Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

The last "early" Elton John album I'm looking at is 1973's Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player, which was his second number one. Like the other, pre-Goodbye Yellow Brick Road albums, this one has a couple of memorable songs and a lot of filler. Before GBYR, John didn't have any "deep" tracks of note, while his following double album has nothing but good songs. What's amazing is that in 1973, he released three albums worth of material.

The two singles from DSMIOTPP are two of John's best. The opening track is "Daniel," a beautiful and poignant song with a lyric by Bernie Taupin that explores a subject not often mentioned in pop songs--that of the relationship of siblings. This song is like a short story, with a brother watching his well-traveled, sophisticated older brother off on a plane to Spain.

"Daniel my brother, you are older than me
Do you still fear the pain?
Of the scars that won't heal
Your eyes have died
You've seen more than I
Daniel you're the star in the face of the sky"

On the other end of the spectrum is the joyous "Crocodile Rock," in which Taupin invents a dance craze from the '50s.

"I remember when rock was young
Me and Suzie had so much fun
Holding hands and skimming stones
Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own
But the biggest kick I ever got
Was doing a thing called the crocodile rock
While the other kids were rockin' round the clock
We were hopping and bopping to the crocodile rock"

These words are embedded in my brain after almost fifty years. I could listen to both of these songs every day.

The only other song on this record that I was familiar with is "Elderberry Wine," which is okay. The rest of the songs are forgettable. "Teacher I Need You" could be seen as a calmer, earlier version of "Hot For Teacher." "Have Mercy On The Criminal" is another of those Taupin songs that imagine life from the perspective of someone very different than Taupin, in this case an escaped prisoner. It is only one of two songs on the record that have orchestration, which was a departure for John. Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player is something of a tribute to '50s nostalgia, with boogie woogie echoing throughout.

The next album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, came out just ten months later and was one of the greatest pop albums ever made. But it was also the apex of John's career. His albums after that were diminishing returns, until by the late 70s he was old stuff, replaced by punk and new wave. But he owned those early years of the 70s, and for people about my age, were a permanent fixture of their childhoods.