Ian Mohr
Professor Stephen Voorhees
Music 1010
Elton John
For my musician I decided to try and think outside of the box. I figured many people would pick composers like Beethoven, Mozart and Bach, so my thought was it would be different to pick a musician that has made a lot of impact on today’s music. Elton John is a rock and roll hall of famer, Grammy and Academy Award winner. He is considered to be one of the brightest and most successful songwriters of today.
Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on March 25, 1947. He was born in
Middlesex, England. He loved music at an early age and even taught himself piano when he was only four years old. He went on to win a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, which he attended on the weekends for the next several years. At the young age of seventeen, he dropped out of school to pursue his music career.
Elton’s early career started as a pub piano player at The Northwood Hills hotel. He then joined a band known as Bluesology who toured around the United Kingdom for two years (The
Official Site of Elton John, 2012-2015). After touring, Elton answered an advertisement for
Liberty Records where he met Bernie Taupin and they began writing music for many artists.
Together they were tremendous songwriters and worked together for quite some time.
Elton released his first album “Empty Sky” in 1969 only in England. It wasn’t released in the U.S until 1975 after Elton was a well-established and successful artist (The Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame Inc., 2015). On August 25, 1970 he played his debut concert in Los Angeles
California. He wore outlandish clothes and jumped around while playing piano, which made for

a great show ( Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, 2004). The show got amazing reviews and after that he became an overnight commotion. With the release of “Your Song” lead him to be a global phenomenon. This song became his first song in the top ten and his first hit single. Over the next six years he made fourteen albums with many top hits. In 1973 he created The Rocket
Record Company, but instead of recording and releasing on his own label he kept using other labels to make and distribute his music. Throughout the 80s and 90s he continued to make music and continued to do well in the charts.
In 1992, after he battled with substance abuse, he started the Elton John Aids foundation.
This foundation aimed at AIDS prevention, education and care services. This charity has raised over 300 million dollars and has funded programs over four continents (Elton John Aids
Foundation, n.d).
In 1993, Elton collaborated with Tim Rice on Disney’s The Lion King. His work on “Can
You Feel The Love Tonight?” led to his first academy award for best original song. After being nominated numerous times for a Grammy this song lead him to his first Grammy Award. He continues to later work with Tim on the Broadway hit Aida which won four Tony Awards including Best Musical Score (The Official Site of Elton John, 2012-2015). Elton John was inducted into the hall of fame his first year that he was eligible. Axl Rose from Guns n Roses presented the award to him with the statement, “when I think of the great duos…I think of Elton
John and Bernie Taupin,” (The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inc., 2015). He also acknowledged
Elton for being open with both his personal tragedies and triumphs.
Elton was married to Renate Blauel in 1984 and divorced in 1988. After this, Elton came out to the public as a gay man, which sparked a lot of buzz and controversy. In 2005, Elton had a

civil ceremony with his partner David Furnish. They later had two boys with the help of a surrogate. In the year 2014, when Britain legalized gay marriage, Elton and David were married.
History of Songs
Your Song-
This was one of the first songs Elton wrote with Taupin and it was also Elton’s first single to be chart topper. The lyrics were written by Taupin at the breakfast table. He was quoted in Rolling
Stone as saying “a song shouldn’t take longer than a half an hour to write.” Elton wrote the music to “Your Song” in only twenty minutes. Elton claims that this song is not written about anyone particular. Taupin said “Your Song” could have only been written by a 17-year-old who'd never been laid in his life." Your song” was also listed as number 137 of Rollin Stones top
500 songs of all time.
Candle in The Wind-
There are two versions to this song, the first version was written about Marilyn Monroe and then was rewritten in 1997 after princess Diana died in a car accident. Although both songs were a hit, the rewritten version for Princess Diana hit number one on the charts. Once again, the lyrics were written by Taupin and Elton wrote the music. After this song was rewritten Elton John, who was close with the royal family, was knighted. Out of respect, he will never play the Princess Diana version at any concerts.
Tiny Dancer-
Taupin wrote the lyrics and John wrote the music score. This song was on the first album that they wrote after spending time together in the United States. Taupin said “I was trying to capture the spirit of the time in California in 1970...They were free spirits, ” (Songfacts, 2015). This was one of his first songs that featured a string section.

Song Listening Guide for Elton John
Your Song-
0:00-0:08- Song starts off with a piano solo introduction by Elton John.
0:09-0:37-String instrument and vocals for the first verse begin the song. Piano plays melody and keeps the same tempo throughout.
0:38- 1:08-Voice takes break. Strings come in louder. Then start to play the melody with piano becoming more of background music. A crescendo is apparent at the end of this time segment with chords from the piano.
1:09-1:27 String instruments come in playing the melody while the piano falls into the background. Vocals return and begin singing the chorus.
1:28- 1:35 Music becomes overpowered by a vocal repeating question.
1:36-1:46 A long string note is played and a guitar plucks a few strings.
1:47- 2:08 Piano solo plays melody leading into a new verse with different words, but the same music. Snare drum and bass enter with piano in the background. Bass continues to hit every few seconds creating a beat. Guitar continues to play a few chords. Stings continue to play higher notes of the melody.
2:09- 2:25 The guitar plays a few solo strings and is accompanied by higher pitched string notes.
2:26- 2:53 Strings, piano and guitar play in harmony to create the melody while vocals accompany. Drums continue to create beat while the song plays.
2:54- 3:46 A crescendo leads into the chorus. The chorus is repeated twice in this section and this is where the vocals end.
3:47- 4:05 Guitar, piano, strings, and woodwinds end the song with a melody.

Candle in the Wind-
0:00-0:06 Introduction begins with Elton John playing the piano with a few forte chords.
0:07- 0:20 Vocals enter to accompany the piano. In the background you can hear a slow beat formed by the drums entering every few seconds.
0:21-0:37 Two quick snare drum beats. Piano continues to create the melody.
0:38- 0: 46 Guitar joins in and has a small solo accompanied by snare drum. The drum continues to keep the beat.
0:47- 1:05 Background singers take backup as they combine with Elton John to sing the lyrics
“when the rain set in.” Background singers hum in the background while Elton takes the lead vocals and then vocals cease.
1:06- 1:20 Guitar plays a solo that ends with a long note and leads into a piano solo and then the guitar joins back in.
1:21- 1:48 The piano plays higher pitched chords, along with the electric guitar in the background, as the singer continues. Drum plays a couple of big notes that lead into the chorus.
1:49-2:17The chorus begins and repeats itself as it is sung before. Chorus sings backup to Elton
John. Vocals cease.
2:17-2:30 Guitar solo joined by the piano repeats itself as it did earlier in the song.
2:31-3:01 Lyrics resume with accompaniment of guitar and piano. Background singers can barely be heard humming along with the tune.
3:02- 3:20 Background singers become louder as they hit a higher note. Background singers join in with Elton John as they both sing the lyrics in unison, hum and then sing the lyrics in unison again.

3:21- 3:51 Background singers can still be heard. Elton John’s voice becomes stronger as he sings “ your candle burned out long before your legend ever did.” This leads into a few strings played by the guitar which ends the song as a long note that fades until it becomes silent.
Tiny Dancer-
0:00-0:13 Piano solo begins the song which is repeated four times.
0:14- 0:50 Vocals by Elton John enter accompanied with the piano that continue to ascend and descend with his voice.
0:51-1:05 Guitar comes in with long held notes to accompany the piano.
1:06-1:54 Snare drum enters with light cymbals. Electric guitar is heard using dampener.
1:54- 2:10 Backup singers sing harmony alongside Elton John.
2:10 -2:33 Song reverts back to piano solo heard at the beginning. A few strong notes are played and then Elton enters while the music crescendos into a slower rhythm and leads into the chorus.
2:34- 3:25 Piano. Guitar and drums continue to play throughout the chorus. Violins enter later in the chorus. Background singers enter to sing “tiny dancer” with Elton John.
3:26- 4:08 Music slows down and becomes softer. The original piano solo enters followed by
Elton John singing the original verse accompanied with an added string solo.
4:09-4:24 Piano plays the melody as strings supplement.
4:25- 5:04 Background singers hum as it reverts back to the original verse music, but with different lyrics. Vocals slow down to repeat chorus.
5:05-5:50 Chorus begins again. Piano can be heard playing a few high chords. Lyrics remain the same in the chorus.
5:51- 6:15 Piano and harmonizing chorus work together to end the song slowly and quietly.

Bibliography
Biography.com Editors (n.d). Elton John Biography .
Retrieved from
http://www.biography.com/people/elton-john-9355335 .
Gale, a part of Cengage Learning (2004). Elton John.
Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Elton_John.aspx
.
The Official Site of Elton John (2012-2015). Biography. Retrieved from http://www.eltonjohn.com/about/biography/.
Elton John Aids Foundation (n.d). About . Retrieved from http://newyork.ejaf.org/ .
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inc. (2015). Elton John.
Retrieved from https://rockhall.com/inductees/elton-john/timeline/ .
Songfacts (2015). Candle in the Wind by Elton John. Retrieved from http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1313 .