Caribou

Certain Songs #395: Elton John – “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me”

December 15, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Caribou
Year: 1974

If I’ve been naturally concentrating on the more uptempo Elton John singles, it must be said that he was also an absolute auteur of the big piano ballad.

While his first big single was “Your Song’; “Tiny Dancer” figured prominently in Almost Famous and “Candle in the Wind” somehow became a standard, I prefer 1974’s “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me.”

Certain Songs #394: Elton John – “The Bitch is Back”

December 14, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Caribou
Year: 1974

If the beer-drinking, bar-fighting slob that Elton pretended to be was clearly a fantasy, then its companion piece, “The Bitch is Back” clearly seemed to be a lyric that Bernie Taupin wrote specifically for him.

And even if it wasn’t, it doesn’t even matter, because “The Bitch is Back” was exactly the slightly (in that the word “bitch” was controversial) (even when referring to himself) transgressive single that Elton needed as he started to flamboyantize his image.