Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road MCA Records Dbl Vinyl LP EX

$

40

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Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Studio album by  Elton John Released 5 October 1973 Recorded May 1973 Studio Château d'Hérouville, Hérouville, France; remixed and overdubbed at Trident, London Genre

• Pop rock 
• glam rock

1. "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"
   Released: 29 June 1973
2. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
   Released: 7 September 1973
3. "Bennie and the Jets"
   Released: 4 February 1974
4. "Candle in the Wind"
   Released: 22 February 1974

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the seventh studio album by British singer, pianist, and composer Elton John. A double album, it was released on 5 October 1973, by DJM Records. Recorded at the Château d'Hérouville in France, the album became a double LP once John and his band became inspired by the locale. Among the 17 tracks, the album contains the hits "Candle in the Wind", US number-one single "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", along with the live favourites "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and “Harmony".

The album was a strong commercial success, reaching number one on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, as well as also topping album charts in the UK, Australia, and Canada (five weeks at number one); it has since sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and is widely regarded as John's magnum opus. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003, and continues to be highly regarded in various rankings. It was ranked number 112 on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2025, the album was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

Production

Under the working titles of Vodka and Tonics and Silent Movies, Talking Pictures, Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics in two and a half weeks, with John composing most of the melodies in three days while staying at the Pink Flamingo Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. John had wanted to go to Jamaica, in part because the Rolling Stones had just recorded Goats Head Soup there.

Production on the album was started in Jamaica in January 1973, but due to difficulties with the sound system and the studio piano, logistical issues arising from the Joe Frazier–George Foreman boxing match taking place in Kingston, and protests over the political and economic situation in the country, the band decided to move before any productive work was done.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was recorded in two weeks at the Studio d'enregistrement Michel Magne, at the Château d'Hérouville near Pontoise, in France, where John had previously recorded Honky Château and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player. While a version of "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" was recorded in Jamaica, that recording was discarded; the released version of the song came from the sessions at the Château. The band plays on all the songs except "This Song Has No Title," on which John performs all the piano, keyboard and vocal parts.

According to the album's producer, Gus Dudgeon, the album was not planned as a two-record collection. John and Taupin composed a total of 22 tracks for the album, of which 18 (counting "Funeral for a Friend" and "Love Lies Bleeding" as two distinct tracks) were used, enough that it was released as a double album, John's first (three more such albums followed up to 2011). Through the medium of cinematic metaphor, the album builds on nostalgia for a childhood and culture left in the past. Tracks include "Bennie and the Jets," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," the 11-minute "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding," and the Marilyn Monroe tribute "Candle in the Wind." "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" was inspired by memories of a Market Rasen pub Taupin frequented when younger. "Grey Seal", previously the B-side of the 1970 single "Rock and Roll Madonna," was re-recorded for the album.

"Harmony" the album's final track, was considered as a fourth single, but was not issued at the time because the chart longevity of the album and its singles brought it too close to the upcoming releases of Caribou and its proposed accompanying singles. It was, however, used as the B-side of the American release of the "Bennie and the Jets" single, and was popular on FM playlists of the day, especially WBZ-FM in Boston, whose top 40 chart allowed for the inclusion of LP cuts and B-sides as voted for by listeners. "Harmony" spent three weeks at no. 1 on WBZ-FM's chart in June 1974 and ranked no. 6 for the year, with "Bennie and the Jets" at no. 1 and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" behind "Harmony" at no. 7. "Harmony" was released as a single in Britain in 1980 and failed to chart.

Release and reception

The album was released on 5 October 1973 as a double LP, with cover art by illustrator Ian Beck depicting John stepping into a poster. It debuted at no. 17 on the Billboard 200 and quickly rose to no. 1 on its fourth week on the chart, where it stayed for eight consecutive weeks. It was the best selling album in the US in 1974. The album was preceded by its lead single, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," which reached no. 7 in the UK and no. 12 in the US. Its next single, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" reached no. 6 in the UK and no. 2 in the US. "Bennie and the Jets" was released as a single in the US, and it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for one week in 1974. And its final single, "Candle in the Wind," released in the UK, reached no. 11.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is widely regarded as one of John's best albums, and is one of his most popular; it is his best-selling studio album.

In the US it was certified gold on 12 October 1973 (just days after release), 5× platinum in March 1993, and eventually 8× platinum in February 2014 by the RIAA.

Track listing

All music is composed by Elton John; all lyrics are written by Bernie Taupin