Wednesday October 20, 2021 Yellow “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” Elton John
No small coincidence that today’s over the rainbow song referencing the color yellow is also a Wizard of Oz related tune.
The ‘Yellow Brick Road’ is obviously an image taken from the movie The Wizard of Oz. In the movie, Dorothy and her friends follow the yellow brick road in search of the magical Wizard of Oz, only to find they had what they were looking for all along. It was rumored that today’s song, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” was about Judy Garland, who starred in the film.
Bernie Taupin who wrote the lyrics to most of Elton John’s songs said of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, "It's funny, but there are songs that I recall writing as if it was yesterday. And then there are those I have absolutely no recollection of, whatsoever. In fact, I'd have to say that for the most part, if someone was to say that the entire Yellow Brick Road album was actually written by someone else, I might be inclined to believe them.”
Elton John has 37 gold albums and 27 multi-platinum albums, and has sold over 250 million albums worldwide. Elton had played piano on Lennon’s song “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night,” and had bet Lennon that if the song reached #1, Lennon would have to perform with him. The song did indeed reach #1, so Lennon joined Elton on stage for three songs, including two of The Beatles hits “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds” and “I Saw Her Standing There.”
Sadly, that night would be John Lennon’s final public performance.
Stay safe and well...and Elton John is also responsible for the biggest selling single of all time, “Candle in the Wind” which has sold over 33 million copies.