October 5, 1973: Elton John Releases "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"

October 5, 1973: Elton John releases the double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It raised him from the level of rising star to superstar.

It includes some of his best songs: The title track, the 11-minute medley "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding," "Bennie and the Jets," his Marilyn Monroe tribute "Candle in the Wind," and the song he usually used to close his concerts, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting."

Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics in 2 1/2 weeks, with Elton composing most of the melodies in 3 days while staying at the Pink Flamingo Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. Elton had wanted to go there, because The Rolling Stones had recorded their latest album there, Goats Head Soup.

But the timing was bad: They began recording in January 1973, while there were protests over the country's political and economic situation, and the Heavyweight Championship fight between Joe Frazier and George Foreman was held. (Foreman knocked Frazier out in the 2nd round to win the title.) So Elton moved the recording to the Château d'Hérouville outside Paris, where he had previously recorded his albums Honky Château and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player.

"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" reached Number 2. "Bennie and the Jets" hit Number 1 in 1974, and its soulful sound led to his becoming one of the few white performers to appear on the American TV show Soul Train.

"Candle in the Wind" was not released as a single until 1987, when Elton released a live version, and it hit the Top 10. In 1997, in memory of Princess Diana of Wales, Bernie wrote new lyrics, and it hit Number 1. Elton has only performed that version live once, at Diana's funeral. Otherwise, he performs the original version. For the record, he was 15 years old when Marilyn Monroe died, so he actually was "just a kid."

UPDATE: It took me until 2024 to think of this, but the 1970s were Schrödinger's Decade. There was too much overwrought music, and, at the same time, not enough of it.

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October 5, 1973 was a Friday. There were no scores on this historic day: Baseball was between the regular season and the Playoffs, football was in midweek, and it was a few days too soon for the NBA, the ABA, the NHL and the WHA to start their seasons.