Iona Cali’s Song of the Week - No. 10
- ionacali
- Apr 7
- 2 min read
As another Song of the Week beckons, I was minded to consider some (perhaps) better-known tunes, as (understandably) not many Iona Cali followers have a similar breadth of musical taste to myself, and listening to “new” songs regularly can be a tad disintegrating!
And so, with that in mind, my choice this week comes from an Elton John album, first issued on 23rd May 1975, almost fifty years ago! The album is one of my favourite works by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and they are both represented by the two characters of the album’s title. If you haven’t guessed, the title is Captain Fantastic (Elton John) and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (Bernie Taupin). Therefore, it should be no surprise that the work is autobiographical, covering the duo's early musical careers.
The album was a commercial success and certified gold before its release. It went on to reach No. 1 in its first week of release on the US Billboard 200, the first album to achieve both honours. It sold 1.4 million copies within four days of release, and stayed in the top position in the chart for seven weeks. Not too shabby!
Now, when considering which of the magnificent ten tracks to pick I made an astonishing discovery! Every since purchasing the original vinyl copy of the album, I have always loved the final track on side two, or at least what I thought was the final track! The last song in my world was We All Fall in Love Sometimes and I had always loved the tempo change about halfway through. However, to my amazement, when I checked the track listing to pick a song, I discovered that in fact, it was, and always has been, two tracks!
Therefore, and in honour of discovering a new Elton John song after almost 50 years, I have picked Track 10, Side Two which goes by the name Curtains which is of course a great title to end such a classic album on!
A cracking tune. Been saving my cassettes onto my pc and EJ is on the list to copy.