This song is gentle, but sassy. It’s sweet and naive, and also whimsically arrogant in its self mythologizing. And make it a double, baby, because this song is not just one perfect song, it’s actually TWO. Today’s perfect song is “Grey Seal” by Elton John from the album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) AND Elton John (1970). I’m going to start with the 1973 version because it’s the only one I knew for most of my life. In my opinion, it’s the unsung hero of GYBR (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road for the unenlightened). It’s difficult to describe the feeling I get in my chest when I hear this song. No matter how many times I’ve heard it, which is surely in the thousands by now, it rewires my brain instantly. I’m so confident about that figure that I’m considering requesting a data download from Spotify to do my own Eltonalysis. <—wow can you believe I came up with that? also I Googled it and I think I could actually do it, and I might, and that’s a threat This song is bigger than words, so let me paint a picture. If I suddenly befriended a luckdragon named Falkor who saved my life and he flew me around to get revenge on my school bullies while I pump my fist in the air having just saved an entire mythological planet by giving a very cool name to the Childlike Empress and all because I’m such a special little book reader…this song, and specifically this version, would be the soundtrack. But for the non-NeverEnding Story heads, I would describe it as euphorically energetic and bright. Frenetic in a fun way. A bit of a treble-maker. <—wow two puns in one email, a new personal low If you read the lyrics, you’ll understand what I was on about at the beginning. It alternates between some kind of primal, spiritual wisdom and charming delusions of grandeur. Party favors at the new age function. They’re very unusual lyrics and at times they’re so abstract or esoteric that they come out like wordless sounds that just sort of move along kinetically. (Bowie does that a lot, too.) The best example of it is also my absolute favorite 9 seconds of the track: Your mission bells were rung by ancient men The roots were formed by twisted roots Your roots were twisted then. But if I were to format it the way it’s sung, it would be more like your missionbells werrung by ancient men the rootswereformed bytwistedrootsyourrootswere twistedthen ⬆️ basically Shakespeare Long story short, this has been an important song in my life for reasons that only my therapist gets to hear about, suckers. It’s a sky-clearing, self-cheering, persevering anthem for the ages. And there’s more?! Around five years ago, I stumbled across the 1970 version of “Grey Seal” from the self titled album. The style is stripped back, a bit slower, with churchy reverb on the vocals. It even starts with organ, but more Rhodes than pipe. And it does build like a sermon. When those strings kick in? Beam me up, Jesus. They feel like a stand-in for a gospel choir, especially during the outro. Nary a hand unraised in the congregation by the end of the fade. It’s kind of funny to call this stripped back, because it’s actually pretty orchestral and robust instrumentally, but compared to the coke-fueled kaleidoscope version that came later, he’s damn near MTV Unplugged. His vocal performance is a little more on the Van Morrison end of a spectrum for this one. More raw and bluesy, but still smooth when it counts. The whole song is a bear hug and some slightly aggressive forehead kisses, tonally. You know what’s better than having a favorite song? (That’s right, I’m committing, Grey Seal is my favorite song). It’s having two favorite songs that are actually the same song. Hearing the 1970 version for the first time was like unlocking a code. Or like these recurring dreams I’ve been having where I find a room in my house that I never knew about. Like our little Bastian curled up with a good book on a stormy day before being swept away to Fantasia, or poor little Dorothy bonking her noggin so hard she slipped into a psychedelic coma, this song exists in two worlds fully and perfectly. ⬇️ click the pics to listen to each version |
PS: This one goes out to my two incredible aunts, Kathy and Teresa, who are both big Elton John fans and represent everything that I aspire to be now that I’m an aunt!
How does it feel to be so wise,
Tonya <3
Comments