Saturday, December 29, 2007

Teacher I Need You

One quarter doowop, one quarter show tune, one quarter Chuck Berry, and one quarter Elton-pop, "Teacher" is Bernie's take on the age-old trope of the student that's in unrequited lust with his teacher- Van Halen took it to the bank eleven years later with "Hot for Teacher".

Prominent in the arrangement are Elton's cascading piano triplets, in tandem with the Davey/Dee/Nigel/EJ backing vocals whoa-oh-oh-ohing throughout, accompanied by subdued Mellotron, set to sound like horns and strings. I like they way they're recorded, with a spacey, echoing sound a la Spector.

As I recall, this was one of my favorite tracks when I first acquired Don't Shoot Me oh so long ago. It's not so much anymore, but it's still a fine track with a memorable melody.

5 comments:

Thom MacFarlane said...

It was one of my favorites, as well - a lot of fun to play.

I always wondered how they got that rolling sound on the piano riff.

Know what I mean?

Johnny Bacardi said...

Practice? ;)

Thom MacFarlane said...

I don't think it's possible.

I'm referring to the swell, not the riff itself.

Wasn't there a mellotron listed on the liner notes.

Maybe that was it.

Trip Reports said...

One of my all time EJ favorites. When I listen to the piano here, it sounds almost as if the whole instrument itself is bouncing off teh floor. I consider it one of THE songs for understanding why Elton is Elton, from a piano perspective.

Vinyl said...

Great, great song.... I'm going to have to listen to it right now to hear the piano part that you guys are talking about.....