Jul 012019
 

‘The Best Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

best elton john covers

The first big film to to emerge in the post-Bohemian Rhapsody biopic boom is Rocketman. Compared to the Queen movie, critics like Rocketman better (somewhat), fact-checkers call it more accurate (somewhat), and LGBT advocates praise it for more honestly addressing the star’s sexuality (somewhat). Also – and hopefully this is unrelated – it has fared worse at the box office. Again, somewhat worse; it’s done fine, but does not seem to be the smash Bohemian Rhapsody was.

Unlike Queen, though, Elton John didn’t really need a mega-blockbuster to return to the public eye. He never left (after all, it’s hard to look away from clothes that sparkly). The farewell tour he launched last year will take him through 2020, and 2018 also saw two tribute albums featuring megawatt performers: from Lady Gaga to Ed Sheeran on the pop one, Miranda Lambert to Willie Nelson on the country one. For Elton, the Rocketman biopic is just the latest tribute in a career full of them.

And nowhere has tribute been paid more often than in the world of cover songs. From his second, self-titled album onward (no one covers songs off his 1969 debut), Elton’s songs have been covered constantly. Hell, Three Dog Night released their cover of that second album’s “Your Song” a month before John’s original even came out. Though artists inevitably gravitate towards the huge hits, John’s songbook boasts a long tail, with even some relative deep cuts generating classic covers. So this month we count down the thirty best Elton John covers ever.

Best so far, at least. At the rate he earns tributes, it won’t be long before the next batch lands.

Mar 142011
 

Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

Elton John is one of those artists who transcends generations and genres. From rock to pop to a Diamond-certified soundtrack (The Lion King), his eclectic music has universal appeal. More than his talent on the piano or vocals, his showmanship adds an inescapable aura to his songs. How else could he get away with the lyrics to one of his biggest hits, “Your Song?” To bust out a line like, “If I was a sculptor, but then again, no,” with no further explanation takes a Miles Davis level of cool. Only a master could make forgetting the color of his lover’s eyes somehow a tribute to them (although it is a sly way to make sure the song applies to multiple partners).

In short, “Your Song” is a dangerous song to cover. In the wrong hands, it’s pure schmaltz. Then again, hewing too close to the original means competing with perfection. Amid the multitudes of failures, thankfully, there are a handful of standouts. Continue reading »