Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is more than just an album; it’s a sonic landscape. For many, including myself, the opening tracks, “Funeral For A Friend” and “Love Lies Bleeding,” are indelibly linked to personal memories. Mine? The summer of 1974, soundtracked by these very songs, while working as a dustman – or garbage collector, for American readers – in Egham, England. It might sound like rubbish, but hear me out.
Back in the pre-wheelie bin era, being a dustman was a decidedly unglamorous job. It involved trekking to the back of houses, wrestling heavy metal bins, and hauling them to the truck. Grueling work, yes, but my route had a perk: the Wentworth estate, home to celebrities. Among my clients were comedian Frank Muir, football legend Danny Blanchflower, singer Donovan, and none other than Elton John himself. Emptying Elton’s bins became the weekly highlight. Imagine, a young dustman, approaching the gates of Elton John’s mansion, announcing our arrival with a simple “Dustmen,” and then stepping onto his property. It was surreal.
While I never actually saw Elton, his presence was palpable. Around this time, my girlfriend, a huge Elton fan, introduced me to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. To impress her (dustman credentials weren’t exactly winning hearts), I’d “borrow” items from Elton’s bins as gifts. Looking back, it’s still a mystery why that relationship didn’t last. But the album, and especially “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” became deeply ingrained in my musical DNA.
Elton John performing live, capturing the energy of “Love Lies Bleeding” which is a staple in his concerts.
“Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p_xAToFzck) isn’t just a song; it’s an experience. The opening instrumental, “Funeral For A Friend,” sets a dramatic, almost cinematic stage. Swirling winds, haunting chimes, and those distinctive horror-movie synthesizers create an atmosphere that’s both grand and unsettling. Elton envisioned this as the music for his own funeral, and its instrumental ambition, with impressive piano and guitar work, certainly evokes a sense of finality and epic scale.
Then, seamlessly, Davey Johnstone’s blistering guitar riffs erupt, transitioning us into the raw energy of “Love Lies Bleeding.” While Elton composed “Funeral For A Friend” solo, “Love Lies Bleeding” marks the lyrical entry of Bernie Taupin, the songwriting genius behind Elton’s greatest hits. Taupin’s lyrics inject a potent dose of emotion, shifting the mood from somber reflection to fiery heartbreak.
The lyrics of “Love Lies Bleeding” paint a vivid picture of a relationship’s bitter end:
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
This is a far cry from the saccharine sweetness of “Your Song” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlPlfCy1urI), another Taupin-John classic, recently featured in a Christmas advertisement. Where “Your Song” is gentle, romantic, and almost naive in its expression of love, “Love Lies Bleeding” is raw, angry, and steeped in the acid of a painful breakup. These two songs, in their stark contrast, showcase the incredible range of Taupin’s lyrical ability and the emotional depth of the John-Taupin songwriting partnership.
Consider the tender vulnerability of “Your Song”:
It’s a little bit funny, this feeling inside
I’m not one of those who can easily hide
I don’t have much money, but boy if I did
I’d buy a big house where we both could live
If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a woman who makes potions on a travelling show
I know it’s not much, but it’s the best I can do
My gift is my song, and this one’s for you
And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple, but now that it’s done
I hope you don’t mind
I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is, now you’re in the world
Taupin penned the lyrics to “Your Song” on a London rooftop, while a young Elton worked at a music publishing house – a detail reflected in the line, “I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss.” “Your Song” became John’s breakthrough hit, catapulting him to international stardom and even earning praise from John Lennon, who hailed it as “the first new thing” since The Beatles.
Experiencing Elton John live is a musical revelation, and “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” is consistently a concert highlight. It’s a performance worth the ticket price alone. I, for one, have already secured my spot for Elton’s farewell tour in London, eager to witness this musical masterpiece one last time.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, duty calls – the bins need to go out.
This article is an expanded version of a blog post originally published on The Guardian website in February 2012.
