S$# 031 Elton John | Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
I'm not usually big on covers of Beatles songs, but when a Beatle helps out a major artist revisit a Fab track, well then I approach it with an open mind.
Of course you probably know that Elton John's rendition of Lucy was a massive hit in late 1974 and early 1975 - and that it features "the reggae guitars of Dr. Winston O'Boogie" ie John Lennon contributing guitar playing to the track.
Of course the lyrics were as bizarrely wonderful in the mid-1970s (and still are today) as they were in the Summer of Love:
Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes
This is one cover that comes close to the original. It's a happier, poppier presentation of the song, but it still has a touch of that psychedelic warmth and craziness about it.
Besides John's guitar work and Elton on piano, the track includes Elton on mellotron and harpsichord, bass by Dee Murray, drums by Nigel Olsson, guitar and sitar by Davey Johnstone, tambourine and gong by Ray Cooper, and backing vocals by Davey, Dee and Nigel.
Lucy was first issued as a single, backed with a cover of John's One Day At At A Time. It then appeared on Elton's Greatest Hits. Volume II, and has since been featured on several EJ compilations.
Of course you probably know that Elton John's rendition of Lucy was a massive hit in late 1974 and early 1975 - and that it features "the reggae guitars of Dr. Winston O'Boogie" ie John Lennon contributing guitar playing to the track.
Of course the lyrics were as bizarrely wonderful in the mid-1970s (and still are today) as they were in the Summer of Love:
Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes
This is one cover that comes close to the original. It's a happier, poppier presentation of the song, but it still has a touch of that psychedelic warmth and craziness about it.
Besides John's guitar work and Elton on piano, the track includes Elton on mellotron and harpsichord, bass by Dee Murray, drums by Nigel Olsson, guitar and sitar by Davey Johnstone, tambourine and gong by Ray Cooper, and backing vocals by Davey, Dee and Nigel.
Lucy was first issued as a single, backed with a cover of John's One Day At At A Time. It then appeared on Elton's Greatest Hits. Volume II, and has since been featured on several EJ compilations.
posted by droppingpin at 8:29 PM
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