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Rating: "If it came to pass that they should ask
What could I tell them?
Would they criticize behind my back
Maybe I should let them
Oh if only then and only then
They would understand
They'd turn a full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man"
..If it happened that they asked me
What could I tell them?
They will criticize behind my back
Maybe I should let them
Oh if only and only after
They would understand that
They have turned a full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man...
Probably Elton John with this LP titled "Madman Across The Water", dated 1971, gives birth to his absolute masterpiece, after the excellent "Elton John" and "Tumbleweed Connection", his previous works.
Surrounded by top-level session men (one above all, a very young Rick Wakeman), Elton describes the America of that period - and that of the past in the song "Indian Sunset", which talks about the destruction of the Iroquois tribe - with a few, decisive brushstrokes of paint. What makes it all so interesting and magical in this album is that the color and intensity with which the nine scenes that compose it are painted really manage to enchant the listener; among countless plays of light, sudden changes of tempo, perfect melodies and brilliant arrangements that inevitably, inexorably, transport into a sort of parallel universe.
At first listening, one might be puzzled, as the pieces may seem too intimate and dark, thanks to the dark arrangements of the immense Paul Buckmaster and the lyrics of Bernie Taupin, who through sometimes indecipherable metaphors leaves it to the intense and versatile voice of Elton more than ever the task of revealing, probably without realizing it, every little mystery; probably because only Taupin writes the lyrics (Elton would not be capable of it at all), but it is then the English pianist who transforms, with his melodic intuitions and his perfect harmonic constructions, every text written on paper into a completely independent creature. Rarely taking inspiration for autobiographical quotes, but very often to convey to the listener all his doubts, his uncertainties, his strokes of genius (the extraordinary melodic crescendo of "Levon" and "All The Nasties", the poignant and pianistic "Razor Face"); a certain taste for a decidedly personal rock ("Rotten Peaches"); Elton's visceral love for gospel, for the love ballad, for the blues, all peculiarities of his music, of his maniacal personality, of his inexhaustible creative vein up to his first "cocaine" record, that "Rock Of The Westies" of 1976, a watershed between two completely different eras.
The title track, perhaps the most heterogeneous song on the album, boasts a long instrumental part that almost obsessively repeats the piano and guitar chords of the intro, and its lyrics lend themselves to different interpretations: it is perhaps the toughest piece of the album. The track was originally intended to appear on the previous album, in a version with the great Mick Ronson on guitar, which was then officially presented to the public in the double "Rare Masters", in 1991.
The piece that closes the album, "Goodbye", piano and voice, has as its main theme the farewell, and it is decidedly evocative in the verses:
"I'm sorry I took your time
I am the poem that doesn't rhyme
Just turn back a page
I'll waste away, I'll waste away..."
The romantic "Tiny Dancer" was revived thanks to the soundtrack of "Almost Famous", in a memorable choral scene of this film that helped rediscover, especially to the new generations, the undisputable beauty of this LP which, in part, is a declaration of love from Elton to America, the country that launched him, "out of the blue", towards an unrepeatable career.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Tiny Dancer (06:17)
Blue jean baby, L.A. lady
Seamstress for the band
Pretty eyes, pirate smile
You're marrying music man
Ballerina, you must've seen her
Dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me
Tiny dancer in my hand
Jesus freaks, out in the street
Handing tickets out for God
Turning back she just laughs
The boulevard is not that bad
Piano man, he makes his stand
In the auditorium
Looking on she sings the song
The words she knows
The tune she hums
But oh how it feels so real
Lying here, with no one near
Only you, and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
(repeat)
Blue jean baby, L.A. lady
Seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile
You're marrying a music man
Ballerina, you must've seen her,
Dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me
Tiny dancer in my hand
But oh how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly
repeat chorus 2x
02 Levon (05:22)
Levon wears his war wound like a crown
He calls his child Jesus
'Cause he likes the name
And he sends him to the finest school in town
Levon, Levon likes his money
He makes a lot, they say
Spends his days counting
In the garage by the motorway
He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas Day
When the New York Times said God is dead
And the war's begun
Alvin Tostig has a son today
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon
Levon sells cartoon balloons in town
His family business thrives
Jesus blows up balloons all day
Sits on the porch swing watching them fly
And Jesus, he wants to go to Venus
Leaving Levon far behind
Take a balloon and go sailing
While Levon, Levon slowly dies
He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas Day
When the New York Times said God is dead
And the war's begun
Alvin Tostig has a son today
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan, whoo
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan, whoo
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon
04 Madman Across the Water (05:57)
I can see very well.
There's a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well.
There's a joke and I know it very well,
It's one of those that I told you long ago.
Take my word I'm a madman don't you know.
Once a fool had a good part in the play,
If it's so would I still be here today?
It's quite peculiar in a funny sort of way,
They think it's very funny everything I say.
Get a load of him, he's so insane
You'd better get your coat dear
It looks like rain.
We'll come again next Thursday afternoon.
The inlaws hope they'll see you very soon.
But is it in your conscience that you're after
Another glimpse of the Madman across the Water.
I can see very well.
There's a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well.
There's a joke and I know it very well,
It's one of those that I told you long ago.
Take my word I'm a madman don't you know.
We'll come again next Thursday afternoon.
The inlaws hope they'll see you very soon.
But is it in your conscience that you're after
Another glimpse of the Madman across the Water.
The ground's a long way down but I need more.
Is the nightmare black
Or are the windows painted?
Will they come again next week,
Can my mind really take it?
06 Holiday Inn (04:16)
Boston at last and the plane's touching down
Our hostess is handing the hot towels around
From a terminal gate to a black limousine
It's a ten minute ride to the Holiday Inn
Boredom's a pastime that one soon acquired
Where you get to the stage where you're not even tired
Kicking your heels till the time comes around
To pick up your bags and head out of town
Slow down Joe, I'm a rock and roll man
I've twiddled my thumbs in a dozen odd bands
And you ain't seen nothing till you've been
In a motel baby like the Holiday Inn
Oh I don't even know if it's Cleveland or Maine
With the buildings as big and rooms just the same
And the TV don't work and the French fries are cold
And the room service closed about an hour ago
07 Rotten Peaches (04:58)
We've moved on six miles from where we were yesterday
And yesterday is but a long long ways away
So we'll camp out tonight beneath the bright starlight
And forget rotten peaches and the places we've stayed
I left from the dockland two years ago now
Made my way over on the S.S. Marie
And I've always had trouble wherever I've settled
Rotten peaches are all that I see
Rotten peaches rotting in the sun
Seems I've seen that devil fruit since the world begun
Mercy I'm a criminal, Jesus I'm the one
Rotten peaches rotting in the sun
There ain't no green grass in a U.S. state prison
There is no one to hold when you're sick for your wife
And each day out you'll pick, you'll pick rotten peaches
You'll pick rotten peaches for the rest of your life
Oh I've had me my fill of cocaine and pills
For I lie in the light of the Lord
And my home is ten thousand, ten thousand miles away
And I guess I won't see it no more
08 All the Nasties (05:09)
If it came to pass that they should ask
What could I tell them
Would they criticize behind my back
Maybe I should let them
Oh if only then and only then
They would understand
They'd turn a full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man
If they could face it
I could take it in their eyes
Oh I know I'd make it
Their tiny minds
And sacred cows just fake it
If only then and only then
They would understand
They'd turn a full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man
But I know the way they want me
In the way they publicize
If they could turn their focus off
To the image in their eyes
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
That a full-blooded city boy
Is now a full-blooded city man
Oh my soul
Oh my soul
Oh my soul
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By Giuseppe13
If I had to choose a music album to take with me to the afterlife... I would choose an Elton album.
The singer apologizes for having stolen our time... leaves the stage with his head bowed, he, who for this Madman would deserve a standing ovation from 1971 until today.
