Paul Fitzpatrick: June 2023

It was February 1973 and Elton Hercules John and I didn’t get off to the best of starts.

I had finally gathered up enough courage to ask out this girl at school and to my wonderment, she said yes.
As a 14 year old she was all the things I wasn’t – articulate, smart, mature, but she was a little bit indulged by a protective father who delivered and collected her (and only her) from our dates at the local cinema (The Rio, Bearsden) despite the fact she lived round the corner from me and the cinema was a brisk 20 minute walk.

So, when she said that she loved the new Elton John single “Daniel” and intimated that she’d really like to own a copy, I of course raided my piggy bank and headed to my favourite record shop to fulfil her wishes, except when I got there I heard “Cindy Incidentally” by The Faces and made an executive decision to treat myself instead.

Nothing against Elton and to be fair “Daniel” is a very catchy tune, but if I’m honest I had reservations about buying an Elton John single in the first place.
I had my credibility to consider and Elton wasn’t one of the lads like Rod or edgy like Roxy or Bowie.

My beau wasn’t happy and her people told my people that she didn’t have time for a boyfriend with important exams on the horizon – in other words I was chucked…. thanks Elton!

Fast forward a year and my mate Jay who had already left school, called me excitedly to come round to his house to listen to “the best album of the year” (his words!).

I wasn’t sure what to expect, at the time Jay was into Uriah Heep and Deep Purple but without disclosing the album or the artist he proceeded to drop the needle on “Funeral For A Friend“, the opening track on Elton’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and to say I was stunned at this 11 minute prog epic was an understatement, sixteen tracks later I had to concur, this was a helluva an album!

My next Elton memory was in 1975.
Four of us (Joe, Geo, Barry) went on holiday to Calella in Spain, and found a bar near our hotel which had a great jukebox. We’d go there twice a day – for brunch and then before we hit the town in the evening. Upon each visit I’d head to the jukebox, load in a few pesetas and play “Philadelphia Freedom” which by default became our holiday anthem.
On our last day the bar owner took the single from the jukebox and presented it to me. He said I’d paid for it many times over but in reality I think he was just fed up listening to it.
I still have it.

I kinda lost my way with Elton for a while after this, there were some good singles, “The Bitch Is Back”, “I Guess That Why They Call It The Blues”, “Are You Ready For Love” etc, but I didn’t reconnect properly until 2000.

That’s when I saw the film Almost Famous which featured the track “Tiny Dancer” this inspired me to take a deep dive into Elton’s early albums and I realised what I’d been missing.
From 1970’s Elton John album to 1972’s Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player, there was a lot of great work that up till then, had passed me by.

I’d never seen Elton live but in 2016 I was travelling back from a meeting in London and spotted a crowd gathering around a piano in St Pancras station, I wouldn’t have thought any more of it but I spotted a couple of well known photographers and cottoned on to the fact someone famous was about to make an appearance.
Sure enough Elton bowled up played a three minute medley of his hits on the old Joanna, autographed said Yamaha piano which was being donated to the station and sauntered off.

It was a surreal experience but I made a note that day that I should see the old boy live before he retires.

Cut forward to Xmas 2022 and our kids got tickets for my wife and I to see Elton on his farewell tour in London, in fact the night we saw him, a few weeks ago, was supposedly his last ever London gig (no, I don’t believe it either).

He was amazing… the band were amazing, his voice was amazing and the set list was amazing – in a 2.5 hour set he played every song I wanted him to play apart from “Daniel” which fifty years on is poetic justice of sorts.

There were lots of celebs in attendance given it was his last London show and at one point Claudia Schiffer glided past us, presumably on her way to the VIP seats.
There was lots of talk about who would be joining him on stage but I’d come to see Elton and his band so I was happy that there ended up being no ‘guest appearances’.

It was one of those gigs that lives with you for days afterwards, the songs ringing in your ears.
The funny thing was that out of all the great songs he played, the tune that stayed with me was “Someone Saved My Life Tonight“, a song I’d heard a thousand times but had never really listened to, I’ve listened to it now and it’s a lyrical masterpiece, hats off to Bernie Taupin.

I was looking forward to seeing Elton’s performance at Glastonbury this year and was confident that he’d deliver. He’s 76 with a bad hip so he’s not going to be dancing on top of the piano ala Dodgers Stadium circa 1975, but the passion is still there and his voice compared to legends of a similar vintage is pretty impressive.

The band, especially the original three of Ray Cooper on percussion, Nigel Olsson on drums and Scotsman Davey Johnson on guitar are top notch and he’s got an incredible back catalogue to choose from. (he even played Daniel to rub it in).

A lot can happen in 50 years, one minute you’re fretting over asking a guy behind the counter for an Elton John single, the next, you’re queuing up for Elton merch!