Bitter Fingers
| Bitter Fingers | |
|---|---|
| Elton John | |
| publication | May 19, 1975 only album, not single |
| length | 4:28 |
| Genre (s) | pop |
| text | Bernie Taupin |
| music | Elton John |
| album | Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy |
Bitter Fingers (Eng. "Bitter Fingers") is a song by the British singer and composer Elton John , the lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin .
The album `` Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy '' was realized as a concept album and takes up in chronological order as well as with autobiographical intention John and Taupin's life in London from 1967 to 1970. “Bitter Fingers” is the third of ten songs. The conceptual plot continues with the title Tell Me When the Whistle Blows .
background
In the early days of John and Taupin's collaboration, little changed. John performed with Long John Baldry (“I'm going on the circuit, I'm doing all the clubs”), playing his repertoire and hoping it would he and Taupin would be able to write songs that would generate much more applause from the audience (“And I really need a song boys to stir those workers up” - “And, guys, I really need a song that inspires the workers” ).
To do this, however, the two first had to get in the mood for each other. At least the distribution of roles was clear: Taupin kept coming up with new lyrics (“Oh could you knock a line or two together for a friend”), John thought about the melody and harmony to compose appealing songs (“And we need a tune to open our season at Southend” - “And we need a melody to open our season in Southend”).
John was tired of showing cover versions of other artists (“I'm sick of tra-la-las and la-de-das” - “I'm so sick of the Tralalas and Ladidas”) and standing in the second row . He longed for something new (“It seems to me a change is really needed”), but Taupin's lyrics are still not what they should be (“It's hard to write a song with bitter fingers ”-“ It's hard to write songs with bitter fingers ”).
Still, there were signs that the new, jointly composed songs were finding approval, if only now and then (“You know it's just another hit and run from the Tin Pan Alley Twins” - “ You know, it's just another hit and the Klimper twins just carry on ”).
They not only composed for themselves, but offered the finished songs to established colleagues like Tom Jones or tried to qualify for the Eurovision Song Contest . However, these attempts were unsuccessful.
occupation
- Elton John - vocals, piano
- Davey Johnstone - guitar, backing vocals
- Dee Murray - bass guitar, backing vocals
- Nigel Olsson - drums, backing vocals
- Ray Cooper - tambourine, congas, bell tree, bells
production
- Gus Dudgeon - producer
Individual evidence
- ^ Philip Norman: Elton John. Harmony Books, New York 1992, ISBN 0-517-58762-9 , p. 294