We all have regrets, so it’s understandable that Elton John wishes he hadn’t written ‘Crocodile Rock’ or the decidedly uncool album Leather Jackets with his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. However, with over 300 million record sales worldwide, you can’t imagine that there’s much he would dearly love to add to his already golden back catalogue.
In fact, when Peachtree Road came around in 2004, he was fully accepting of the fact that it would be something remarkable to be a worthwhile addition to his arsenal of hits. “It is probably one of my lowest-selling albums of all time. It was disappointing everywhere in the world, so I have to hold my hands up and accept that the songs just didn’t connect,” he explained.
Adding, “If I think about it logically, people may have ten or twelve Elton John albums in their collection already. Do they need another one?” So, he was rather resigned to the fact that he perhaps didn’t have much more to offer than what he had already served up.
But we all have our aspirations and our heroes, and one of Elton’s is the legendary Leon Russell. And one particular anthem by he songsmith kept Elton on the straight and narrow path of continued artistic integrity.
He began his music career at the tender age of 14 in the rough-and-tumble nightclubs of Tulsa no less. During this time, Russell helped to develop what became known as the Tulsa sound. His unique rockabilly way of riffing on the piano led to him becoming an in-demand studio musician so he eventually worked with everyone from Ray Charles and Bob Dylan to Frank Sinatra and Doris Day.
Meanwhile, Russell was prolific in his own right as a songwriter, developing his thunderous way of pounding the keys into masterpieces like ‘Shoot Out on the Plantation’. Lest we forget that Elton won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, so he was raised around the best classical players of the day in his youth, so it’s high praise indeed that he eulogises Russell, stating: “He was my piano player idol at that time and probably still is.”
Thus, he left Elton starstruck when their circles collided. “When I first went to America, he was in the audience of the second night of the Troubadour and I saw him,” Elton recalled. “I’ve looked at this mane of silver hair and I thought ‘Oh my god, it’s Leon Russell!’ and I temporarily froze for about a nanosecond. He came back afterwards and was so sweet. He was beginning to become famous before me and he had written a song that I was just crazy about.”
That track was ‘A Song for You’. Many esteemed musicians have adored the footloose track, from Donny Hathaway, who covered it himself, to Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys. Even Bob Dylan has always shot Russell admiring glances.
Taken from his 1970 debut album, the waltzing melody makes his vocals feel all the more heartfelt, cheapening more seamless arrangements by virtue of the fact that their neatness must surely mean they’re culling some rugged sentiment – is genuine expression ever truly linear?
Russell isn’t prepared to make that tired, old, neatened and platitudinous mistake, and he explains as much with the sublime lyric: “Listen to the melody, because my loves are in there, honey.” It’s a line that has caused a thousand songwriters to swoon, let alone the object of the Tulsa King’s affection.
Elton explained: “I wanted to make an album with him because he’d been forgotten, and I wanted to put his name back in the spotlight; I wanted him to be a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. I wanted him to get his recognition back, and he did. There is plenty of songs that I wish have written, but this song is up there.” And he has stuck by that lofty sentiment to this day, often hailing it as a singular masterpiece.
Penned for the vocalist Rita Coolidge, the song certainly carries Elton’s knack for nakedly presenting a powerfully vulnerable sentiment, and the number of songwriters who stand in awe of its subtle complexity, meta-twists, and storytelling key changes is all a sign that it also ties up the virtuosic side of Elton’s arsenal of hits, too. Alas, he’s far from alone in wishing he had written it.
