+ scroll down for Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding
Australian singles charts:
Candle in the Wind/Bennie and the Jets entered the Kent Music Report on 25 March 1974 and peaked at #5. Due to radio airplay in Australia of both songs, it was treated as a double-A-side single. The record was #33 on the Top 100 of 1974.
Album:
Both songs are on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road which entered the Kent album charts on 19 November 1973. It reached #1 on 18 March 1974 and remained there for 3 weeks.
Songwriters:
Elton John, Bernie Taupin (all tracks)
Producer:
Gus Dudgeon
Record label of Australian release:
DJM
CANDLE IN THE WIND
BONUS CLIP BELOW – scroll down for Funeral For a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding
Wikipedia:
The original version in the key of E major appeared on John’s 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and was released as a single in 1974. The lyrics of the song are a sympathetic portrayal of the life of Marilyn Monroe. (The song’s opening line “Goodbye, Norma Jean” refers to Monroe’s real name, Norma Jeane [more commonly spelled Jean] Baker.)
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candle_in_the_Wind
Songfacts:
The lyrics were written by Elton’s writing partner, Bernie Taupin, who got the idea for the title from a quote he read about Janis Joplin. According to Taupin, the song is more of a take on fame and celebrity than an ode to Marilyn Monroe. Said Taupin: “I think the biggest misconception about Candle in the Wind is that I was this rabid Marilyn Monroe fanatic, which really couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s not that I didn’t have a respect for her. It’s just that the song could just as easily have been about James Dean or Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain. I mean, it could have been about Sylvia Plath or Virginia Woolf. I mean, basically, anybody, any writer, actor, actress, or musician who died young and sort of became this iconic picture of Dorian Gray, that thing where they simply stopped aging. It’s a beauty frozen in time.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/elton-john/candle-in-the-wind
BENNIE AND THE JETS
Wikipedia:
The song tells of ‘Bennie and the Jets’, a fictional band of whom the song’s narrator is a fan. In interviews, Taupin has said that the song’s lyrics are a satire on the music industry of the 1970s.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennie_and_the_Jets
Songfacts:
“Bennie” is a female character who Elton has described as a “sci-fi rock goddess.” Bernie Taupin, who wrote the lyrics, told Esquire, “Bennie And The Jets was almost Orwellian – it was supposed to be futuristic. They were supposed to be a prototypical female rock ‘n’ roll band out of science fiction. Automatons.”
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/elton-john/bennie-and-the-jets
Lyrics: Candle in the Wind
Lyrics: Benny and the Jets
These songs are also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
BONUS CLIP
Also from Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album: Funeral For a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding.
This is a One Night Only performance at Madison Square Garden in October 2000, featuring the song’s original drummer, Nigel Olsson, and guitarist Davey Johnstone.
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