#394 

Elton's career needs more documentation and this is a vital piece of the puzzle. Elton's auto-biography and standard interviews simply breeze over much of his non-superstar years; which is a missed opportunity. Tom, you are helping us fill that gap--thank you. Mr. Osborne comes off as very personable, practical and warm. And he is quite generous in giving us detail. Excellent interview.

Great interview Tom!! Loved it! Gary is a legend and he is hilarious!

Tom, thanks for the interview! Gary was there for Elton during those years where Elton was struggling personally. A couple of huge hits ("Blue Eyes" and "Little Jeannie") were co-created by Gary. I remember how huge "Little Jeannie" was in Canada in 1980 - it reached #1, here. "Take Me Down To The Ocean" was the B-side of "Empty Garden" in 1982. "Hey Papa Legba" was the B-side of "Blue Eyes." Both B-sides were decent & interesting tunes. I was hoping that Elton would play at least one Gary-penned song at some point during his FAREWELL YELLOW BRICK ROAD tour.

Nice one Tom

Great interview and very informative, although i disagree that the production sounds better today. Everything sounds so much more formulaic these days.

Hearing him “sing shine the light” sounds like that “sail away sail away sail” away song from early 90s, blue eyes big hit around the world less so in the u.s…however “little Jeanie” was huge in the u.s. was a gold single if I’m not mistaken, he’ll be known for that one for sure, more so if ej treated it fairly in his setlist…sold over a million in u.s. according to Wikipedia…did fair in other countries as well.

Dee played on Jump Up! and did backing vocals.

In case you see this, “I don’t care” rocks like an updated “take me to the pilot” , conquer the sun should have been released, would have been a great single too. Madness totally rocks!

Gus Dudgeon didn't actually re-join Elton's team as producer until 1985's ICE ON FIRE. Chris Thomas came to to "save" THE FOX and to produce TOO LOW FOR ZERO (1983) and BREAKING HEARTS (1984). Elton signed with Geffen for 1981's THE FOX. Davey Johnstone officially re-joined Elton live after the recording of 1982's JUMP UP! album. Davey didn't play on either THE FOX or JUMP UP!

The lyric was "strikes"... The lyric ultimately was ... but you take it where it "strives" ... and give it to the likes of me. Far better outcome. Perfect .

Sammy Kahn, did he not also write a “making Whoopi”? Which Is credited by he and ej who wrote Big Dipper?

Cmon quit makin me wait…I want to hear this

I know this is not that important as the main thing is you get great guests and you are a great interviewer, however, how the audio can be so poor considering the great microphones you have there is a bit odd. It is the only weak link in your career! Audio and video. Keep up the great work.

I feel that there is a fair amount of good music being written today but the current "hit" music is lacking compared to music from the late 60s, 70s, and 80s when "hit" music had far more key changes, time signature changes, and because songs were longer there was time & space for instrumental parts. Listen to the great keyboard solos in "Nikita" and "Daniel." Gone are the days of songs like "Layla" and "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Stairway To Heaven" and "Comfortably Numb." Elton had countless hit singles in the 70s over 5 minutes in length. Elton's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" at 6:45, a classic, would not get a chance for any airplay today. Elton classics like "Tonight" and "One Horse Town" on BLUE MOVES show great writing and playing yet their long musical (no singing) passages are not what record companies or radio stations are the least bit interested in any more. A shame, really.