This album takes the cake for one of the best record covers.. I notice something new every time I grab the album to put on the turntable. Elton clad in a top hat and jester-like suit upon his piano while Bernie, enclosed in a globe adorned with woodland creatures, surrounded by a cast of misfit looking goblins and critters, even a nude lady with a peacock head. This record is full of so many gems.. It's the whimsical autobiography of Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy AKA Elton John and Bernie Taupin, some of the greatest songwriters of a generation. There are so many brilliant tracks on this album, it's really something that should be listened to in its entirety. The opening number sets the scene and pulls you in with its catchy chorus and homegrown sound..
This next tune has some of the most descriptive and profound lyrics on the album..
"Sitting like a princess perched in her electric chair."
"I never realized the passing hours of evening showers, a slip noose hanging in my darkest dreams."
The words are so visual you can picture every line as if it's pouring out of Bernie's head, his little dreamworld, spilling on the floor right there in front of you for your interpretation. This duo never fails to make you feel emotional... whether it's empathy for the song or something you can relate to personally, their music has a way of making us surrender.
The grand finale, and the "Hey Jude" of their career has to go to Curtains.. Its stoic melody and transcendent lines are the perfect conclusion to this record... And just like us you must have had a Once Upon a Time...