I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Elton John Podcast19 Aug 2018

Episode 19 - Early Cover Versions of Elton's Music

It's well known that Elton and Bernie spent their formative years trying to write hits for other artists, while trying to find their own voice. This episode tells the story of Elton and Bernie's early years through the prism of those early cover versions.

Included are the 'surprise' number 3 hit in New Zealand in 1969, the song on the US Top 10 Gold album that gave them the breathing space they needed as they went about planning the second album, and the cover by a fellow songwriter, 50 years ago this week, that gave them the encouragement to carry on through a very dark period.

This episode is backed with a major bit of work - all of the early covers from English-speaking territories have been documented, with all possible internet links (e.g. to YouTube, discogs and 45cat) gathered. Additionally, for each of the 39 covers, an attempt has been made to answer the question 'how did they find out about Elton's music?'

The research has been summarised in this pdf, or alternatively here on this webpage. This document is designed as a guide to accompany this episode and future episodes on this topic.

A couple of recordings are included for the first time on the internet in this episode, namely Guy Darrell's Skyline Pigeon, and Lew Rich's Taking the Sun from My Eyes, which is included in full in the episode, courtesy of David Bodoh, of eltonography.com.

The Roger Cook interview is taken from the Strange Brew podcast.

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Episoder(42)

Episode 42 - Jewel Box Companion 1: Bernie's Letter

The first of six 'Jewel Box Companion' episodes. It's taken me a while to get to grips with all of the extra new material and versions that we have been treated to. I've boiled it down into six relati...

7 Jun 20211h 5min

Episode 41 - Old Friends

It's the 50th Frenniversary! Elton's 4th album was a pick-and-mix, with three pastoral pop songs from the same mould as the Elton John Album, two spiky rock songs that kept the Tumbleweed rolling, and...

7 Mar 20211h 7min

Episode 40 - Tumbleweed Connection at 50 (part 2) with John Higgins and Peter Thomas

Here we are at last! This is the concluding part of the Tumbleweed Conversation I had with John Higgins, Elton's Legacy Consultant and Feature Writer at eltonjohn.com, and Peter Thomas, founder of pmc...

18 Feb 20212h 9min

Episode 39 - Tumbleweed Connection at 50 with John Higgins and Peter Thomas

I am very thankful to John Higgins, Elton's Legacy Consultant and Feature Writer at eltonjohn.com, and Peter Thomas, founder of pmc-speakers.com and Elton audio expert, who both joined me for this ep...

30 Nov 20201h 55min

Episode 38 - Tumbleweed Connection Covered

It's all go in Eltonland! The label have marked the 50th anniversary of Tumbleweed with a reissue of the album on green vinyl, plus an entirely unexpected companion 10" single, featuring the unearthed...

31 Okt 20201h 26min

Episode 37 - 'Elton John' at 50 (Part 2) with John Higgins and Skaila Kanga

Here's the rest of my track by track breakdown with John Higgins of the 'Elton John' album. The album lit a fuse. Four and a half months later, Elton exploded at the Troubadour. John and I got to talk...

13 Okt 20202h 6min

Episode 36 - Jewel Box Joy

Well it's finally happened. I've got pretty much everything I've ever asked for, and probably a bit more. In this quickie episode, I dip into the mind-bending rarities track-list, and talk about what'...

17 Sep 202022min

Episode 35 - 'Elton John' at 50 with John Higgins

Enormous thanks to John Higgins - Feature Writer for the eltonjohn.com website - who came onto the podcast to share his love for the 'Black Album', and to tell me some of the stories that he'd been ab...

28 Aug 20201h 40min