Elton John – I’ve Seen That Movie Too

Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin are one of the longest standing partnerships in all of popular song writing history, yet even they will admit their best stuff (like almost all songwriters) was produced in a condensed time frame during shorter, intense periods. One of those astonishingly productive periods centred on the writing for the double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in 1973. Like most British boys of their era Bernie and Elton were heavily fascinated with America and their love of American roots music informed their 1970 album Tumbleweed Connection. Successive albums also sipped from the same well until with Yellow Brick Road they drained an entire lake!

Musically speaking……

Technically it’s a beautifully written piece; the complexities of the linking runs give way to a deceptively simple verse construction. The key is Fm and the verse chords hover between Db, Eb and C7, keeping the tonal ground shifting and uncertain. The chorus rises to the 4 chord (Bbm) before moving through a 2 – 5 – 1 progression (Gm7b5 C7 Fm), as Elton pleads, “So keep your auditions for somebody, who hasn’t got so much to lose”, and finishes with a recapitulation of the opening run.

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This is an excerpt from Michael’s 33 Great Songs 33 Great Songwriters book available everywhere eBooks are sold.