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Post by BiteUrLip on Jan 2, 2019 10:54:44 GMT
Music: Elton John
Lyrics: Bernie Taupin
Piano: Elton John
Bass: Dee Murray
Electric guitar: Davey Johnstone
Brass arrangement: Gus Dudgeon
Trombone: Jacques Bolognesi
Trumpet: Ivan Jullien
Saxophones: Jean-Louis Chautemps, Alain Hatot
There's a fly in the window
A dog in the yard
And a year since I saw you
There's a trunk in the corner
I keep all my letters
My bills and demands I keep too
Well I can't help thinking
About the times
You were a wife of mine
You aimed to please me
Cooked black-eyed peas me
Made elderberry wine
Drunk all the time
Feeling fine on elderberry wine
Those were the days
We'd lay in the haze
Forget depressive times
How can I ever get it together
Without a wife in line
To pick the crop and get me hot
On elderberry wine
Round a tree in the summer
A fire in the fall
Flat out when they couldn't stand
The bottle went round
Like a woman down south
Passed on from hand to hand
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Post by BiteUrLip on Jan 2, 2019 10:55:32 GMT
A great rocker from DSM, one of the many winners of the album. Could have given even 5 stars.
4½ stars.
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Post by dougs on Jan 2, 2019 21:15:57 GMT
"Elderberry Wine" from DON'T SHOOT ME I'M ONLY THE PIANO PLAYER:
A fun high energy pop-rocker from Elton's January 1973 release. The song is driven by Elton's piano, Dee Murray's bass, and horns. Initially, "Elderberry Wine" was an outtake from HONKY CHATEAU but fit nicely on the pop flavoured DON'T SHOOT ME I'M ONLY THE PIANO PLAYER. Producer Gus Dudgeon always knew what element(s) to add to EJ's music and the horn arrangement was superb. Elton played "Elderberry Wine" only in 1973. Too bad. It might have sounded superb when accompanied live with horns - Elton toured with horns in 1974 as well as 1985-86. People often forget that with not only strong singles but also many strong album tracks such as "Elderberry Wine" that DON'T SHOOT ME I'M ONLY THE PIANO PLAYER was the #1 album of the year in the UK in 1973!
Rating: 4 1/2 stars
Doug
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Post by dougs on Jan 3, 2019 10:37:59 GMT
"Elderberry Wine:
Forgot to add that "Elderberry Wine" was selected as the B-side for "Crocodile Rock." Great combination; both are upbeat pop-rock songs. Further, "Elderberry Wine" was a favourite of critics and the song did manage to get FM rock airplay in North America. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic stated that "Elderberry Wine" was "as strong as anything John had recorded." Quite the compliment.
Doug
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Post by rocketman on Jan 3, 2019 15:29:25 GMT
4 stars...a solid song, fitting well on this album, which features the same horn section used on Honky Chateau, with a slightly understated effect (referring to the album overall). The song itself is not a favorite of mine on this album, but that says more about the quality of the album than speaking to any disappointment with the song itself - there are just a few songs on it that I happen to like better.
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Post by newloneranger on Jan 5, 2019 5:55:40 GMT
Yea, I heard Elderberry Wine on the radio several times, probably heard it more than any other song from this album other than the singles. Nice rocker. I used to have a live version I really liked, but it was on cassette and the cassette broke so there went that. Not my favorite from this album thats full of gems. This album seems overlooked being right before GYBR. Lots of good songs on this album. 4 1/2 stars
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Post by Commodore Orpington on Jan 5, 2019 9:57:00 GMT
I hadn't heard that about being a leftover from HC, but now I can see it. I can imagine that story with an earthier, slightly slower treatment.
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Post by dougs on Jan 7, 2019 17:02:58 GMT
newloneranger:
I noticed, too, that "Elderberry Wine" received lots of FM rock radio airplay where I lived in Canada at the time. Chum-FM and Q-107 in Toronto played it plus lots of other great 70s Elton album tracks consistently. That was one of the great things about Elton's 70s albums; they were so diverse and high in quality that they received lots of FM and AM airplay featuring singles and strong album tracks. It was impossible to spin a radio dial in the mid-70s and not hear Elton. Literally, it was IMPOSSIBLE to not hear Elton at least once every single hour along the radio dial - usually countless times. I have stated on a post on this site that an Ottawa AM radio DJ on CFRA said that 75% of their requests were for Elton. That was 1975. Accurate or not, he dominated in those days! It was always great to hear those great album tracks like "Elderberry Wine" and "All the Girls Love Alice" and "Burn Down the Mission" and so on...
Doug
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Post by newloneranger on Jan 7, 2019 19:11:14 GMT
newloneranger: I noticed, too, that "Elderberry Wine" received lots of FM rock radio airplay where I lived in Canada at the time. Chum-FM and Q-107 in Toronto played it plus lots of other great 70s Elton album tracks consistently. That was one of the great things about Elton's 70s albums; they were so diverse and high in quality that they received lots of FM and AM airplay featuring singles and strong album tracks. It was impossible to spin a radio dial in the mid-70s and not hear Elton. Literally, it was IMPOSSIBLE to not hear Elton at least once every single hour along the radio dial - usually countless times. I have stated on a post on this site that an Ottawa AM radio DJ on CFRA said that 75% of their requests were for Elton. That was 1975. Accurate or not, he dominated in those days! It was always great to hear those great album tracks like "Elderberry Wine" and "All the Girls Love Alice" and "Burn Down the Mission" and so on... Doug Yea, Those were the good old days, I recall one night while my dad was in a meeting, I sat out in the car listening to the radio, It was the night before Blue Moves was gonna be released and some radio station announced the album on air and played 3 songs from it. They played Bite Your Lip, Tonight and SSTBTHW. That was pretty cool. Nowadays I'm lucky to hear him once a week.
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Post by dougs on Jan 7, 2019 21:03:00 GMT
newloneranger:
Love your pre-BLUE MOVES story recollection...
Yeah, most of the FM stations that I used to listen to in Ontario, Canada rarely play him now (formats change) but where I live now, Nova Scotia, Canada there is an excellent FM station that plays him multiple times a day usually - his classic rock stuff. They even had a special multi-song feature last year on Bernie's birthday!
People today have no idea how monster popular Elton was in the mid-70s. Radio stations today, if they play anything of EJ's, usually stick to the hits of the 70s & 80s. His album tracks like "Elderberry Wine" and his 90s stuff is mostly long lost with current radio formatting.
Doug
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Post by newloneranger on Jan 8, 2019 18:40:21 GMT
newloneranger: Love your pre-BLUE MOVES story recollection... Yeah, most of the FM stations that I used to listen to in Ontario, Canada rarely play him now (formats change) but where I live now, Nova Scotia, Canada there is an excellent FM station that plays him multiple times a day usually - his classic rock stuff. They even had a special multi-song feature last year on Bernie's birthday! People today have no idea how monster popular Elton was in the mid-70s. Radio stations today, if they play anything of EJ's, usually stick to the hits of the 70s & 80s. His album tracks like "Elderberry Wine" and his 90s stuff is mostly long lost with current radio formatting. Doug You are lucky, most FM stations here either play this new pop crap, or heavy metal and rap. So I have my Ipod in my car so I can listen to the stuff I like not what everyone else likes.
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Post by nix on Aug 7, 2019 11:20:39 GMT
4.5 Fun
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