Added: 4 years ago
From: rockermad
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  • I love that he's just casually sitting there.

  • This is a great song but don't forget that The lyrics were written by long-time writing partner Bernie Taupin and the music by Elton. gotta give credit where credit is due........ the lyrics are fabulous......

  • A great Paul Buckmaster arrangement and great performance Elton......hey who's the hot chick on the harp?

  • @mocus1 Her name is Skaila Kanga :)

    

  • This was before he sold out...man what a talent..now just a sad establishment spokesman

  • thank you youtube, without you would not be able to find such classics

  • YES ELTON JOHN AT HIS BEST I REMEMBER WHEN THIS ALBUM CAME OUT IT WAS AS RADICAL AS SGT PEPPERS. OH PLEASE ELTON MORE OF THIS AND NO MORE CROCODILE ROCK

  • Well he's the best pop star ever, a great composer and he has a 88" pianist. Nuff said.

  • @mocus1 who is this nuff fellow?

  • I love the Harp part LOL

  • What a great talent! he was only 23! long live Elton John!

    

  • @eltonjames79 Yes long live Elton and his wonderful music!!!

  • i love this song

  • Elton released 9 albums between 1969 and 1973....all original material....and we still listen to them all today....EJ is up there with the Beatles!!!!!

  • I cry everytime I hear this. He's amazing

  • This whole album was fabulous, so if you want to invest it is one of a kind.

  • thanks for posting this song. i absolutely adore elton and i have the dvd set that has this video...i can't find it........and now i fond this one. How beautiful of a song...i hope nobody tries to remake this song...it is already perfect.

  • No Jakski, you got it wrong. Bernie was the lyricists. That means he wrote the words only. Elton wrote ALL the music.

  • An amazing talent, I am happy to have been here through it

  • A different time....but the same Elton !

  • hard to believe that a 23 year old pop star could actually have written music involving an orchestra, harp, and other classical motifs proves the king of talent that star can hold. no one can ever come close to what elton john has perfected in the last 40 years

  • If you haven't heard it, please listen to Brandi Carlile sing this magnificent song. Its truly amazing. She was backed by the entire Seattle Symphony Orchestra, it is mindblowing.

  • bernie taupon wrote all his tunes back then!!

  • Brilliant

  • Haunting...couldn't have put it better myself.....really brilliant stuff..

  • Ahhh....let's not forget Paul Buckmaster's contributions to this incredible album. xo

  • @LolasTubular I'm sorry I can only give your comment a "thumbs up" once. If I could do multiples, I would. I am often struck by just how young Paul Buckmaster was when he did these orchestrations. When the Beatles joined EMI, they came under the guidance of George Martin who seemed like a father figure to them.  By contrast, Elton was working with people of about his own age.

  • COOL

    

  • Great song

  • one of the most brilliant artists of the past 50 years...even today, when his voice should be gone and his talent should have faded, he's still going at it and performing brilliantly (albeit with a slightly changed voice). it's neat to listen to this performance and then watch the one from his 60th birthday.....truly amazing and unique to him alone.

  • @flobtheblob Last 50 years? I beg, gently, to differ. This goes in the time capsule with most of his recordings. 200 years from now, I want them to consider this.

  • I always liked how Elton used 50 piece orchestras on his recordings during this period. Although he doesn't do it that much now, he definitely had a deep influence of clasical music in a lot of his songs....

  • Happy 64th Birthday Elton!! From all of us at the Rocket Club...You are definately 60 years and Going ON!!!

  • Amazing!! What an incredible song along with an incredible voice. Elton John musical talents along with Bernie Taupin's sensational lyrics is a duo we may never see again. I feel very fortunate to have seen Elton in 73,74 and 75. He was unbelievably great live. What a showman.

  • His voice, awesome...but let's give Bernie Taupin equal credit for the beautiful lyrics. At their height they were probably in my top 5 song writing duos.

  • Cool. thanks terryneale! I will check it out!

  • Can anyone tell me what kind of sunglasses hes wearing here? Im looking to find a pair and i cant find anywhere the brand or model...

  • This is one of my favorite songs by Elton John. I had this album, but lost it. The whole album was excellent. Can't remember the title of the album. Anyone know which one I am talking about?

  • @jenalbee It was just called Elton John and was the one with the head shot of him wearing glasses with a dark background. Search on here for first episode at Hienton and you will find that track is featured along with the LP cover. I still have mine but have copied it to a CD in case I wear it out.

  • I'm not suspicious of being an Elton John Fan.

    But after listening to tons of music for more than 40 years, I still can say: along with E.J.'s "Madman Across The Water", this song for sure is one of the best I ever heard in my life.

    Thanks so much for posting it.

  • nice song. maybe more angst= better albums?

  • anyone know what kinda sunglasses those are, i want a pair just like them and i have no idea how to go about accomplishing this =/

  • I am so glad I was young at a time when I would go and see him live - often. He shaped my twenties and thirties. It was all so magical. Dashing out to buy the latest Elton!!! Not many people these days have his talent. Song-writing and performing ability. And longevity!! Well, there's The Beatles and Queen. Giving away my age?

  • @TheTroutmaskreplica Elton's super new album The Union with Leon Russell isn't so commercialised., may appeal more than most of his post-70s stuff

  • This is very "Toned" down LElton for this time. hahaha. Elton still rocks, I still like him very much. amazing what you'll find on YOU tube.

  • 23 years old?

  • I think there was earlier compilations of Rock with symphony , ie, the Beatles , but Elton made very excellent use of it !

  • wow this is great.

    he sounds so different now..sigh

  • luv ya - keep on keeping on Sir Elton

  • Elton without piano looks awkward ;) awesome song

  • It's so great to see his albums come to life, with these TV performances. So golden.

  • A Beautiful song sung by "Elton John", But i prefer "silver metre,s" version.

  • Wow, what a talent. Beautiful song by a wonderful composer.

  • WOW! This is a treasure! Thanks for posting!!

  • This is one of the best songs ever written.

  • I think Brandi Carlile does a better rendition to this.

  • @UberDeathTurtle I was about to jump all over you for suggesting somebody other then Elton John could sing this. But I went to listen to Brandi'd version. And while I still prefer Elton (especially when he plays it just with piano), I was blown away by Brandi Carlile. I had not heard of her and I want to thank you for introducing me to her music. She's quite amazing.

  • @Kaalec Cool, I am glad somebody else enjoys her music as well. Thanks for letting me know that.

  • @Kaalec Oh yea, some of my favorites by her are "Before it Breaks" and "The Story".

  • i love to sing and play this song on my guitar.. .its simple to play and great to sing...

  • I yturned 50..I feel 70.....Elton this wa my favorite song when I was a teen for a reason.

  • I love this song SO much. He's a great man.

  • @ezekialwheel That would be from the album Goodbye Yellowbrick Road. But Take me to the Pilot is not on that one; Gray Seal is tho! And tons of other good ones!

  • @imaskylinepigeon that is not correct

    Elton wrote the music and Bernie wrote the lyrics

    I have the music as I play piano

    Elton maybe one of the best singer songwriters that have ever lived in my humble opinion

  • Very haunting! But awesome! Yes, a great musician!!!!!!!!

  • I first heard this when I was 12 or so, it is still so beautiful and sad.

  • @Forensource if you got a good copy of the LP you would have been very lucky most pressings were poor this is so much better it is really about the man as he was then -very serious -and very unhappy. There are two Elton's this one and the one of Crocodile Rock and Bennie and the Jets.

  • This song always makes me speechless :)

  • I didn't know this song before... It's just stunning. I had no idea that his voice can amaze me even more... Beautiful!

  • If you like this, I urde you to get the LP/CD called just "Elton John" -- beautiful music and lyrics like poetry. Try it.

  • When you listen to, what is 40 year old genius and remember back to those days, as I can, and know that no one, no one was using string arrangements like this in their songs. Elton is a genius, but he has also worked with some of real greats such as Berni, obviously, but also Paul Buckmaster and Ray Cooper to mention just a few.

  • @ianrc2000 Actually, The Beatles incorporated strings as far back as 1964. "Yesterday" was recorded just with Paul's voice and a String Quartet. The Beatles, with George Martin arranging, used strings a lot, especially in their later records. Elton and Paul Buckmaster did a fabulous job of keeping beautiful string arrangements in rock/pop music.

  • God, this brings back such memories. Love you, EJ!

  • I love this, makes the years roll away....

  • It has been 40 years already. I remember hearing this song on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert in 1972 or so.

  • Nice live performance!

  • I was a big fan of Elton's in the early 70s.

    My passion for Brandi Carlile's singing has brought me back to him. He has been very gracious to assist her on her new album, and she always acknowledges his contribution to her development as a singer/songwriter.

    It's great to see a healthy symbiotic relationship in music today. The passing on of the musical baton.

  • I love his youthful voice echoing the passion of Mexico

  • wow...speechless

  • he could possibly be living 60 years after this its already been 40 lol

    amazing

  • Classical music written by Elton & Bernie

  • Thanks for this usefull information !

  • I think Elton's must have thrilled when he sung this song in his 60th birthday

  • "the coral lamp that burned so low when you are passing through" great song , brilliant lyrics

  • Amazing. Just wanna be in 1970 again.

  • You are so right good comment

  • How haunting & poingnant. He is now past the age he is singing about. Gives me goosebumps. Writing a song like this takes a lot of soul & intelligence. That's what makes great music!!!

  • What about Mc Cartney - "When I'm sixty- four"? ;)

  • He didn't write this song though ;-)

  • Song credits are to Elton and Bernie.  If you mean the lyrics, no Elton didn't write them Bernie did. If you mean the music, Elton wrote it.

  • @juliekstroup Actually I learned recently that it was not Elton who wrote the music for this song as he normally does. The composer was actually a man named Paul Buckmaster.

  • @ajpianoman My understanding is that Elton would have written the basic melody line and Paul Buckmaster did the string arrangements.

  • @garydemaio I agree completely.

  • @garydemaio heres someone who does that also...me!

  • Respond to this video... and remember kids, he had a band that interacted in the studio and ALL the lyrics which inspired him were written by someone else/ Bernie Taupin...there were 4 Beatles remember? sheez don't idolize people only God.

  • Bravo Elton...Bravo Bernie!!!

  • During those great years, Paul Buckmaster was instrumental in shaping Elton's sound with those great string arrangements, such as you're hearing here.

  • Can´t help wondering what he is thinking ´bout these lyrics today. Great song great album, try to find "First episod at Hienton"(?).

  • e' meravigliosa!!!!!

  • In Italy The Nomadi have done a Cover of this song......"Ala Bianca". It's Wonderful!!!!

  • This song is great!!

    haha even for teenagersXD

    <3

  • This song is Great!!! The lyrics are powerful

  • This is my favorite album of Elton John (1970). I have all of his records, but nothing compares to what he recorded from 1970 till 76, after that it was just catchy music, but before, he was sooo creative.

  • Alright, up to 1978 :)

  • 100% in agreement. 70-76 was his best period. I have also all albums on LP and CD. I know a lot of the songs by heart and love to sing along when listening. Music today has lost its soul. Wish I could go back in time.

  • You are so right, this was a golden age for Elton, nothing has nor possibly will ever come close. His music from this time defines the very best parts of the era for me.

  • @derekhess47 i agree...a brilliant era to...

  • I guess he felt kinda lost without his piano lol but I love to see him without it :)

  • I was in Vietnam at this time. Magdalena says it all.

  • so glad you came home alive!

  • GORGEOUS arrangement.

  • Huge Elton fan for over 30 yrs. This is my all time favorite

  • check out brandi carlile's version w/seattle symphony last month. spot on

  • I totally meant to press like, not dislike. I love Brandi Carlile's version as I like the original.

  • The real carrier of his + uptill now (to The One 1992), Then I became older ;-)))

  • one of his best ever

  • a hauntingly beautiful song....classic...thanks Elton.....the rest of you morons can go hose yourself

  • he ran off the stage like napolean dynamite

  • i love the tune but his miming to too blatant

  • Its live, he doesnt mime

  • 30 years on from when I first heard this song, it is still one of the most haunting melodies I've ever heard. Thanks for posting this.

  • this is a great deep meaning song

  • elton was religious?

  • i will always love this song! thank you elton john!-kat dancer

  • b e a u t y

    thanks for update music mad maurice

  • Elton looks weird without his Piano... but great song

  • search for "chakuza nyze - rückendeckung"

    they have sampled this song

    but sorry for this bad english

  • Let us not forget the other contributors to early Elton John excellence. Apart from Elton's songwriting, piano playing and singing and Bernie's atmospheric lyrics, the full-flavoured sound of these albums was down to Paul Buckmaster's masterful arrangements and Gus Dudgeon's production. Whereas the Beatles were provided with an older gentleman to arrange and produce their records, Elton's collaborators were about the same age as him.

  • Great point MusicMadMaurice!

  • The same Paul Buckmaster who arranged Judie Tzuke's albums.

    If you want to hear his incredible musical ability, you might wanna YouTube her stuff.

    (Plus - she's a babe with a voice and a writing talent).

  • Not sure what the Beatles have to do with this other than the fact that every other pop artist since 1964 has been compared to them. For the record, George Martin had little experience recording rock bands. His biggest claim to fame was recording spoken word records for Petter Sellers.

  • I was drawing attention to how young Elton's production team was (as provided by Dick James) compared with George Martin who was provided to the Beatles by EMI. Yes, GM had previously been in the Comedy & Light Entertaiment department. Gus Dudgeon who produced the Elton John album had just hit fame in the industry with his production of David Bowie's Space Oddity.

  • Paul Buckmaster is the great unacknowledged part of EJ's early success. If EJ had come on the scene in 69-70 like the Fabulous Mr. Fabulous he is now, he would have been hooted out of musical history. It was Buckmaster's strings and orchestral arrangements which got him established.

  • You must be joking,A young Elton John would have made it in any era with what ever producer he had..John become a super star after he got rid of buckmaster.

  • Yes, EJ (and BT for that matter) abandoned any pretense of art and went for schlock Tin Pan Alley-style music which secretaries want to hear while at work.

    It's their early stuff which makes us care about EJ/BT, because we say how fantastic they could be. By the mid-70's they just churned out dreck to meet their contracts.

  • Hes gone now,he last album was the worst and I have all hes albums.Hes musical songs are absolute rubbish,the lion King songs were OK.

    Yes 1970 to 1975 was it,Blue moves produced a few good songs so did A single man.The eighties was the worst era in music for everybody,I hated the hole era and Eltons music was very sad.I thought made in England was a good album.

  • Well...double dumbass on you, LOL

    Lighten up...sheez, LOL

  • Thanks so much Elton John; especially for (after so many years of diligent beautiful music making)...your recent interview on BRAVO aired on the Easter Weekend '08; GOD BLESS YOU for your talent and honesty and longevity; U R a lighthouse and inspiration never failing and still playing & singing flawlessly

  • oh and thank you moveondotorgg you have good sense

  • Lol minus 6 me eh guess what lol all you cheezy old people who minus 6'd eminem still wins dawg

  • Totally untrue, he had to have surgery because he had cancerous nodules on his vocal cords which were not due to drugs/alcohol. His voice has changed over the years because he is older and your vocal cords change which is why he and many others can no longer hit high notes that they use to. But, no the drugs/alcohol had nothing to due with the surgery and did not eat away at his vocal cords. Besides, alcohol eats at your liver not your vocal cords.

  • If you think alcohol and coke don't damage your cords then I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn, some swampland in Florida, and I would like your bank account information in order to transfer money out of a Nigerian bank account that belonged to a general who died in a car accident and has no living relatives.

    Dumbass.

  • Elton damaged his voice from constant alcohol and cocaine use. The two substances literally ate away at his vocal cords. Yes he did have to re-train his voice, but it's obvious he cannot sing like this anymore. Sad.

  • legend

  • HorseCooch < yup, I love enema's too!

  • GOD  BLESS YOU ELTON

  • This also kept me from suicide. Which is a bad thing if one wants to live to see 2012

  • Bless him.. omg, this is absolutely fantastic! Thanks for posting!

  • love him sooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Fantastic song. Regardless of his sexual preferences, the man is a legend with a great voice. Once you mention London, Elton John pops to mind

  • es de su primer album algo realmente maravilloso digno de todo elogio, me llega a lo mas profundo de mi ser, lo siento con el alma, todas los temas de este album son espectaculares

    Cristina de Chile

  • Nomadi - Ala Bianca

  • awesome how he has more hair now than when he was 21. rug anybody? jk elton we still love you.

  • Elton is a god..this is one of his best

  • I dig it!

    I wrote this song's name on my wall a long time ago so I'd remember to come and listen to it again. Apparently I've just now remembered.

    It sort of sounds like Jethro Tull covering 'One More Cup of Coffee' to me. Either way. I like it.

  • One of his most beautiful.

  • He´s there now,isn´t he?

  • one more cup of coffee 'for i go.

    to the valley below

  • yes because he had always sang from his middle voice, after his surgery he had to learn how to bring out the notes from his gut because his throat was too damaged. His post surgery albums are doctored quite heavily. His voice is incredibly powerful now, but I really miss the high range

  • Superb

  • Thank You, RockerMad !

    Thank You, BBC !

  • Elton John -- there has never been anyone like him...

  • elton runs away because he has to get back to his piano!! duh lol. His voice was better then because in the early days and even more so in the 80s he could go from quite low (ex. nikita) to quite high (ex. burn down the mission)and go in and out of his falsetto and all over his range effortlessly. He could still belt it out for a while after his surgery but he's 60 and did alot of drugs, his voice is just tired, that's all there is to it..

  • No, it was damaged. He had to train it to sing again. That is life. He, thank God, has life!

  • Did you do something with the audio? I hear an echo...(echo, echo, echo)

  • Classic Rock does not get any better than this! Great orchestra arrangement.

  • Why do people think because his voice was higher that it was better? That is purely one's personal taste.

  • Nice language. I guess there's more hope for the younger generation, sounds like ours has headed south already.

  • nice song...

  • Yeah, boy does that opinionated idiot need an English class or what. It never ceases to amaze me how it seems to be the most ignorant people who have an opinion on everything.

  • You are an ignorant homophobe. Please shut your stupid mouth, no one wants to hear your opinion but other immature brats.

  • you look like most of my classmates, think they know everything, but they dont know shit, all the things they say is just to hear themselves speak...thats all.. cheers!

  • why does elton run away when he finishes a song in this concert? like with ''i need you to turn to''

  • that's true. With the voice he has now he would not have done nearly as well. He was an amazing singer then and he is decent now. It's unfortunate he wrote everything the way he did because now he has to chage all his keys and it doesn't sound the same

  • that's a wonderful song, I love those old version of Elton's songs