{"id":3171,"date":"2025-10-21T17:56:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T17:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/?p=3171"},"modified":"2025-10-17T10:37:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T10:37:49","slug":"composing-at-breakfast-recording-at-lunch-the-crazy-story-of-elton-johns-most-iconic-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/2025\/10\/21\/composing-at-breakfast-recording-at-lunch-the-crazy-story-of-elton-johns-most-iconic-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Composing at breakfast, recording at lunch: The crazy story of Elton John’s most iconic album"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”|auto|-307px|auto||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_code module_class=”custom-cat” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]
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\t\tMojo<\/pee>\t<\/div>\t
\t\tPresents<\/pee>\t<\/div><\/div>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text module_class=”article-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”||||||||” header_text_align=”center” header_text_color=”#111111″ header_font_size=”68px” custom_margin=”40px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

ELTON JOHN CRACKS IT ON GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD<\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”intro-text” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_orientation=”center” custom_padding=”||0px|||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]

In a creative dip, chased from his studio in Kingston JA, Elton John<\/strong> started 1973 on the run. By its end he had his most iconic album in the bag \u2013 not one but two discs of revitalised rockers and timeless weepies wrapped in a movie theme and dream-like sleeve art. \u201cEveryone had a sense that we were involved in something very special,\u201d hears David Buckley<\/strong>.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-names” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”14px” text_orientation=”center” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Words: David Buckley<\/strong><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-167987813.jpg” alt=”Elton John IN 1973″ title_text=”Elton John” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Elton John:<\/strong> Basically I\u2019m a rock\u2019n\u2019roller at heart, but I had to fight off this \u2018Elton John \u2014 strings\u2019 image right from the word go. In Jamaica I wrote about 25 songs in three days.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Ken Scott [engineer]:<\/strong> We get in Dynamic Sounds [Kingston, Jamaica] the first day, and I\u2019m trying to get a drum sound, and I couldn\u2019t get any guts out of it, it was all very thin. So, we used a test record and found that the low end completely cut off. We were driven from the hotel to the studio in this van and there were hordes of people banging on the van as we went in. The studio was in the middle of a record plant and this American union was trying to get all the workers into the union and on strike. They were attacking us going in as, technically, we were trying to cross a picket line. It was pretty scary.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

EJ:<\/strong> There wasn\u2019t a positive vibe in the place. We decided to leave early. That didn\u2019t go down too well, so they impounded our equipment and our rental cars. As we were being taken to the airport, I just thought: \u201cThey\u2019re gonna kill us!\u201d<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

KS:<\/strong> A couple of weeks later, I was told by the management at Trident Studios in London that [Elton\u2019s manager] John Reid had booked time back at the Ch\u00e2teau [Ch\u00e2teau d\u2019H\u00e9rouville, the studio near Paris Elton had used on his previous two studio albums], and had asked would I not charge for Jamaica? Now, I had no control over whether I charged for it or not; it was up to the management of Trident Studios \u2013 I was still on staff at that point. They said Jamaica was Gus [Dudgeon \u2013 Elton\u2019s producer]\u2019s fault. You just don\u2019t go blind into a studio. So, I ended up not doing the album because John Reid said I was too expensive. At that stage I think I was on \u00a3100 a day. So that would have been \u00a3700 and that was too expensive. I never worked with Elton John again.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

David Hentschel [engineer and musician]:<\/strong> After a few months, the decision was taken to return to the Ch\u00e2teau as it was known to work well and was a relaxed, creative environment. By then Ken Scott was no longer available and I was invited to take his place. When they first had gone to Jamaica, the intention was to record a single album. However, in the intervening time, Elton and Bernie [Taupin, lyricist] had written more songs, and added to the songs they then wrote once we were at the Ch\u00e2teau, there was more than enough material for a double album.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

DH:<\/strong> During the recording of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I had the pleasure of seeing him compose. Many of the songs were actually composed at breakfast before going to record them the same day. Candle In The Wind, I remember particularly. Bernie Taupin would give Elton the lyric, [who] then would write the music at a piano in the large dining area at the Ch\u00e2teau while everyone else was eating breakfast. Quite magical. The band \u2013 Davey [Johnstone, guitar], Dee [Murray, bass] and Nigel [Olsson, drums] would be listening as this happened, and then we all went over to the studio and laid the track down. Talk about fresh! Everyone involved had a sense that we were involved in something very special.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pull-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#111111″ header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]

\u201cCandle In The Wind was composed at breakfast and recorded the same day. Talk about fresh!\u201d<\/h2>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”pullquote-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”46px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#111111″ header_3_font_size=”38px” global_colors_info=”{}”]

David Hentschel<\/h3>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Bernie Taupin:<\/strong> I had always loved the phrase. Solzhenitsyn had written a book called Candle In The Wind. [Record industry mogul] Clive Davis had used it to describe Janis Joplin and, for some reason, I just kept hearing this term. I thought, \u201cWhat a great way of describing someone\u2019s life\u2026\u201d The song could have been about James Dean, it could have been about Montgomery Clift, it could have been about Jim Morrison. Anyone whose life is cut short at the prime point of their career, and how we glamorise death and how we immortalise people.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

EJ:<\/strong> I can\u2019t really remember writing it, I can\u2019t remember much about it.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

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DH:<\/strong> The playing was almost telepathic. By this time, the band had been playing together live with Elton for quite a while and instinctively understood each other\u2019s styles and strengths as well as being well used to accompanying Elton\u2019s piano playing style. As they learned each song, their individual parts would develop spontaneously and organically. Gus and Elton would also put in new ideas, and maybe references would be made back to well-known records from other artists. It was a fast and certainly very democratic procedure. When it came to working out the backing vocal harmonies, Davey, Dee and Nigel, Gus and I would all get together in the control room and figure out the parts together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The working days were pretty full on, certainly for Gus and myself. Each day would start with a communal breakfast, during which Elton would often bang out a new tune. After that, we would all move to the studio where we would work for the rest of the day and evening, with shortish breaks for lunch and dinner. Anyone not involved in overdubs was free to relax by the pool or go shopping in Paris. We all had partners\/wives there and consequently it never felt as claustrophobic as some residential studio stays can. Still, three weeks was probably enough by the end of it.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Rumours of the Ch\u00e2teau being haunted were rife and certainly discussed from time to time in idle moments. It was a very old building \u2013 and certainly rustic! \u2013 so believing that it could have been haunted was not difficult. There were for sure some odd sounds welling up stairways from time to time to stir the imagination. There was also an employee there who exuded a somewhat unusual fragrance \u2013 rather akin to a slightly off medical alcohol. He was known to wander the passages fairly aimlessly of an evening, and was once spotted carrying a large kitchen knife, so I understand. Disappointingly, no ghosts in flowing white robes sweeping across the lawns, though.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

EJ:<\/strong> Bennie And The Jets is the strangest track on the whole album. It\u2019s a send-up of the glitter rock thing, and I sound like Frankie Valli of The 4 Seasons.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

DH:<\/strong> If I remember correctly, the album was originally going to be called Silent Movies And Talking Pictures<\/em>. Gus had wanted to use the MGM movie jingle to start the album, but there were licensing problems with that. When we got back to Trident Studios in London, he came up with the idea of recording a sort of overture to what was now clearly a double album and contained several movie-themed songs. He asked me to fashion a short piece which would call on the musical motifs of some of the songs on the album and arrange them in such a way that the finished piece could fill the \u2018overture\u2019 brief whilst becoming a part of, and segueing into, the piano section which we had previously recorded. The whole then became Funeral For A Friend.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-130673309.jpg” alt=”Elton John with his songwriting collaborator Bernie Taupin at a ceremony to award them gold discs for four of their co-written albums” title_text=”Gold Disc Recipients” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”image-gallery-caption” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|300|||||||” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.2em” custom_margin=”-10px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Elton John with his songwriting collaborator Bernie Taupin at a ceremony to award them gold discs for four of their co-written albums<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Ian Beck [album cover artist]:<\/strong> We had discussions at the Rocket [Elton record label] offices in Soho. I had a studio in Garrick Street in Covent Garden, a short walk away, so it was easy to visit, I had more than one meeting there. [Art directors] David Larkham and Mike Ross had liked the cover painting I made for the Jonathan Kelly album Wait Till They Change The Backdrop<\/em> [RCA, 1973] and also the cover I had drawn for Cream magazine of David Bowie on the verge of superstardom. Elements from both appear in the final Goodbye Yellow Brick Road cover.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

The idea, I suppose, of city corruption versus country simplicity was very current at the time. I had been collecting illustrated children\u2019s books since I was an art student in the 1960s and the tone and look of much of my work then had that pastel-coloured nursery feel. This was a good 10 years before I illustrated any real children\u2019s books. I also admired the surrealists and it was inevitable that something of that might creep in to the work. The teddy bear was suggested during a meeting at Rocket because Elton liked bears. The ruby platforms were my idea because of the obvious link to The Wizard Of Oz. Mike Ross, I think, suggested that Elton might be tearing through part of a poster of the cover of the previous album. The idea of stepping into, or out of, a poster or picture was one I had admired in the work of the American illustrator Maxfield Parrish \u2013 an obsession of mine since art school.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

I made three or four rough workings for the front cover panel, all drawn to size. One idea had Elton standing looking out from the wall poster wearing a double-breasted suit, which must have been taken from a supplied publicity photograph from Rocket. I set up a friend and fellow illustrator, Leslie McKinley Howell, in the pose of walking in, or out, of the wall poster. He was wearing a vintage silk baseball blouson jacket \u2013 hence the jacket worn by Elton in the final image. I drew two other panels, the back cover with the teddy bear and the panel with the band photographs and the prow of a 1930s car and the shadow of a Los Angeles palm tree.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

The artwork has indeed become iconic. It was never really cool at the time I made it but now it has, as it were, become itself. It keeps appearing on merchandise \u2013 things like T-shirts, phone cases, everything and anything it can be printed on, it seems, and for which sadly I get nothing. I have been signing an awful lot of album covers and programmes since Elton\u2019s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour [for which Beck also provided the artwork] began [in September 2018], which I am happy to do provided people are willing to pay the postage. I feel blessed for having been involved in it at all.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

EJ (to Melody Maker\u2019s Chris Welch, November 24, 1973):<\/strong> This time I\u2019m very pleased with the result. I\u2019ve never done an album before that I\u2019ve been so totally pleased with as far as consistency. I think it\u2019s the best thing I\u2019ve done. I know it\u2019s boring when people say that, but as far as an achievement goes, I really dig it. It surprised a lot of people. After Don\u2019t Shoot Me I\u2019m Only The Piano Player<\/em>, which was a fairly weak album, we wanted to come up with something strong, and a double as well.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

DH:<\/strong> If it\u2019s not the classic, then it\u2019s certainly one of the top few of his career. First, though this is always subjective, it is due to the songs, many of which I think are among his finest. Second, it is very hard for any artist to make a double album and even more so to make it hold up and keep the listener\u2019s interest throughout. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road<\/em> managed that, in my opinion, and I can only think of maybe three other albums in the history of contemporary music that achieved that.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Gary Osborne [later Elton songwriting partner]:<\/strong> I think it was on the Queen\u2019s Jubilee he spent round our house \u2013 certainly I wasn\u2019t working with him yet. And he\u2019s going through my record collection \u2013 you know how people do that \u2013 in a manic way. He started casually and he went absolutely through the whole fucking collection and he turned to me and said, \u201cMrs Osborne,\u201d and I said, \u201cYes?\u201d And he said, \u201cExcuse me dear, but I can\u2019t help but noticing that you\u2019ve only got one of my albums.\u201d And I said, \u201cYeah, but it\u2019s the best one, It\u2019s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.\u201d And he said, \u201cBut you\u2019ve got four Bowie albums and you\u2019ve only got one of mine!\u201d And I said, \u201cI told you I wasn\u2019t a fan of yours. You\u2019re a good mate and all that, but I\u2019m not your biggest fan.\u201d And he said, \u201cOh, OK.\u201d And, like two days later, the 19 albums that he had made arrived by courier.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Elton John quotes from Classic Albums: Goodbye <\/em>Yellow Brick Road (Eagle Rock, 2001) and Stephen <\/em>Demorest interview, Circus, December 1973.<\/em><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]

This article first appeared in issue 307 of Mojo<\/em><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-names” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”14px” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]

Images: Getty<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a creative dip, chased from his studio in Kingston JA, Elton John started 1973 on the run. By its end he had his most iconic album in the bag \u2013 not one but two discs of revitalised rockers and timeless weepies wrapped in a movie theme and dream-like sleeve art. \u201cEveryone had a sense that we were involved in something very special,\u201d hears David Buckley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":3223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mojo-presents"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"kschwarz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3171"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3256,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3171\/revisions\/3256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/mojo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}