"Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

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GoogaMooga
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"Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby GoogaMooga » 04 Oct 2019, 11:54

I moved to Brighton, England in the summer of 1976. The week I arrived, Elton John & Kiki Dee were #1 with "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", which blared from the speakers down at the poolside. Elton John and Bernie Taupin wanted to write a duet in the classic Motown style, but wound up with a deeply-cheesy-but-so-effervescent Broadway-disco shout-along. We loved it. Perfect poolside music, perfect summer hit.

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"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby BARON CORNY DOG » 04 Oct 2019, 12:25

Fifty years on, we mostly focus on the good aspects of the past without dwelling too much on the bad, often even forgetting them almost entirely. This is a striking and putrid reminder of how bad the 70s actually were. I was two when the record came out and it’s one of the first things I remember being on the radio. I love it.
take5_d_shorterer wrote:If John Bonham simply didn't listen to enough Tommy Johnson or Blind Willie Mctell, that's his doing.

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby ` » 04 Oct 2019, 12:43

GoogaMooga wrote:
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart",



I couldn't if I tried.

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby Minnie the Minx » 04 Oct 2019, 12:45

Kiki Dee - Bradford lass
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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby Tom Waits For No One » 04 Oct 2019, 21:56

Still Baron wrote:Fifty years on, we mostly focus on the good aspects of the past without dwelling too much on the bad, often even forgetting them almost entirely. This is a striking and putrid reminder of how bad the 70s actually were. I was two when the record came out and it’s one of the first things I remember being on the radio. I love it.



:lol:

Me too.
That UK summer of 76.
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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby Sneelock » 04 Oct 2019, 22:17

I hated it. Still do. He went from Dodger Stadium to that?
Goddam belly-flop if you ask me.

I hate “Philadelphia’s Freedom” too. :p
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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby GoogaMooga » 04 Oct 2019, 22:23

Sneelock wrote:I hate “Philadelphia’s Freedom” too. :p


:lol:

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby Flower » 04 Oct 2019, 22:30

Sneelock wrote:I hated it. Still do. He went from Dodger Stadium to that?
Goddam belly-flop if you ask me.

I hate “Philadelphia’s Freedom” too. :p


I dislike both tunes.
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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby Mike Boom » 04 Oct 2019, 23:12

"Philadelphia Freedom" is great

"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" was the beginning of the end for dear old Elton unfortunately ... it's really where it all started going horribly wrong.

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby BARON CORNY DOG » 04 Oct 2019, 23:36

The gauche 70s strings on Philadelphia Freedom are so dreadful that I can't help but loving it. But it IS wrong.
take5_d_shorterer wrote:If John Bonham simply didn't listen to enough Tommy Johnson or Blind Willie Mctell, that's his doing.

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby BARON CORNY DOG » 04 Oct 2019, 23:41

It’s probably no coincidence that FUCKIN ELT-IN has been playing any given Philadelphia radio station every 15 or 20 minutes for the last 40 years.
take5_d_shorterer wrote:If John Bonham simply didn't listen to enough Tommy Johnson or Blind Willie Mctell, that's his doing.

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby GoogaMooga » 05 Oct 2019, 00:20

There is no right or wrong in music.

So, how does that jibe with Duke Ellington's, "There are only two kinds of music, good and bad"?

It doesn't. Duke says what he says, good and bad. And leaves it at that. He'd never dictate taste.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby GoogaMooga » 05 Oct 2019, 00:23

Mike Boom wrote:"Philadelphia Freedom" is great

"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" was the beginning of the end for dear old Elton unfortunately ... it's really where it all started going horribly wrong.


I'd say it went downhill a little later, in 78, after Song for Guy. Then, a late redemption with Captain and the Kid and the Leon Russell collaboration.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby BARON CORNY DOG » 05 Oct 2019, 00:28

GoogaMooga wrote:There is no right or wrong in music.


The existence of “Philadelphia Freedom” and “Don’t Go Breakin My Heart” strongly suggests otherwise.
take5_d_shorterer wrote:If John Bonham simply didn't listen to enough Tommy Johnson or Blind Willie Mctell, that's his doing.

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby GoogaMooga » 05 Oct 2019, 00:34

Still Baron wrote:
GoogaMooga wrote:There is no right or wrong in music.


The existence of “Philadelphia Freedom” and “Don’t Go Breakin My Heart” strongly suggests otherwise.


Replace those with f.ex. "Nikita" and "Sad Songs", and I'd be more inclined to agree.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby Jimbly » 05 Oct 2019, 00:35

It was number 1 the week my dad died, so it can fuck off.
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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby GoogaMooga » 05 Oct 2019, 00:43

Again, wrong is not synonymous with bad. If it goes gold or platinum and makes millions happy, is well composed, well arranged, etc., it might be in bad taste, but it works.

There are a few genres that are almost total anathema to me, but if they work on their own terms, I can't say they go wrong. Some people, nay millions, like tub-thumping, so techno has a place. It's just not for me. However, if you shove techno into another genre with a different set of rules, it may fuck up the whole thing, then you could go so far as saying it is wrong, or alien to that genre's particular idiom.
Last edited by GoogaMooga on 05 Oct 2019, 00:45, edited 2 times in total.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby GoogaMooga » 05 Oct 2019, 00:44

Jeemo wrote:It was number 1 the week my dad died, so it can fuck off.


That is totally understandable.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby Deebank » 05 Oct 2019, 10:39

GoogaMooga wrote:There is no right or wrong in music.

So, how does that jibe with Duke Ellington's, "There are only two kinds of music, good and bad"?

It doesn't. Duke says what he says, good and bad. And leaves it at that. He'd never dictate taste.


Yes, all correct but I think it was Butthead who put it best when he said: “I like stuff that’s cool; I hate stuff that sucks.”

I met Kiki Dee when she was in a musical (Pump Boys & Dinettes - pretty weak stuff) with Wayne from Auf Weidersehen Pet in London in the 80s. A very nice lady. She came and chatted with me during the intermission - for no good reason really.
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Re: "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

Postby trans-chigley express » 07 Oct 2019, 14:39

I never cared much for Don't Go Breaking My Heart but Kiki Dee did have a clutch of good songs including Amoureuse, Loving and Free and this one:


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