When I started this blog I would usually know by mid-week what song I was going to do. Not so the last two weeks. I've sat down in front of the piano, messed around until something felt right. Not sure why this one this week.....my interpretation of Elton John and Bernie Taupin's Daniel.
Do you remember when you knew exactly how many records you had? When I was a teenager I had a mental tally of my inventory at all times. Records weren't cheap for a shiftless teen in the mid 70's and the collection grew slowly - one album at a time, usually purchased from The House of Music in Stettler, Alberta. One of those records was Elton John's Greatest Hits and it saw a lot of play time. I also had a 45 of Someone Saved My Life Tonight from Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the album Tumbleweed Connection, then later the early live trio album 17-11-70.
When I left home I discovered a lot of different music and Elton had to take a seat way at the back of the bus, behind the likes of Muddy Waters, Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Captain Beefheart, Thelonious Monk, and many others. Decades later, after I had started playing music, I rediscovered Elton John...and Bernie Taupin. Their classic songs from the 70's are, uh, classics. Interesting, unusual, and beautiful chord structures with engaging lyrics that dig more deeply than standard pop fare.
In 1967 Bernie Taupin answered an advertisement placed in the New Musical Express by Liberty Records A&R man Ray Williams, who was searching for new talent. After auditioning unsuccessfully for King Crimson and Gentle Giant, Elton John answered the same ad and although neither Bernie nor Elton passed the audition for Liberty, Ray Williams recognized their respective talents and put them in touch with each other. Says Taupin:
I didn't play any instruments. I had no concept of a bridge or a chorus. I wrote some sort of nonsensical psychedelic lyrics that were plagiarized from a conglomerate of things in vogue, and actually got a reply. So I went to London and this guy said, "I've got this kid. He wants to write songs, but he doesn't write lyrics. He's auditioned for us, and everyone said no. Maybe you two guys should hook up." That how it is. Mick Jagger meets Keith Richards at a train station and says something like, "What's that album? Can I hear it?" It's kismet. Elton had answered the same ad.
The song Daniel was written and recorded the same day. Taupin penned the lyrics in the morning, brought them down to Elton who put the music to it and bing bang boom recorded it that day. This was typical of their approach during a very productive period in which they wrote 12 songs in two days. The song originally had a third verse which fleshed out the story of a Vietnam vet who returns to the USA after losing his eyesight. Elton thought it too long and even after the verse was cut, the producers thought the song too somber and sluggish to be a single. Elton insisted and despite a lack of promotion from the record company it became a hit.
I think the elimination of the third verse is one of the things that makes this such a great song. By making the narrative less specific the emotional template is opened up for the listener to enter the song and apply it to their own stories. For me, a line like "your eyes have died, do you see more than I" carries much more weight as a poetic metaphor than a reference to an injury.
Daniel - lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane
I can see the red taillights heading to Spain
And I can see Daniel waving good-bye
God it looks like Daniel
must be the clouds in my eyes
They say Spain is pretty, I've never been
Daniel say its the best place he's ever seen
and he should know, he's been there enough
Oh I miss Daniel
I miss him so much
Chorus
Daniel my brother you are older than me
Do you still feel the pain of the scars that won't heal
Your eyes have died, do you see more than I
Daniel, you're a star in face of the sky
Here's Elton doing Daniel, live in Edinburgh 1976, solo piano
Here's Elton and band - Nigel Olson, Davey Johnstone, and Dee Murray - lipsynching Daniel on some creepy 70's Top Ten countdown show. Even if you don't watch this whole video, please watch the first 10 seconds.
A pretty interesting cover of Daniel by Tortoise and Bonnie Prince Billy
Finally, from my ep Eelgirl a version of Good-Bye Yellow Brick Road I recorded with Scott Henderson on guitar and Lily Fawn on the musical saw...me on accordion and vox
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