Bathurst is set to be one of only six regional venues on Sir Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour of Australia, his concert to be held at Carrington Park on Wednesday, January 22, 2020.
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Sir Elton is famous for many iconic songs across a music career span that has spanned more than 50 years, so no doubt it’ll be hard to cram all of those hits into the one concert.
Check out 10 of Sir Elton’s hits below, where you can also vote for your favourite. But if there’s one that’s not there, you can always add it to the list.
Tiny Dancer
- Single released: 1972
- Album: Madman Across the Water
- Australian chart peak: #13
Released as a single in 1972, from Sir Elton’s fourth album Madman Across the Water, the song Tiny Dancer is based on Adelaide woman Susan Bell. Lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin and the song was a hit on the Australian charts, peaking at #13.
Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)
- Single released: 1973
- Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- Australian chart peak: #31
Composed with his long-time song writing partner Bernie Taupin, Sir Elton’s Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting) discuss a night out on the town in which the narrator of the song plans to “get about as oiled as a diesel train”. Interestingly, many radio stations banned it when it was first released, fearing that it would spark violence in young people.
Rocket Man
- Single released: 1972
- Album: Honky Château
- Australian chart peak: #13
Rocket Man was another song that was composed by both Sir Elton and Bernie Taupin, however it was Sir Elton who performed it. The song describes a Mars-bound astronaut's mixed feelings about leaving behind his family to do his job. The song echoes the theme of David Bowie’s 1969 song Space Oddity.
Crocodile Rock
- Single released: 1972
- Album: Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player
- Australian chart peak: #2
Crocodile Rock was actually inspired by Australian band Daddy Cool and their hit song Eagle Rock, which peaked at #1 in Australia for 10 weeks. The songs features Sir Elton on the Farfisa organ and proved to be one of his best charters in Australia, peaking at #2. Only two songs ever peaked at #1 in Australia – Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, performed with Kiki Dee, and Something About The Way You Look/Candle In The Wind 1997.
I’m Still Standing
- Single released: 1983
- Album: Too Low For Zero
- Australian chart peak: #3
Released in 1983, Sir Elton’s hit song I’m Still Standing was his reaction to still be relevant and successful during the 1980s, in a decade that saw the rise of many new genres. The video for the song was shot in the French cities of Cannes and Nice.
Your Song
- Single released: 1970
- Album: Elton John
- Australian chart peak: #11
Covered by the likes of Rod Stewart, Ellie Goulding and Lady Gaga, the lyrics for Your Song was written by Sir Elton’s longtime music partner Bernie Taupin. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and in 2004, it was placed at number 137 in Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.
Bennie And The Jets
- Single released: 1974
- Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- Australian chart peak: #5
Bennie And The Jets tells the story of a fictional band, with the lyrics a satire on the music industry of the 1970s. It peaked at #5 in Australia and went to #1 in the United States and Canada. During Sir Elton’s live performances of the song, the piano solo has all sorts of variations, from very close to the original to improvised and extended versions.
I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues
- Single released: 1983
- Album: Too Low For Zero
- Australian chart peak: #4
Featuring Stevie Wonder on the harmonica, I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues peaked at #1 in Zimbabwe, while hitting #4 in Australia. The song featured in Sir Elton’s 1983 album Too Low For Zero, which went 6 x platinum in Australia, selling 420,000 copies and selling over a million in the United States.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- Single released: 1973
- Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- Australian chart peak: #4
Named for Sir Elton's seventh studio album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is regarded as one of the British musician’s most iconic songs. Taking its name from the Yellow Brick Road from The Wizard of Oz, the song’s lyrics describes wanting to go back to a simple existence.
Candle In The Wind
- Single released: 1973 (original), 1997 (re-written only)
- Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- Australian chart peak: #5 (original), #1 (re-written)
Originally written in 1973, in honour of Marilyn Monroe, Sir Elton’s performed a rewritten version of the song as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, and performed it at her funeral in 1997. The original version never peaked at #1, but the re-written version in 1997 peaked at #1 in Australia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States.