Elton John All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track

All The Songs

by Romuald Ollivier, Olivier Roubin

This first-of-its-kind catalog of Elton John’s decades-long career tells the story of one of rock's all-time greatest artists, album-by-album and track-by-track.

Organized chronologically and covering every album and song that Sir Elton Hercules John has ever released, Elton John All the Songs  draws upon years of research to tell the behind-the-scenes stories of how each song was written, composed, and recorded, down to the instruments used and the people who played them. Spanning more than fifty-years of work from Elton and his longtime collaborator, Bernie Taupin, this book details the creative processes that resulted in seminal albums like  Goodbye Yellowbrick Road, Madman Across the Water,  and  Tumbleweed Connection, as well as Academy Award wins for 1995's Lion King  and 2020's Rocketman. Newer work like The Lockdown Sessions , which released in 2021, is also featured alongside Billboard stats, tour dates, producing and mixing credits, and other insider details that will keep fans turning pages. Starting with the artist's early days working as a studio musician in London, and featuring interviews with actors, musicians, collaborators, and confidantes, Elton John All the Songs  offers readers the most detailed portrait of the artist and his creative process that has ever been produced. Featuring hundreds of vivid photographs that celebrate one of music's most visually arresting performers, Elton John All the Songs is the authoritative guide to one of rock'n'roll's greatest stars.


 

Genres: Music

608 pages, Hardcover

Published April 4, 2023

Reviews

[Todd Glaeser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps just impossible task. Ultimately the reviews become shorter and somewhat repetitive. But then after 60+ years, perhaps the songs as well as the writer’s comments do become a bit repetitive.

[David Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great "All teh Songs" boook. There is a corresponding playlist on Spotify that requires minimal editing (I maybe had to add 20 songs for the whole year, usually singles). Nice background info on each song although the author seems to run out of steam in the Lockdown album.

All in all and amazing to listen to Elton and Bernie's entire catalog of music. Some of the best songs were ones I had never heard.

There are a LOT of songs in here - 478 in the book, so to make this a daily reading book one must read/listen to about 9.2 per week. I listened to one per day M-F and 2 per day on Saturday and Sunday, then added 2 per day on Friday near the end.

[Randolph Breschini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided to buy this 1,340 page book, which explains and describes everyone of Elton’s songs from his start in the 1960’s. He finally stopped touring in 2023 with the completion of his Good Bye Yellow brick Farewell tour.

I hadn’t know how much Elton was influenced by others, especially Leon Russel, with whom he did an album in 2010.

A very long read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Way to go Elton…you are a star ⭐️ for the ages 🤩🤩🤩

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent reference book which gives the background to every Elton John song , and includes info about his career and his albums. Calling it a reference books is misleading as there are many photos and many colorful and busy page layouts. Gets a bit repetitious at times (which can't really be helped) and definitely more dipped into than read cover to cover.