Elton John in 1974. Photograph: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Photographs
It took 17 years to develop into a No.1, however the truth that “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” has been one of many staples of Elton John’s unparalleled profession was underlined by its place in his Farewell Yellow Brick Highway tour set lists about half a century after he recorded it.
The stirring John-Taupin composition was certainly one of many they wrote in a purple patch of creativity whereas writing for what grew to become the Caribou album. Elton’s eighth studio set was launched in June 1974, a month after “Don’t Let The Sun…” grew to become its first single, and simply because the 45 was withdrawing. The track was the very best new entry on the Billboard Scorching 100 for June 22, at a promising No.70, arriving in the identical week as two singles that might overtake it and attain No.1, Roberta Flack’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and Andy Kim’s “Rock Me Gently.”
Billboard’s album evaluation picked out “Don’t Let The Sun” as certainly one of its greatest cuts, alongside “Stinker,” “Solar Prestige A Gammon,” and “Dixie Lilly” – however not, curiously, “The Bitch Is Back,” which might share house within the US High 10 within the fall, alongside John Lennon’s “Whatever Gets You Through The Night,” on which Elton featured. As “Sun” rose, his album profile was excessive even earlier than Caribou took a bow, with Goodbye Yellow Brick Highway nonetheless within the High 10 in its thirty sixth chart week, and Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Solely The Piano Participant nonetheless within the High 100 after 72 weeks.
“Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” featured spectacular and impactful backing vocals by Carl Wilson and Bruce Johnston of the Seashore Boys and Toni Tennille, who would discover fame the next yr as one half of the Captain & Tennille. The duo’s US chart-topping model of Neil Sedaka’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” would mark the beginning of constant success for the remainder of the last decade. As for the Seashore Boys, one other advantageous instance of Wilson and Johnston’s abilities as backing vocalists for Elton would come on the wonderful “Since God Invented Girls,” the closing observe on his 1989 album Reg Strikes Again.
Bernie Taupin stated later of “Don’t Let The Sun”: “My only recollections of this is that we wanted to write something big. I mean, big in that dramatic Spectory style, like ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.’ Hopefully being powerful without being pompous. I’m not sure that with this in mind it made me fashion the lyrics any differently. Although, in retrospect, they do seem to have a slightly more Brill Building flair to them, so it’s entirely possible that I did.”
The 1974 single climbed to No.2 within the US and spent two weeks there, held off the highest by John Denver’s “Annie’s Song.” It was fairly a consequence for a recording of which Elton at all times stated that he strongly disliked his vocal efficiency. Certainly, “Don’t Let The Sun” did prime the chart in Canada, and reached No.3 on Billboard’s Grownup Modern chart, on which Elton was as a lot a fixture as he was on the Scorching 100.
Maybe disappointingly, it peaked at No.16 within the UK, the place in 1975, he advised the New Musical Specific: “I didn’t think ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down’ was a hit single, I just liked the song and it meant a lot to me.” However after covers together with these by Roger Daltrey and Joe Cocker, the track would shine once more in late 1991, when Elton guested on George Michael’s stay model at Wembley Area, recreating the duet that they had carried out over the highway at Wembley Stadium for Stay Assist, six years earlier.
The stay recording was an instantaneous smash, topping the UK chart for 2 weeks, the US Grownup Modern itemizing for 2, and the Scorching 100 for one. It was additionally nominated for a Grammy for Greatest Pop Vocal Efficiency by a Duo or Group, and proceeds went to the London Lighthouse and the Rainbow Belief Youngsters’s Charity. Later variations have accrued by Gloria Estefan, Bettye Lavette, Garth Brooks, and Engelbert Humperdinck, and in 2018, the respect of remaking “Don’t Let The Sun” for the Elton covers challenge Revamp went to Miley Cyrus.
Purchase or stream “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” on Caribou.
