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)
The Wide-eyed and Laughing
Elton John Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Or do you still cling to me when its sinking
I never condemned you, I only consoled you
When candlelight made me a King
For the wide-eyed and laughing
Passed like a season
Erasing a passion to sin
That the wide-eyed and laughing
Were just one step ahead of the wind
And the hearts that you played on the porch swing for me
Was a song that I'd heard in the past
For I had an audience somewhere inside you
That applauded whenever you laughed
Gone is a word that I now rarely use
Though sometime in the course of a day
I go racing back like a man possessed
By the wide-eyed and laughing daughters of some different age
"The Wide-eyed and Laughing" by Elton John is a thought-provoking song that reflects on the nature of control and human relationships. The first stanza opens with a question that seeks to understand the extent of control that an individual has over their boat. The boat represents the individual's life journey, and the line "Or do you still cling to me when it's sinking?" suggests that the individual may rely on others during tough times. The persona in the song acknowledges that they have never judged the individual but have only comforted them. The reference to "candlelight made me a King" suggests that the persona found strength in comforting others.
The second stanza reflects on how time passes from the perspective of the "wide-eyed and laughing." The persona expresses that this season has erased the individual's passion for sin. The use of tarot and tealeaves alludes to the individual's attempts to understand the future. However, the "wide-eyed and laughing" were one step ahead of the wind. The third stanza references a song that the individual played on the porch swing for the persona. The persona indicates that the song was familiar to them, and they had an audience in the individual since they applauded whenever the individual laughed. The persona then reflects on how they rarely use the word "gone," but they are sometimes taken over by the memories of the "wide-eyed and laughing" daughters of a different age.
Line by Line Meaning
Are you still in control of the boat that you row
Do you still have control over your choices or are you relying on me to steer the ship?
Or do you still cling to me when its sinking
Do you seek my help only when things are going wrong?
I never condemned you, I only consoled you
I never judged you, I only gave you comfort and support.
When candlelight made me a King
My greatness and power were only temporary, like the flicker of a candle.
For the wide-eyed and laughing
Those who are innocent and carefree
Passed like a season
Came and went, like the changing of the seasons.
Erasing a passion to sin
Distracting from the desire for wrongdoing.
For no one knew better than the tealeaves and the tarots
Even fortune tellers and diviners could not predict the course of these people's lives.
That the wide-eyed and laughing
The carefree and innocent
Were just one step ahead of the wind
Their lives were unpredictable and constantly changing, like the wind.
And the hearts that you played on the porch swing for me
The emotions you shared with me on the porch swing.
Was a song that I'd heard in the past
It wasn't anything new to me, just a repeat of something I already knew.
For I had an audience somewhere inside you
You were performing for a part of me that was in you.
That applauded whenever you laughed
That part of me rejoiced whenever you were happy.
Gone is a word that I now rarely use
I don't often say that something is completely gone or lost.
Though sometime in the course of a day
Occasionally, even after all this time,
I go racing back like a man possessed
I'm suddenly overwhelmed and consumed by the memory.
By the wide-eyed and laughing daughters of some different age
By the carefree and innocent women I knew in the past.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: BERNARD J.P. TAUPIN, CALEB QUAYE, DAVEY JOHNSTONE, ELTON JOHN, JAMES NEWTON HOWARD
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.....