Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player
| Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player | |||||
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| Studio album by Elton John | |||||
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Publication |
January 26, 1973 |
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admission |
June 1972 |
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| Label (s) |
MCA Records (US / Canada) DJM Records (UK) |
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Pop, rock |
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running time |
42:45 |
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Studio (s) |
Château d'Hérouville, Hérouville , France |
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Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player is the sixth studio album by British singer and composer Elton John .
In the early 1970s, John met Groucho Marx at a party in Hollywood . He insisted that he couldn't possibly call himself Elton John, the name had to be John Elton. With this he made fun of John over and over again during one evening, until John raised his arms in mock surrender with the words “Don't shoot me! I'm just the piano player ”(for example:“ Let me live, I just play the piano ”). The cover photo of the album shows, among other things, the movie poster for the Marx Brothers film " Go West ". Possibly a hidden reference to the origin of the title.
background
For the recordings, John and his team again chose the Château d'Hérouville studio near Paris. Back then it was known as "Strawberry Studios", at least that's what it was called on the album sleeve.
John composed twelve songs in just two days, ten of which found their way onto the new album. The most commercially successful song on the album was "Crocodile Rock". In Germany, the title first appeared in the singles charts on December 11, 1972, stayed there for 21 weeks and climbed to number 3, in Austria to number 6 and in Switzerland it even became a number 1 hit . For the single "Daniel", John played "Skyline Pigeon" again for the B-side, this time with the piano as the leading instrument.
The popularity of the party song "Crocodile Rock" brought the long-playing record itself to number 16 in the album charts in Germany and thus achieved a better ranking than John's record album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" a year later.
In the US, it was John's second album that reached number 1 on the album charts. At the same time it contained its first No. 1 single in the US and Canada with the title "Crocodile Rock". The album's second hit, "Daniel", was almost as successful in North America and Europe.
The album is only one of two albums on which "the" Elton John Band can be found: John on piano, Davey Johnstone on guitar, Dee Murray on bass and Nigel Olsson on drums (and thus without percussion player Ray Cooper ) . The other album is Breaking Hearts from 1984.
review
John was, of course, measured against his previous album, Honky Château , which received very good reviews and made him known to a wide audience. In His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John by author Elizabeth Rosenthal, John said "Crocodile Rock" was an open homage to the songs of the fifties and with his voice he intoned the singer Bobby Vee . "High Flying Bird" should sound like the songs by Van Morrison and "Midnight Creeper" is a bow to the Rolling Stones .
Years later, John freely admitted that the melodies from different genres of his youth were brought together. And this was probably the reason that he was not yet assigned his own style for his music, his music was called “derivative”.
But this was exactly the reason why Don't shoot me had an impressive musical variety to offer and was seen as an entertaining step in the right direction for John's career.
Track list
Elton John composed the music for all titles , and Bernie Taupin wrote all texts , unless otherwise indicated.
LP and CD
page 1
- "Daniel" - 3:54
- "Teacher I Need You" - 4:10
- "Elderberry Wine" - 3:33
- "Blues for My Baby and Me" - 5:42
- "Midnight Creeper" - 3:55
Page 2
- "Have Mercy on the Criminal" - 5:57
- "I'm Going to Be a Teenage Idol" - 3:55
- "Texan Love Song" - 3:33
- " Crocodile Rock " - 3:58
- "High Flying Bird" - 4:12
Bonus titles on re-releases (1995 Mercury and 1996 Rocket)
- "Screw You (Young Man's Blues)" - 4:43
- "Jack Rabbit" - 1:49
- "Whenever You're Ready (We'll Go Steady Again)" - 2:51
- "Skyline Pigeon" (piano version) - 3:56
B sides
| title | A side |
|---|---|
| "Skyline Pigeon" (piano version) | "Daniel" 7 "(US / UK) |
occupation
- Elton John - vocals, piano, keyboards
- Davey Johnstone - acoustic guitar , electric guitar, banjo, backing vocals (tracks 2, 7, 10)
- Dee Murray - bass guitar, backing vocals (tracks 2, 7, 10)
- Nigel Olsson - drums, backing vocals (tracks 2, 7, 10)
More musicians
- Ken Scott - Synthesizer (Track 1)
- Gus Dudgeon - brass arrangements (tracks 3, 5, 7)
- Paul Buckmaster - orchestration (tracks 4, 6)
- Jacques Bolognesi - trombone
- Ivan Jullien - trumpet
- Jean-Louis Chautemps , Alain Hatot - saxophone
production
- Producer: Gus Dudgeon
- Sound engineer: Robin Geoffrey Cable
- Remastering: Tony Cousins
- Editing: Gus Skinas
- Digital transfer: Ricky Graham
- Surround Sound: Greg Penny
- Assistance: Crispin Murray
- Choir conductor: Robert Kirby
- Orchestration: Paul Buckmaster
- Art Direction: David Larkham
- Design: David Larkham
- Artistic design: Gill, Yanis
- Illustrations: David Larkham
- Photographs: Bob Gruen , David Larkham
- Cover photo: David Larkham
- Album cover text: Gus Dudgeon, John Tobler
Charts
album
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
|
16 (6 weeks) | 6th |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
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1 (42 weeks) | 42 |
 United States (Billboard)
|
1 (89 weeks) | 89 |
single
| Year | single | Chart | placement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Crocodile skirt | Germany | 3 |
| 1973 | Crocodile skirt | Austria | 6th |
| 1973 | Crocodile skirt | Switzerland | 1 |
| 1972 | Crocodile skirt | Great Britain | 5 |
| 1972 | Crocodile skirt | United States | 1 |
| 1973 | Daniel | Germany | 27 |
| 1973 | Daniel | Switzerland | 5 |
| 1973 | Daniel | Great Britain | 4th |
| 1973 | Daniel | United States | 2 |
Sales figures and awards
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
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United States (RIAA)
|
 3 × platinum
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3,000,000 |
| All in all |
3 × platinum |
3,000,000 |
Main article: Elton John / Music Sales Awards
Individual evidence
- ^ Philip Norman: Elton John. Harmony Books, New York 1992, ISBN 0-517-58762-9 , p. 215.
- ^ Philip Norman: Elton John. 1991, p. 213
- ↑ http://www.austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Elton+John&titel=Crocodile+Rock&cat=s
- ↑ http://www.hitparade.ch/song/Elton-John/Crocodile-Rock-260
- ↑ http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=418&name=Elton+John
- ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/dont-shoot-me-im-only-the-piano-player-19730315
- ↑ a b c d Chart sources: DE UK US