Line #108 Music/GoodbyeYellowBrickRoad


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vinil_eltonjohn_7178.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: ''You can't plant me in your penthouse''\
3	''I'm going back to my plough'']]
4	->''Hey kids shake it loose together''\
5	''The spotlight's hittin' something that's been known to change the weather''\
6	''We'll kill the fatted calf tonight so stick around''\
7	''You're gonna hear electric music solid walls of sound''
8	-->--'''"Bennie and the Jets"'''
9
10	''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' is the seventh studio album recorded by British pop rock musician Music/EltonJohn. It was released through DJM Records in the United Kingdom, and [[Creator/{{MCA}} MCA Records]] in the United States, on 5 October 1973.
11
12	Elton originally wanted to produce the album in Jamaica, but logistics issues surrounding the world championship boxing match between Joe Frazier and George Foreman stymied that. So he settled for returning to Château d'Hérouville in France, where he had produced ''Music/HonkyChateau'' and ''Music/DontShootMeImOnlyThePianoPlayer''. Once settled, it took barely more than two weeks to produce.
13
14	It wasn't intended to be a double album, but Elton and writing partner Bernie Taupin wrote enough good songs to do so; they wrote 22 songs, and used 18 of them.
15
16	The album was a roaring success in the United States, where it topped the Billboard 200 album chart in its fourth week of release, staying there through the Holiday season; it would top the year-end Billboard 200 chart for 1974, and go eight-times Platinum. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, it would top the charts and go Platinum there as well.
17
18	Four singles were released from the album: "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", the TitleTrack, "Bennie and the Jets", and "Candle in the Wind". "Bennie" would be his second #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, while "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" would hit #2; both would go double-Platinum as singles. All four were hits in the UK (respectively, #7, #6, #37, and #11).[[note]]"Candle in the Wind" did not chart at all in the United States, and wouldn't until [[Music/LiveInAustraliaWithTheMelbourneSymphonyOrchestra a live version]] hit #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987. Another version, recorded in 1997 as a tribute to the recently-deceased Princess Diana, went on to sell 11 million copies (in the United States alone) and become a multi-week No. 1 hit that fall.[[/note]]
19
20	When the album was first pressed to CD, it was pressed to a single disc, as the combined albums could fit in the "Red Book" CD-DA format. Remasters in 1992 and 1995 were also pressed to a single CD. A 30th anniversary edition in 2003 split the album back into its original two-disc format, with the second disc including three B-sides and an acoustic version of "Candle in the Wind".
21
22	Two versions were made for a 40th anniversary re-release in 2014, both with the remastered original single CD as the first disc. The deluxe edition included a new second disc with some covers (which feature the likes of Music/EdSheeran, Wale, and Music/FallOutBoy, among others) and a selection of recordings from a concert at Hammersmith Odeon in 1973. The super deluxe edition had a different second disc that had the covers along with the previous bonus tracks and other older Elton John songs (plus his 1973 standalone holiday single “Step Into Christmas”), two more discs with a wider selection of songs from the Hammersmith Odeon concert, and a DVD featuring an abridged documentary with Elton John and Bernie Taupin originally filmed in 1973.
23
24	A documentary about the creative process behind the making of the album was featured in the TV series ''Series/ClassicAlbums''.
25
26	----
27	!! Tracklist:
28
29	[[AC: Side One]]
30
31	# "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" (11:09)
32	# "Candle in the Wind" (3:50)
33	# "Bennie and the Jets" (5:23)
34
35	[[AC: Side Two]]
36
37	# "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (3:13)
38	# "This Song Has No Title" (2:23)
39	# "Grey Seal" (4:00)
40	# "Jamaica Jerk-Off" (3:39)
41	# "I've Seen That Movie Too" (5:59)
42
43	[[AC: Side Three]]
44
45	# "Sweet Painted Lady" (3:54)
46	# "The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909–1934)" (4:23)
47	# "Dirty Little Girl" (5:00)
48	# "All the Girls Love Alice" (5:09)
49
50	[[AC: Side Four]]
51
52	# "Your Sister Can't Twist (but She Can Rock 'n' Roll)" (2:42)
53	# "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" (4:57)
54	# "Roy Rogers" (4:07)
55	# "Social Disease" (3:42)
56	# "Harmony" (2:46)
57
58	----
59	!! "Saturday night's all right for troping, get a little action in"
60	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "Social Disease"
61	--> ''My bulldog is barking in the backyard''
62	* TheAlcoholic:
63	** "Social Disease"
64	---> ''For I just get ugly and older\
65	I get juiced on Mateus and just hang loose\
66	And I get bombed for breakfast in the morning\
67	I get bombed for dinner time and tea''
68	** "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting".
69	---> ''I'm a juvenile product of the working class\
70	Whose best friend floats in the bottom of a glass''
71	* AlliterativeName: "'''R'''oy '''R'''ogers".
72	* AlliterativeTitle: "'''J'''amaica '''J'''erk-Off", "'''A'''ll the Girls Love '''A'''lice", "'''F'''uneral '''f'''or a '''F'''riend".
73	* AsTheGoodBookSays: "Bennie and the Jets" references the Parable of the Prodigal Son:
74	-->''We'll kill the fatted calf tonight, so stick around''
75	* BalladOfX: "The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)"
76	* BMovie: "I've Seen That Movie Too"
77	--> ''I'm not the blue print for all of your B films''
78	* BreakUpSong: "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is about a country boy breaking up with his rich girlfriend/sugar mama.
79	* BuryYourGays: "All the Girls Love Alice," the ballad of a teenage lesbian prostitute who tragically dies young.
80	* CallToAgriculture: "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", in which the narrator wants to go back to the farm where he was raised.
81	--> ''You can't plant me in your penthouse\
82	I'm going back to my plough''
83	* CampFollower: "Sweet Painted Lady" depicts prostitutes "getting paid for being laid" by sailors on leave, whom never even care or think of their conquests once they go back to sea.
84	* CountryMouse: "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Bernie Taupin was actually the son of a farmer.
85	--> ''I should've stayed on the farm, I should've listened to my old man.''
86	* CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer: "I've Seen That Movie Too".
87	--> ''Baby you're crazy''
88	--> ''If you think that you can fool me''
89	--> ''Because I've seen that movie too''
90	--> ''The one where the players are acting surprised''
91	--> ''Saying love's just a four-letter word''
92	--> ''Between forcing smiles, with the knives in their eyes''
93	--> ''Well their actions become so absurd''
94	* DancingIsSeriousBusiness: "Your Sister Can't Twist (but She Can Rock 'n' Roll)".
95	* DrowningMySorrows: Referenced in "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
96	-->''What do you think you'll do, then?\
97	I bet that'll shoot down your plane\
98	It'll take you a couple of vodka and tonics\
99	To set you on your feet again''
100	* EpicInstrumentalOpener: The 11-minute-long "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" has an entirely instrumental first half.
101	* EpicRocking: "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" tops eleven minutes and "I've Seen That Movie Too" is nearly six minutes long.
102	* FaceOnTheCover: Elton is depicted on the cover with his back to the viewer (and his name on the back of his jacket) and his face in profile, looking back over his shoulder.
103	* FakeBand: Bennie and the Jets in "Bennie and the Jets".
104	* ForDoomTheBellTolls: "Funeral for a Friend" has bells resounding.
105	* FreudianExcuse: The titular protagonist of "All the Girls Love Alice" has her teenage rebellion attributed to "a simple case of Mummy Doesn't Love Me Blues."
106	* GenreRoulette: The album switches from ProgressiveRock ("Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding") to melodic piano ballads (the title track) to minimalistic GlamRock ("Bennie and the Jets") to [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand Stonesy]] rockers ("Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting") to [[Music/TheBeatles Beatle-esque]] numbers ("Harmony") to soft rock ("Candle in the Wind") to {{Reggae}} ("Jamaica Jerk-Off") to boogie blues-rock ("Dirty Little Girl") to proto-disco-soul ("Grey Seal") to pseudo-doo-wop ("Your Sister Can't Twist (but She Can Rock 'n' Roll)") to country ("Roy Rogers", "Social Disease") to '20's jazz ("Sweet Painted Lady") to cinematic pieces like "The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)" and the aptly-named "I've Seen That Movie Too".
107	* GriefSong: "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding"; the instrumental first half was written as an example of the kind of music Elton would like to have played at his funeral. "Candle in the Wind", which was written as a tribute to Creator/MarilynMonroe who died 11 years before this song was recorded.
108	* {{Homage}}: "Candle in the Wind", written for Creator/MarilynMonroe (whom Elton refers to by her original name, Norma Jean), which would become a RepurposedPopSong in 1997 when Bernie rewrote the lyrics to commemorate the sudden death of Princess Diana, with Elton performing the re-written version at her funeral. That version effectively became the best-selling single of all time for a while, surpassing even [[Music/MerryChristmas "White Christmas"]] by Music/BingCrosby. Nowadays "White Christmas" is back to being the best-selling one.
109	* InconsistentSpelling: "Bennie and the Jets" is spelled "Bennie" on the single sleeve, but "Benny" on the album sleeve.
110	* {{Instrumental}}: "Funeral for a Friend".
111	* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: "Jamaica Jerk-Off".
112	* LowerClassLout: PlayedForLaughs with "Social Disease", where a drunk lower-class person is being described.
113	* LustObject: "Candle in the Wind", where Elton describes Marilyn Monroe as being more than just a sex symbol.
114	--> ''Hollywood created a superstar''
115	--> ''And pain was the price you paid''
116	--> ''Even when you died''
117	--> ''Oh the press still hounded you''
118	--> ''All the papers had to say''
119	--> ''Was that Marilyn was found in the nude''
120	--> ''Goodbye Norma Jean''
121	--> ''From the young man in the 22nd row''
122	--> ''Who sees you as something as more than sexual''
123	--> ''More than just our Marilyn Monroe''
124	* MeaningfulRename: "Candle in the Wind" addresses Marilyn Monroe by her real name, Norma Jean Baker. This is because the song looks at the person behind the myth.
125	* NameAndName: "Bennie and the Jets".
126	* OdeToIntoxication: "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting".
127	* OffToSeeTheWizard: The title and album cover are a shout-out to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
128	* OneManSong: "The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)", "Roy Rogers".
129	* OneWomanSong: "Sweet Painted Lady", "Dirty Little Girl", "All the Girls Love Alice", "Your Sister Can't Twist (but She Can Rock 'n' Roll)".
130	* OneWordTitle: "Harmony".
131	* ThePhoenix: Mentioned in (and illustrating) "Grey Seal".
132	* PortalPicture: Elton on the cover is stepping into a wall-size poster.
133	* RepurposedPopSong: "Candle in the Wind" would be re-used again in 1997 after the death of Princess Diana. Elton John re-released the single and modified the lyrics somewhat to make the references about her instead of Marilyn Monroe.
134	* RockstarSong: "Bennie and the Jets".
135	--> ''You're gonna hear electric music''
136	--> ''Solid walls of sound''
137	--> ''Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet?''
138	--> ''But they're so spaced out, Bennie and the Jets''
139	--> ''Oh, but they're weird and they're wonderful''
140	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The title track.
141	-->''You know you can't hold me forever\
142	I didn't sign up with you\
143	I'm not a present for your friends to open\
144	This boy's too young to be singing the blues''
145	* ShoutOut:
146	** "Candle in the Wind" is a homage to Creator/MarilynMonroe.
147	** "Roy Rogers" is one to cowboy star Creator/RoyRogers.
148	** The album title, TitleTrack, and album cover are all homages to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz.'' The narrator of the song states that he should have stayed on the farm, and expresses a desire to go back there.
149	* StiffUpperLip: "Roy Rogers":
150	-->''Nine o'clock mornings\
151	Five o'clock evenings\
152	I'd liven the pace if I could\
153	I'd rather have ham in my sandwich than cheese\
154	But complaining wouldn't do any good.''
155	* StylisticSuck: The audience in "Bennie and the Jets" is clapping behind the beat.
156	* ThisIsASong: "This Song Has No Title," which interestingly enough doesn't appear in the lyrics either.
157	* TitleTrack: "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."
158	* UntitledTitle: "This Song Has No Title".
159	* WordSaladLyrics: Bernie Taupin himself says that he doesn't know what the lyrics to "Grey Seal" mean. [[RuleOfCool Sounds cool]], though.

Context Music / GoodbyeYellowBrickRoad