Top Ten Elton John Songs: Cage the Songbird (#5)

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Now we're in the top five of my all-time favorite Elton John songs. And, as I said earlier, I've been a fan for 42 years, so I really mean "all-time" favorites! #5: Cage the Songbird By 1976 things were changing, and Elton's reign at the top of the charts was about to come crashing down. There were a number of factors, of course, such as that 1976 was the year disco was going full-tilt. But part of the blame has to be put on Sir Elton himself. Following his highly successful Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the first album to debut at #1 on the Billboard album charts, Elton had a series of inferior albums (and I say that as a fan!). Rock of the Westies, the follow-up to Captain Fantastic, was filled with mediocre songs (with, to me, only one song -- "I Feel Like a Bullet (in the Gun of Robert Ford)" standing out as truly good). The follow-up album was Here and There, a live album that featured no new material and (unlike his first live album, 11-17-70) seemed flat and lacking energy. Then came Blue Moves, Elton's second double album in three years (after 1973's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road). Unlike the classic Yellow Brick Road album, this was disjointed, weak, and, as a review cited in the Wikipedia entry on the album says, showing the "inevitable fatigue" of this high-output era in John's career (between 1970 and 76 he released eleven albums [not counting greatest hits, soundtracks, or reissues], four non-album singles [all of which, except "Step Into Christmas," went to #1], and enough non-album B-sides to fill at least one more album! Contrast that with the Eagles, who had nine albums and three non-album songs on 45s in their entire 44-year career!). The cracks were showing. Blue Moves would probably have been a good single album, but as a double LP, it failed miserably. That's not to say that there weren't good songs on the album. One of Elton's classic singles, "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word," came from this album. This song, which comes in at #5 on my all-time favorite Elton John songs list, was also on that album. On the album it says the song is "for Édith Piaf," the French actress and singer who died of liver disease related to alcohol and drug abuse in 1963. The song, however, could be about any star who had died. The closing line of the last verse, "She left in rouge upon the mirror a circled kiss blown to the faithful fans who would miss her," is among Bernie Taupin's best lyrics. The beautiful ballad is highlighted by the inclusion of David Crosby and Graham Nash providing vocal harmonies. "Cage the Songbird" shows that Elton could still cultivate gems even on the lamest of his albums. Cage the Songbird Written by Elton John, Bernie Taupin, & Davey Johnstone From Blue Moves, 1976