My 100 Favorite Charted Pop Songs: Sartorial Eloquence

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Welcome to the S’s. On this side, the “Hot 100,” we’ll be in this letter for the next 12 songs. And, oh, are y’all gonna hate me for this one. “You mean, out of all the songs this man has charted with, you pick this??????” Yeah. Welcome to my weird world. Scratch your head and enjoy this. Sartorial Eloquence - Elton John I love this song. So sue me. And all you have to say is “Never heard it” or, maybe more precisely, “never heard OF it.” You’d be correct, too. This was released in 1980, after Elton’s status as THE owner of the charts had been passed to the Bee Gees. More significantly, it was the follow-up to “Little Jeannie,” and that was a hard act to follow. The other problem is that you just can’t name a song “Sartorial Eloquence” and expect people to flock to it. In America they’d be more likely to run to the Webster’s Dictionary than to the record store to look it up. In fact, the song was retitled for the US release to “Don’t You Wanna Play This Game No More.” I don’t know exactly what that says about us. In the long run, it didn’t really matter what they called it, because it bombed. Peaking at #39, this was Elton’s lowest charting single in the US since “Tiny Dancer” (#41) in 1971. That means the woeful “Ego” charted higher than this! Go ahead and fling dirt at me, but I love this song. Sartorial Eloquence Written by Elton John and Tom Robinson Recorded by Elton John From 21 At 33, 1980 Peak chart position: #39 Today’s country song: “The Shelter of Your Eyes” Adamant before the fall: