Elton’s greatest hits

The wealth of unforgettable moments Elton John unleashes with his greatest hits collection is just incredible. I see Ewan McGregor singing Your Song in the musical Moulin Rouge. I see bits and pieces of the enjoyable film Almost Famous when I hear Tiny Dancer. Of course what else can these be with Candle in the Wind but the funeral of Princess Diana? Then, there are the memories of Elton over the years, particularly his image with the outrageous glasses and exaggerated platform shoes as the Pinball Wizard in the rock opera Tommy.

He has somewhat toned down the flamboyance but the music of those days remains as compelling as it did when Elton first burst into the international music scene with the sweetly moving Your Song in 1970 as the new British music import. There were down times in his career but these came few and very far between. In fact, no other pop artist of the same period came up with one hit after another with amazing regularity. A slow ballad here, an uptempo rocker next, then another ballad, another rocker. He left his followers with no time to brood over his output with the wide variety of songs he created. The system worked and more than 30 years later, Elton, who has been knighted by the Queen of England, remains one of the most prominent figures in the field of popular music.

Time now for all of us to join him in savoring the pleasure of listening to all of his big sellers in one album. The two-CD set is of course titled Elton John Greatest Hits 1970-2002 and it contains the following: Your Song, Tiny Dancer, Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to be a Long, Long Time), Crocodile Rock, Daniel, Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Candle in the Wind, Bennie and the Jets, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, The Bitch is Back, Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, with Kiki Dee, Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word, I’m Still Standing, Sad Songs (Say So Much), Can You Feel the Love Tonight, The Circle of Live, Made in England, Written in the Stars with Leann Rimes and others.

There are polls and polls and polls and here is the result of one more that caught my interest. It is the poll for the Song That Changed the World conducted by the famous music magazine, Q of Britain. A panel of music journalists came up with a list of "100 ground-breaking, world-altering songs that "changed music and the world forever."

The winner is That’s All Right, a blues tune sang by Elvis Presley in 1954. Why That’s All Right and not Like a Rolling Stone or something else with more "social relevance." So it may not espouse issues or commemorate an important event but the impromptu recording in a Memphis studio launched Elvis’ career as a singing star and in the process brought rock and roll music to the attention of kids all over the world.

Here is a list of the other songs that made it to the top ten in Q Magazine’s poll:

1. That’s All Right by Elvis Presley

2. I Wanna Hold Your Hand by the Beatles

3. God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols

4. Rapper’s Delight by Sugarhill Gang

5. Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana

6. Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday

7. Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan

8. Walk This Way by Run D.M.C.

9. Blue Monday by New Order

10. Do They Know It’s Christmas by Band Aid

The Hands That Built America is a song shows no sign of being able to change the world at this point but it won as Best Song written for a Motion Picture and gave the Irish pop star Bono his first Golden Globe Award. Bono composed the song as the theme for the Martin Scorcese film Gangs of New York which stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Bono’s song bested Lose Yourself by Eminem from 8 Mile, Die Another Day by Madonna from the James Bond flick of the same title, Father and Daughter by Paul Simon from The Wild Thornberrys, and Here I Am by Hans Zimmer, Bryan Adams and Gretchen Peters from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.