the more dominating forces in rock and popular music for over forty years. He has sold over a quarter billion albums, and 100 million singles, making him one of the most successful artists of all time.

He is a composer, singer, and pianist who collaborates with songwriter partner Bernie Taupin to write some of the most recognizable music of the 20th century.

Known for some of his most flamboyant fashions and on-stage showmanship.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” is a ballad performed by musician Elton John. The song was written by Bernie Taupin and composed by John for his album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Its musical-style and production is heavily influenced by 1970s soft rock. It was widely praised by critics, and some critics have named it John’s best song.

When are you gonna come down
When are you going to land
I should have stayed on the farm
I should have listened to my old man

You know you can’t hold me forever
I didn’t sign up with you
I’m not a present for your friends to open
This boy’s too young to be singing the blues

So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can’t plant me in your penthouse
I’m going back to my plough

Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny back toad
Oh I’ve finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road

What do you think you’ll do then
I bet that’ll shoot down your plane
It’ll take you a couple of vodka and tonics
To set you on your feet again

Maybe you’ll get a replacement
There’s plenty like me to be found
Mongrels who ain’t got a penny
Sniffing for tidbits like you on the ground

Levon ~ Elton John  

Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947, is a five-time Grammy Award winner, and has been one of the more dominating forces in rock and popular music for over forty years. He has sold over a quarter billion albums, and 100 million singles, making him one of the most successful artists of all time.

He is a composer, singer, and pianist who collaborates with songwriter partner Bernie Taupin to write some of the most recognizable music of the 20th century.

Known for some of his most flamboyant fashions and on-stage showmanship.

Levon

Levon wears his war wound like a crown
He calls his child Jesus
`Cause he likes the name
And he sends him to the finest school in town

Levon, Levon likes his money
He makes a lot they say
Spend his days counting
In a garage by the motorway

He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day
When the New York Times said God is dead
And the war’s begun
Alvin Tostig has a son today

And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon

Levon sells cartoon balloons in town
His family business thrives
Jesus blows up balloons all day
Sits on the porch swing watching them fly

And Jesus, he wants to go to Venus
Leaving Levon far behind
Take a balloon and go sailing
While Levon, Levon slowly dies