Oct 5th in Pop History
On this day, October 5th, in:
• 1973 - Elton John released his seventh studio album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics in two and a half weeks; Elton composed most of the music in three days while staying in Jamaica. The album has now sold over 30 million copies.
The Yellow Brick Road is of course an image taken from the movie The Wizard of Oz. In the movie, Dorothy and her friends follow the yellow brick road in search of the magical Wizard of Oz, only to find that they had what they were looking for all along. It is rumored that the song was about Judy Garland, who starred in the film, but that’s hard to confirm.
Regardless, the message of the song is about returning to innocence and leaving a complicated “city life” in favor of a simple life less cluttered with complexity. The metaphor, is that in the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy leaves her simple farm life in Kansas for the dazzling city life in Oz. In the song Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, it’s the reverse of that.
Also, Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics to this and most of Elton's other songs (Elton created the music on piano). Bernie often seems to write about Elton, but this one appears to be about himself. The lyrics are about giving up a life of opulence for one of simplicity in a rural setting. Elton has enjoyed a very extravagant lifestyle, while Taupin prefers to keep it low key. So, in this song, Elton is more singing Bernie’s longing to simplify — not his own.
The album was released on October 5, 1973 as a double LP, with cover art by illustrator Ian Beck, depicting John stepping into a poster. It debuted at # 17 on the Billboard 200 and quickly rose to # 1 in it’s fourth week on the chart, where it stayed for eight consecutive weeks. It was the best selling album in the U.S. in 1974. The album was preceded by its lead single, Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting, which reached # 7 in the U.K. and # 12 in the U.S. Its next single, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road reached # 6 in the U.K. and # 2 in the U.S. Bennie and the Jets was released as a single in the U.S., and it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for one week in 1974. And its final single, Candle in the Wind, reached # 11.
In 2020, the album was ranked number 112 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003, when it was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Here’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road on Spotify:
And continuing on October 5th…
• 1974 - Olivia Newton-John had her first chart topping album with If You Love Me, Let Me Know, which contained her third US number one single, I Honestly Love You
• 1974 - The Beach Boys went to # 1 on the US album chart for the second time with Endless Summer. The LP, which contained altered versions of Be True to Your School, Help Me Rhonda and Fun, Fun, Fun, would spend 155 weeks on the Billboard Hot 200, selling over 3 million copies
Also, on this day in…
• 2000 - The Beatles' autobiography (The Beatles Anthology) was released and on the first day, brought in 1.5 million orders. Stores in Japan and England opened at midnight to handle demand
• 2011 - Steve Jobs, Apple founder and music industry/I-Tunes visionary passes away at age 56 after a battle with pancreatic cancer
