Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding (1973)
Elton John has written some of the most popular songs of the rock era: "Rocket Man," "Crocodile Rock," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Bennie and the Jets," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," "Tiny Dancer." He's had more than 50 top 40 hits in the U.K. and U.S. But my favorite song of his rarely gets played on the radio, mainly because it's 11 minutes long.
Born Reginald Dwight in England, he was playing in Long John Baldry's backup band when he teamed up with lyricist Bernie Taupin to write easy-listening songs for other artists. Eventually, they started writing more complex songs for him to sing under the name Elton John; his first album, Empty Sky, was released in the U.K. in 1969. His second, self-titled album had the hit "Your Song," which went to #7 in the U.K. and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album reached #4 in the U.S. and started a string of successful releases.
By the time his seventh studio album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, came out in 1973, John was a superstar. The album is best known for the title track, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," "Candle in the Wind" and "Bennie and the Jets," which were all big hits. But it opens audaciously with a 11-minute epic.
The first part of the song, "Funeral for a Friend," is an instrumental John wrote while thinking about what he'd want played at his funeral, starting with bells and wind sounds with synths providing the dirge-like funeral intro before the rest of the band kicks in. After the first 5:30, John's piano provides the bridge into "Love Lies Bleeding," an angry breakup song written by Taupin. The songs were written separately but combined because "Funeral for a Friend" ends in the key of A and "Love Lies Bleeding" starts in A.
Guitarist Davey Johnstone provides a killer riff as John launches into the song.
"The roses in the window box have tilted to one side/Everything about this house was born to grow and die/Oh, it doesn't seem a year ago to this very day/You said, 'I'm sorry, honey, if I don't change the pace/I can't face another day'/And love lies bleeding in my hands/Oh, it kills me to think of you with another man/I was playin' rock and roll and you were just a fan/But my guitar couldn't hold you, so I split the band/Love lies bleeding in my hands."
While the song was too long for regular radio airplay, FM rock stations would play it; soon it became a fan favorite and John would often open his concerts with it.
"I wonder if those changes have left a scar on you/Like all the burning hoops of fire that you and I passed through/You're a bluebird on a telegraph line, I hope you're happy now/Well, if the wind of change comes down your way, girl/You'll make it back somehow."
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was a huge success, hitting #1 on the Billboard album chart and staying there for eight weeks. It was the best-selling album of 1974.
John continued his success for the next few years before announcing he was retiring from performing in 1977 (which of course didn't last too long). Taupin began working with other artists while John soldiered on with different writing partners with mixed results. In the '80s, John bounced back with big hits like "I'm Still Standing," "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" and "I Don't Wanna Go On with You Like That," which hit #2 in 1988 (and which I totally forgot about until just now). His '80s output was still catchy, but didn't carry the same weight as his earlier material.
For John, the '90s were known for his soundtrack work on The Lion King and his re-recording of "Candle in the Wind" in honor of Princess Diana, who had just died (it was originally about Marilyn Monroe); the song was one of the biggest selling songs in music history, selling over 33 million copies.
In this century, he's done a lot of touring, with Billy Joel and on his own, and has collaborated with everyone from Lady Gagay to Alice in Chains to Queens of the Stone Age to Leon Russell, who he released an album with in 2010. More recently, he's worked with Dua Lipa, Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus.
"Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" has been covered by Dream Theater, Weird Al Yankovic and fun. Most recently, it was covered by Metallica in March 2024 when John and Taupin were honored with the Gershwin Prize; it's an excellent cover and John clearly enjoyed it, as you can see in the video below.
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