Sunday, August 26, 2007

Tell Me When the Whistle Blows

In a nutshell, Bernie's homesick. Honky Cat's not liking the city and misses his redneck ways, and wonders if his friends back home will think he's changed for the worse.

But he expresses it very well, with some of his strongest lyrics in this set. Also, Elton and orchestral arranger Gene Page frame his musings with a gorgeous Philly Soul-style arrangement, making this one of the strongest tracks on the entire album.

3 comments:

zobilamouche said...

This is a favourite of mine too: Bernie's tribute to British Rail. I love that line about asking somebody the time and being greeted with "a cold vacant stare of undue concern". It doesn't look like it scans very well on paper, but when you hear it, it fits right in.

And the Philly-style strings and funky wurlitzer piano are spot on.

thom de plume said...

I can't cite the interview, but I have a vague memory of Taupin saying somewhere that he intended this to be a Country & Western track.

Sound familiar?

Johnny Bacardi said...

I don't think I've read that, but that's not surprising!