a white dude named reggie

(seriously, Liberace has nothing on this cat)

When I was a kid, full of innocence and wide-eyed wonder, I thought Elton John was the shit. I cannot remember my first introduction to his music. He was there before I was, I guess, and I just accepted him as part of the musical landscape, I surmise.

On summer weekends, my parentsd would often drag the family out to this ginormous flea market on the outskirts of Paw Paw, Michigan. Heck, who knew Paw Paw had outskirts? Anyway, as I was passing time perusing the junk the many merchants had to offer, I happened upon a bootleg Elton John 8-track tape. I pestered my mom until she gave me the requisite buck or two to acquire said tape and then, for the rest of the afternoon, bugged her and dad to wrap it up already so we could start the drive home. I wasn't so much anxious to leave, but our car had an 8-track player and I was anxious to rock out to some Elton.

And, boy, did I!

Heck, there was even a time when I was hanging out at a buddy's house. He went downstairs for whatever reason and there I was in his room with a few minutes to kill. I saw he had an Elton John "Island Girl" 45 so I put it on his stereo and was rockin' out when he came back and gave me the weirdest look.

"What are you doing listening to Elton?!" he asked incredulously.

"It'd your record", I responded, also incredulously.

Steadily, the tension within the room climbed, each of us balling our hand into a tight fist, ready for shit to break loose.


(seriously, where does one go to get glasses like that?)

Okay, actually there was no tension. We turned off the stero and ran outside to play whiffle ball and that was the end of that.

For some reason, though, I never forgot that brief Elton-related interaction and, only recently has it struck me as odd. I mean, it was his Elton John single. Was he ashamed to be "outed" as an Elton John fan?

Certainly, in subsequent years, Elton would lose a lot of his coolness (along with his hair, I might add). Those early Geffen years were pretty spotty. For every "Too Low For Zero" (which included "I'm Still Standing" and "I Guess That's Why They Call it The Blues", for example) there was a "The Fox" or "Jump UP!" that made you wonder if Elton was finally running out of "hit juice". Of course, history has proven he had a lot left in the tank, but, he would never ever be considered as cool as he was around '75 or so, when he was releasing a new album every few months it seemed and putting on some of the most spectacular live shows ever.


(uh....)

Seriously, Elton had already amassed a sizable chunk of hits and released his first greatest hits collection in '74. In May '75, he released "Captain Fantastic", which hit #1 and contained the #1 hit singles "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and "Philadelphia Freedom". A mere five months later, he issued "Rock Of The Westies", which also went straight to #1, as did the aforementioned single "Island Girl".

To celebrate the talent that was (and is) Elton John, I bring you a ten-pack of live tracks from those halcyon days when a guy could dress up like Liberace's louder brother without arousing the level of suspicion such antics would most certainly generate today.

First on the list..."Island Girl", of course! :)

Island Girl
Benny & The Jets
Candle In The Wind (the non-Diana version)
Ego
I Saw Her Standing There
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Rocket Man
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
Sweet Painted Lady
Your Song