John was raised in the Pinner suburb of London and learned to play piano at an early age, forming the blues band Bluesology in 1962. After leaving Bluesology in 1967 to embark on a solo career, John met Taupin after they both answered an advert for songwriters. For two years, they wrote songs for other artists, and John worked as a session musician for artists. John released his debut album Empty Sky in 1969, and a year later formed the Elton John Band and released his first hit single, "Your Song".
John's critical success was at its peak in the 1970s when he released a streak of chart-topping albums in the US and UK, which began with Honky Château (1972) and culminated with Rock of the Westies (1975). John continued his success in the 1980s and 1990s, having several hit singles and albums in both decades, and has continued to record new music since then. He has also had success in musical films and theatre, composing music for The Lion King, Aida, and Billy Elliot the Musical. In 2018, John began his ongoing farewell tour Farewell Yellow Brick Road, which is scheduled to conclude in 2023. The 2019 biopic Rocketman dramatized his life and career.
Outside of music, John is an HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser and has been involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s. He established the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992, which has raised over £300 million since its inception, and a year later he began hosting his annual Foundation Academy Awards Party, which has since become one of the biggest high-profile Oscar parties in the Hollywood film industry. John was the chairman and director of Watford F.C, from 1976 to 1987, and again from 1997 to 2002, and is an honorary life president of the club. From the late 1970s to the late 1980s, John developed a severe addiction problem to drugs and alcohol but has been sober since 1990. He entered into a civil partnership with Canadian filmmaker David Furnish in 2005; they married after same-sex marriage became legal in England and Wales in 2014.
John has sold over 300 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. He has more than fifty Top 40 hits on the UK Singles Chart and US Billboard Hot 100, including nine number-ones in the UK and US, as well as seven consecutive number-one albums in the US. His tribute single "Candle in the Wind 1997", a rewritten version of his 1974 single in dedication to Princess Diana, sold over 33 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling chart single of all time. In 2021, John became the first solo artist with UK Top 10 singles across six decades.
John has received numerous awards, including five Grammy Awards, five Brit Awards; including for Outstanding Contribution to Music; two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, a Disney Legend Award, and the Kennedy Center Honor. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and is a fellow of The Ivors Academy. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to music and charitable services in 1998 and was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) in 2020.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_John
Solo studio albums
Empty Sky (1969)
Elton John (1970)
Tumbleweed Connection (1970)
Madman Across the Water (1971)
Honky Château (1972)
Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (1973)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
Caribou (1974)
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)
Rock of the Westies (1975)
Blue Moves (1976)
A Single Man (1978)
Victim of Love (1979)
21 at 33 (1980)
The Fox (1981)
Jump Up! (1982)
Too Low for Zero (1983)
Breaking Hearts (1984)
Ice on Fire (1985)
Leather Jackets (1986)
Reg Strikes Back (1988)
Sleeping with the Past (1989)
The One (1992)
Made in England (1995)
The Big Picture (1997)
Songs from the West Coast (2001)
Peachtree Road (2004)
The Captain & the Kid (2006)
The Diving Board (2013)
Wonderful Crazy Night (2016)
Regimental Sgt. Zippo (2021)
Just Like Strange Rain
Elton John Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's no room in my comic book to hide
Calendar swung on the wall held by a rusty nail
Down came the strange rain and washed my thoughts away
So stop in the sky and tell me why
You're changing your colours before my eyes
Yellow, blue, green and grey
It made the rain that came seem strange
Just like strange rain
It made the rain that came seem strange
Just like strange rain
Still I sit beside the fire and watched as it fell
Come in colours from above into my citadel
My eyes are all embroidered with the rainbow you have made
And now it seems as though it's just, just like strange rain
Elton John's song Just Like Strange Rain is a poetic and metaphorical take on the often inexplicable and unpredictable nature of love. The song begins with the singer gazing up at the sky and feeling exposed, as if he has no place to hide from the all-encompassing emotions he is feeling. The "comic book" reference could be interpreted as a way of saying that the singer feels like he is living in a world of exaggerated emotions, where nothing is quite as it seems. Then, the calendar swinging on the wall is a reminder of the constant passage of time, which can be frightening when one is caught up in the intensity of love. Finally, the "strange rain" falls and washes away the singer's thoughts, leaving him feeling even more vulnerable and exposed.
The chorus of the song is a plea to the sky, asking why it seems to be changing its colors before the singer's very eyes. The colors mentioned – yellow, blue, green, and grey – could be seen as symbolic of different emotions or moods. The fact that they settle on the windowpane implies that they are tangible and real, but they are still somehow out of reach. The "strange rain" that falls could be seen as a metaphor for the ways in which love can be unpredictable and difficult to understand.
In the final verse, the singer watches as the rain falls in different colors, like a rainbow descending from the sky. The imagery of the singer's eyes being "embroidered" with the rainbow is a beautiful and poetic way of conveying the extent to which love has infiltrated his life. The phrase "just like strange rain" is repeated, perhaps to emphasize the fact that love is both difficult to understand and impossible to control.
Overall, Elton John's Just Like Strange Rain is a profound and moving exploration of the complexities of love and emotion. It is a testament to the power of poetry and metaphor to express the intangible and inexplicable forces that animate our lives.
Line by Line Meaning
I looked up from my glass into the sky
I shifted my gaze from my drink to the heavens.
There's no room in my comic book to hide
My comic book provides no escape or refuge.
Calendar swung on the wall held by a rusty nail
A rusty nail supports the swinging calendar on the wall.
Down came the strange rain and washed my thoughts away
The unusual rain poured down and scattered my thoughts.
So stop in the sky and tell me why
Pause in the sky and explain yourself to me.
You're changing your colours before my eyes
Your colors are metamorphosing in front of me.
Yellow, blue, green and grey
Tints of yellow, blue, green, and gray can be seen.
Settled on the window pane
They have now rested on the window glass.
It made the rain that came seem strange
It turned the ensuing rainfall into an extraordinary one.
Just like strange rain
This precipitation is akin to an unusual rain.
Still I sit beside the fire and watched as it fell
Remaining next to the fire, I observed the rainfall as it dropped.
Come in colours from above into my citadel
Rainfall of varied hues arrives into my fortress from the above.
My eyes are all embroidered with the rainbow you have made
The rainbow you have created has embellished my eyes.
And now it seems as though it's just, just like strange rain
Presently, it appears to me to be just an exceptional downpour.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BERNIE TAUPIN, ELTON JOHN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Peter Harthen
on Sacrifice
not like todays crap
Peter Harthen
on Sacrifice
Even at 56 years old, this music still sounds so good to me, how music should sound.....