Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Writer: Elton John, Bernie Taupin
Producer: Gus Dudgeon
Released: 1973
Genre: Soft rock
Length: 3:11
Chords and song structure
One of the things I found out during my research is that Elton John didn’t write any of the lyrics to his songs. Bernie Taupin was Elton John’s lyricist and he gave him all the lyrics to the hit songs he then created on the piano.
I think it’s a great way to delegate your strengths. If you’re good at coming up with melodies or chord progressions but suck at lyric writing then trying to find a partner in crime might be a really good idea. Having lyrics handy is a great way to get the inspiration flowing; you can just focus on the music instead of trying to hum along a melody. It’s much easier when the words are already written.
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” is a piano driven song but it’s rooted in strong chord progressions and not in riffs or beats like other genres. Pop songs from that time were written predominantly with chords and not electronic instruments so it’s easier to analyze this song from a chordal structure than something like “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons.
The chord progression is also an interesting one and its key changes and accidentals is something great songwriters tend to do.
The intro is in the key of F, starting on the second minor of the scale, going up to the fifth before finally resolving into the tonic. It then follows a typical path into the IV before inserting a completely random chord(E flat) before switching back into the V and then resolving back into the tonic, F chord. This is interesting because it allows the vocal to go in an unexpected direction that can sometimes create an interesting melody. The chord progression below is a simplified version of the very fluid chord progression Elton John plays.
Gm C F B flat E flat C7 F
ii V I IV ?? V I
The chorus also has some interesting chord abnormalities but they resolve really well when you can sing a strong melody over it.
Chorus
E flat A flat D flat B flat m C7 F
V I IV ii V I
The song structure is interesting because what you could call a pre-chorus actually ends each chorus as well. The “ahhs” and “oohs” section bridges the verse from both sides of the chorus so we’ll refer to it as the bridge.
Intro-Verse-Bridge-Chorus-Bridge-Verse-Bridge-Chorus-Bridge
Arrangements
The song starts off with the familiar chord progression on the piano with the bass following the root notes of the chords.
The verse consists of the piano, bass, vocals and a string section adding some 70’s pop ambience.
The “oohs” and “ahh” vocals in the pre-chorus are actually louder and more dynamic than the chorus itself. The chorus kind of serves to bring the instrumentation a little back. The drums bring the pre-chorus up a notch with the vocals but when the chorus starts the background vocals back off, leaving the piano, vocals, drums, guitar and bass keeping it steady. You can’t really call it a pre-chorus because that part actually acts as a post-chorus as well.
The drums keep playing in the second verse with the guitar playing subtle effected lead lines in the background. There are a few vocal doubles and harmonies that serve to enhance the ends of certain phrases.
The song repeats with the same arrangement for the rest of the song with the string section increasing in dynamics and build until the end of the song.
The Production
As with the golden age of analog recording the song has a very natural sound. The drums sound very close and very recorded in a fairly dampened room. Most of the mics used on the recording were not surprisingly, vintage condenser microhpones. According to a Sound on Sound article the kick drum had the front skin off, miked with an AKG D12, a Neumann pencil condenser on the snare an AKG C28s on the toms. This would serve to give the drums a very vintage sound and earthy sound. I don’t know if it’s the quality of the sound from Spotify’s compression but the toms in the song sound distorted. Every tom fill and hit sounds just a little bit too overloaded and almost takes away from the sound. If they overloaded the preamps on their analog gear back in the 70’s it must have had a nice warm analog overdrive. But the version I’m listening to seems just a tiny bit distorted.
The bass was dual recorded both with a microphone as well as DI, with C12a on guitar and two Neumann 67s on the piano as well as for Elton John’s voice. The guitar has some kind of modulation effect. It’s also very much a background instrument and really blends into the production rather than becoming a lead part.
Key Take Aways
Chord Progressions – Spice up your songs and arrangement with alternative chord progressions. They might not necessarily belong in the key but if you can put in a strange chord somewhere that resolves quickly while making the melody memorable you’ve just graduated to another level of songwriting.
Performance – It’s all about making the song shine on tape. Like the producer said in an interview: “We might patch up or do a verse again, but there was very little compression or fiddling about. Elton just did it. Again, this goes back to being in the zone and concentrating. He’s a thorough professional. When he sang, all of the expression and dynamics were taken care of. It was unbelievable, really.” If you can coax a great performance out of your singer, that is much more important than any piece of gear you have lying around.
Condenser for “Earthiness” – Condensers have a broader frequency range and give a completely different sound to instruments such as drums. If you’re looking to make a more natural sounding record, using large condensers that are similar to vintage Neumanns can get you close to the sound you’re looking for.
Resources and References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Yellow_Brick_Road
http://www.logicalpianolessons.com/Piano%20Lesson%20302%20-%20Analyze%20the%20Chord%20Progression%20of%20a%20song.php
