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Elton John — Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Avg rating:
8.1

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1517









Released: 1973
Length: 3:12
Plays (last 30 days): 0
When are you gonna come down?
When are you going to land?
I should have stayed on the farm
I should have listened to my old man

You know you can't hold me forever
I didn't sign up with you
I'm not a present for your friends to open
This boy's too young to be singing the blues
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah

So goodbye, yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough

Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny-back toad
Oh, I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah, ah

What do you think you'll do then
I bet they'll shoot down the plane
It'll take you a couple of vodka and tonics
To set you on your feet again

Maybe you'll get a replacement
There's plenty like me to be found
Mongrels, who ain't got a penny
Sniffing for tidbits like you, on the ground
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah

So goodbye, yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough

Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny-back toad
Oh, I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ah-ah-ah, ah
Comments (28)add comment
Absolute genius work.  Timeless.
A lot of musicians have commented that it's a perfect song; very hard to contradict.
 mattenuttall wrote:


Yeah, anybody know what happened to that guy? His comments were great to read!


thought he got banned for something (s) inappropriately posted.
Up into the 8's we go.  Elton John really knocked it out of the park with this one.
 Stratocaster wrote:


I remember when he was "romeotuma" and always said Elvis was his father, and how much he missed him...hasn't posted in 3 years, hope that's not a bad sign...
Hopefully he's just on a dancing tour through his multitude of churches and hotel rooms... :)



...and bowlegged Muleskinners!


INNER ALBUM:





This song and Daniel are my favourites of the 70's Elton. What a great song. 
If you like to hear that song in a very different version - and this experience changed a lot for me (to appreciate this song even more!) - go and check out Angelina Jordan's version on youtube.
I believe this album to be Elton's best; created at the peak of  Bernie's songwriting, Elton's musicianship and the band at their best.   And it's a double album that is perfectly curated from start to finish.   Too much of a stretch to call it a masterpiece? 
10 ALL DAY LONG!!!
 AhhtheMusic wrote:


I am missing Lazarus.  Are you gone my dear?


I remember when he was "romeotuma" and always said Elvis was his father, and how much he missed him...hasn't posted in 3 years, hope that's not a bad sign...
Hopefully he's just on a dancing tour through his multitude of churches and hotel rooms... :)
 AhhtheMusic wrote:


I am missing Lazarus.  Are you gone my dear?


Yeah, anybody know what happened to that guy? His comments were great to read!
 Delawhere wrote:

Lazarus, are you by any chance a Delawarean? 

 




I am missing Lazarus.  Are you gone my dear?
I remember driving in southern Spain with my lovely sons, then aged about 12 and 10, all of us singing along to this at the tops of our voices.  Happy days.
10 always
I like the lyrics and the tune. So there. I didn’t grow up with this played in my house neither on radio or older siblings so it hasn’t worn out it’s welcome
Every so often I have to put this album on and play it, loud.

This theme appears in a lot of BT's work, 'the country boy in the big city'.Captain Fantastic, Honky Cat, GYBR, Someone Saved My Life Tonight, et al.
c.
Great song. But not that great. And after approximately 1,277 plays to my ears over the FM years, if I never hear it again, it's far too soon. PSD. 
 
                                 New    Appreciative

                          More is the time capsule to keep
    Again change more for the inside of a man as the outside of funny
             Because you know that you belong to another planet.
                 Moreover, I never wanted something so bad.

Lazarus, are you by any chance a Delawarean? 

Lazarus wrote:


Everybody in my churches agrees...  love this song...
 

 


 Andy_B wrote:
IMHO his best works ended when he and Bernie Taupin split up.  The emotional and creative depth just wasn't there anymore despite commercial success of his later works. 
Elton and Bernie only split for a few years sometime around 1980. After that, Bernie wrote almost everything again.
I agree that the non-Bernie stuff was pretty bad.
The collaboration between these two was magical (right up there with Lennon/McCartney). 

I also agree with you about this era. Tumbleweed and Madman are both brilliant. Don't Shoot Me and Yellow Brick Road are almost as good. With a few exceptions, nothing after that quite lived up to the earlier works.
 Andy_B wrote:
Although getting little airplay here on RP, many of Elton's songs from this era mostly rate a 10 in my book.  As noted below the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road has to be one of his best albums ever.  IMHO his best works ended when he and Bernie Taupin split up.  The emotional and creative depth just wasn't there anymore despite commercial success of his later works.

 
I disagree that early-mid 70s EJ gets little airplay on RP.  I hear him here regularly.
Although getting little airplay here on RP, many of Elton's songs from this era mostly rate a 10 in my book.  As noted below the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road has to be one of his best albums ever.  IMHO his best works ended when he and Bernie Taupin split up.  The emotional and creative depth just wasn't there anymore despite commercial success of his later works.
So few comments.
I don't always always love Elton John but the melody of this song has always just plain blown me away; never fails. 
Mind boggling this has not been played on RP before??!
 d48m02h1918 wrote:
WOW - I am the first to comment on this great song?

What a song from a fantastic album, when Mr. Dwight was at the height of his creative powers!! {#Cheesygrin} 
 

Everybody in my churches agrees...  love this song...
 
WOW - I am the first to comment on this great song?

What a song from a fantastic album, when Mr. Dwight was at the height of his creative powers!! {#Cheesygrin}