Sir Elton John

May 30, 2024 ~ If You Want My Opinion ~ Leave a comment

There is no entertainer whose work I have admired more than that of Elton John. His 1974 Greatest Hits may have been the first album I ever personally owned, only because I have a sister who is about six years my senior, and I listened to her albums and singles until I discovered Elton John on the radio as I approached my formative teen years. I played that vinyl until it warped. Three years earlier I had started learning to the play the guitar, at first with a few lessons from a fellow who loved old folk tunes, but I quickly began picking out chords on my own and learning to play by ear. I had been singing both melody and harmony parts since I was a young child, mostly in church, school, or with family and relatives.

Elton John concert, February 1, 2022 (Kansas City)

The songs that Elton John and his lyrical collaborator, Bernie Taupin, produced interpreted the human condition for me and countless others around the globe. By his own testimony, one absolute constant in Elton John’s roller-coaster life has been his love and admiration for his songwriting partner. It was their songs that largely inspired me to start playing music, and I have been playing and performing them ever since. I still cover several of their tunes to this day (on guitar and keys), including the brilliantly composed “Your Song,” which I am still astounded to know that Taupin wrote at the ripe old age of 19.

If I had to choose one word to characterize Elton John’s life, it would have to be “outrageous,” an adjective that he has used from time to time in public appearances and in writing. By his own admission, Elton John has an addictive personality and spent many decades fighting horrible battles with drugs before finally going sober. He has a nasty temper nurtured by his wealth and fame, a personality trait that in my view is his least attractive. “I’m perfectly aware of how ridiculous my life is, and perfectly aware of what an arsehole I look like when I lose my temper over nothing,” he writes in his 2019 memoir simply titled Me. Of course, he is known for being self-indulgent, something he shares with many other pop stars of his generation. He is fairly critical of himself and open about what he perceives as his failures.

Elton John has endured his share of sadness: a troubled relationship with his parents, the many friends he has lost to AIDS, his own broken personal relationships, and the many years he was imprisoned by cocaine and alcohol. Those low points are perhaps balanced out with times of great joy, especially his hundreds and hundreds of live performances through the decades, the part of his career that he perhaps loved the most. He found what seems to be enduring love with his husband, David Furnish, and the couple have two sons, Zachary and Elijah. In the end, for multiple reasons connected to his upbringing and his rise to fame, I get the sense that Elton John had a very difficult time growing up, even long after he reached adulthood. Even so, I don’t see him as a tragic figure. I see him as an incredibly talented musician, songwriter, and entertainer who from a young age wanted to be loved and needed to be the best at what he was doing. By my account, he succeeded.

In a post from a few years back, I mentioned that I missed an opportunity to see Elton John perform when I was studying abroad in England in 1984. Fortunately, my wife and I were able to catch him in Kansas City in February, 2022, for his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. He was showing obvious signs of his 75 years on the planet by then, but his voice was still incredibly strong. Yes, I know that backtracks and other enhancements make it possible for concerts to sound almost flawless, but Elton John has been extremely critical of performers who lip sync at their shows. I’m assuming he doesn’t. He has probably tuned his songs down a half or whole step from the original, and he has younger vocalists to help with the stratospheric notes, but he also rearranges songs to make them more manageable for his septuagenarian voice. Some of the tunes don’t sound the way most of us remember them, but they are still wonderful songs, and he remains a fabulous and generous entertainer.

The Complex Character of Johnny Cash

April 28, 2024April 28, 2024 ~ If You Want My Opinion ~ Leave a comment

I have never been a big fan of Johnny Cash, which in some circles brands me as a heretic. I didn’t enjoy hearing him sing. No one ever credited him with being a skilled musician, and he likely would not have argued the point. I did not agree with so many musicians, critics, and fans who thought his song lyrics were profound. There were a few that rose to the occasion, but most of them were rather simple. Many of his fans and even a few biographers have painted him as a scholar — I have my doubts. I also thought the whole “man in black” persona was rather cheesy and contrived.

I do, however, recognize the impact he had on so many other musicians and entertainers. It is amazing how many people in the industry collaborated with him, especially later in his life. He helped launch the career of Kris Kristofferson, one of the best songwriters of popular music in the 20th century. I know Cash is a bit of a legend in the entertainment world, a reputation he spent a good deal of time cultivating. He was certainly a man of conviction, and on multiple levels.

Johnny Cash was also very close to evangelist Billy Graham, and the minister apparently admired the entertainer for his public testimony about his faith. Cash devoted much of his creative output to gospel music, often times at the risk of falling out of favor with record labels, producers, television executives, and some of his fans. He loved deeply, believed passionately, and endured incredible heartache and pain at times, including the physical kind. I don’t think he was as much of an outlaw as he portrayed himself to be or as the media depicted him. But he was definitely an outlier.

Most people who know anything about him understand that Johnny Cash had his share of flaws: addictions, infidelities, mental instability. He was also plagued with constant inner struggles. He was a troubled soul who clung to the faith of his Christian upbringing, even though it seemed impossible for him to follow a righteous path. The vices always seemed to get the best of him, even by his own admission. I suspect guilt played a huge role in his religious convictions, especially the death of his brother at a young age and the fact that his father blamed him for the unfortunate accident that took his brother’s life.

In the context of 20th century music, Johnny Cash is a name that is as immediately recognized as Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, or Willie Nelson. He is indeed a legend, a celebrity who crossed multiple genres in the world of entertainment. I have recently started performing a Johnny Cash song in my solo shows. The one I selected is “Ring of Fire,” which has one of the most complicated and imbalanced rhythms of any song ever written in American popular music. I certainly don’t play it in the odd time signature that was produced in the studio. I doubt very seriously if I could even come close. Hmmm. Maybe old Johnny’s music wasn’t as simple as I once thought.

Chuck Berry, for Better or Worse

November 29, 2023 ~ If You Want My Opinion ~ Leave a comment

Chuck Berry statue in the Delmar Loop in St. Louis, MO

In the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, no one deserves the title “The Father of Rock-n-Roll” more than Chuck Berry. So many of the legends of the genre revered him and covered his hits, including The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Keith Richards said if rock-n-roll had a name, it would have to be Chuck Berry. Even that white boy from Tupelo, referred so often to as the “King” of rock-n-roll, covered Berry’s tunes.

Chuck Berry’s life is not really a rags-to-riches story as he was born into a middle-class family in St. Louis where he lived his whole life. Growing up just beyond the eastern boundary of the Ozarks region, Berry was heavily influenced by rock-a-billy and country music, elements of which would end up in many of his greatest hits. Of course, Berry also grew up during the era of Jim Crow in a part of the country that had a dark past with race relations. Sadly, according to R. J. Smith in his brutally honest biography (Chuck Berry: An American Life, Hachette Books, 2022), Berry apparently carried his response of anger, resentment, and frustration to extremes at times, taking opportunities to insult and humiliate people, even those who adored him, and telling them, “Now you know how it feels to be black.”

Smith does a good job of balancing the artistry, intelligence, talent, and even the charm of Berry with the ugly side of his personality. Some of the stories about Berry make me think that he may have had some kind of serious psychological illness, like bipolar disorder. To say he was a womanizer would be to let him off the hook. He demonstrated signs of being what many folks in the post-MeToo era would define as a sexual predator and even a pedophile. At the very least, it is fair to say he had strong sexual appetites that wandered into the realm of the taboo and even aberrant.

His sexual deviance, along with his violent tendencies and his resistance to authority, including the IRS and government in general, got him into legal trouble on several occasions. He was sentenced to jail time more than once. One could argue that he shared this path with many of the outlaw country stars like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, and many others. Some rap and hip-hop performers who were no doubt influenced by Berry on some level would also be plagued with legal problems and prison terms.

No matter how bad the news was for Berry, he was still highly respected by the biggest names in the music business, including Bruce Springsteen. He was an early cross-over musician, infiltrating white homes with his unique style of playing and singing long before black performers were even allowed to eat in many restaurants or stay in hotels when they were on tour. He was beloved by millions of fans all over the world, even when he continued to attempt to perform in his 80s as dementia began to claim his mind and memory. His impact on 20th century music and beyond cannot be overemphasized, complete with his flaws and his brilliance.