{"id":254184,"date":"2025-11-01T08:43:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T08:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/254184\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T08:43:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T08:43:20","slug":"ill-never-forget-it-the-three-of-us-were-almost-in-tears-were-getting-to-sing-this-elton-and-bernies-whole-history-up-to-that-point-davey-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/254184\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019ll never forget it \u2013 the three of us were almost in tears. We\u2019re getting to sing this, Elton and Bernie\u2019s whole history up to that point\u201d: Davey Johnstone on the making of Elton John\u2019s 1975 masterpiece, Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Elton John<\/a> Band had one hour each day in the music room of the SS France to put together the music for a concept album that would be their most musically audacious and thematically intimate to date. <\/p>\n

Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year with a deluxe reissue<\/a> and a 5.1 Atmos remix, would tell the story of Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin in the early days, when they were unknown and penniless, sharing a bedsit in London, writing with dreams of making it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

By the time of the album\u2019s recording, they had most definitely made it. They were the hottest thing since the Beatles<\/a> \u2013 and that was not just popular opinion, John Lennon<\/a> himself had said so. Captain Fantastic… went straight to number one, selling 1.4 million copies in the first four days of its release.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

As Elton\u2019s long-serving guitarist and musical director Davey Johnstone <\/a>remembers it, joining MusicRadar via Zoom, Captain Fantastic… all began with a bit of fun. A Transatlantic cruise aboard the world\u2019s largest passenger liner on its final voyage would give them just enough time to let their hair down and gather their thoughts. It was just what they needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew it was going to be a fun thing. And John Reid [Elton John\u2019s former manager] said, \u2018Look, make sure you bring some of your stage clothes with you, because every night we\u2019re going to dress for dinner, and we\u2019re going to sit at the captain\u2019s table,\u2019\u201d recalls Johnstone. \u201cIt was quite a big deal, every night we got done up to sit at the captain\u2019s table \u2013 was quite a thing. We were there every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Music industry veteran Tony King, then Reid\u2019s assistant, was on the ship with them. Johnstone says King set the sartorial standard. And you have got to picture this. Here was Elton John, Davey Johnstone, et al, sitting down to their starters looking like they were about to take to the stage.<\/p>\n

Elton John – Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy (Live From Madison Square Garden \/ 2005) – YouTube
\n\"Elton<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTony was always immaculately dressed, and so we all trooped down to the dining room every night in our finery,\u201d says Johnstone. \u201cI mean, it must have looked ridiculous. We\u2019re all wearing Granny Takes A Trip clothes, and all this stuff that we\u2019d wear onstage in those days. I was sitting with the fucking captain. It was insane! But it was brilliant. We had a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got a feeling that Elton might have won the bingo… to have Elton John going, \u2018Bingo!\u2019 It was a comical thing<\/p>\n

If they weren\u2019t at the captain\u2019s table you might have found them in one of the SS France\u2019s swimming pools, or in one of its cinemas. You would have found percussionist Ray Cooper in his cabin, sick as a dog. \u201cI said, \u2018Come on, man, you were seasick.\u2019 And he said, \u2018No, no, no, food poisoning.\u2019 So, yeah, the poor guy never came out of his cabin more than once,\u201d says Johnstone.<\/p>\n

The others in the travelling party were more adventurous, making full use of the ship\u2019s facilities. There was plenty to be occupied with. An 11-year-old Julian Lennon was onboard with his mother, Cynthia, and the band were chaperoning him to make sure he didn\u2019t get up to too much mischief. They weren\u2019t hiding themselves away. Elton even partook of the ship\u2019s evening entertainment.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Davey\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Tom Hill\/WireImage)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a feeling that Elton might have won the bingo, one of the bingo games that he and Tony King had sat in,\u201d says Johnstone. \u201cHe actually won it. And so to have Elton John going, \u2018Bingo!\u2019 [raises hand] It was a comical thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

But this was a working holiday. Elton had a sheet of Taupin\u2019s lyrics in his pocket. He had the concept swirling around in his mind, ideas percolating. What he wrote he committed to memory. They all knew that they were making their way to Nederland, Colorado, to make a record in the shadow of the Rockies. Preparations were being made at Caribou Ranch, the residential studio of choice for Elton and producer Gus Dudgeon, for album number nine.<\/p>\n

And they had the Salon Debussy to write in, for one hour each day. That\u2019s all. This was a working cruise liner. Elton John was a big deal but too had to share the facilities with the onboard entertainment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a room that we were assigned for an hour, I believe it was every day, between a ventriloquist and an opera singer,\u201d says Johnstone. \u201cWe had a slot in the middle, and we went in there, and we had an electric piano<\/a>, and I had my acoustic, and that was where I actually came up with the opening lick that you hear on the record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crocodile Rock – Elton John – Live in London 1974 HD – YouTube
\n\"Crocodile<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

One hour each day would do it. They were used to working quickly. Johnstone\u2019s efficiency when writing and recording is trait he and Elton share.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tend to be really quick. Elton is exactly that way, too,\u201d says Johnstone. \u201cI think that\u2019s another reason that we always got on well. When I heard him even maybe just starting to put a song together, I would know what it was I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drummer Nigel Olsson did not hang about once the band got to New York City. He made a beeline for Caribou Ranch to set up the drums with Dudgeon while the band killed time in the city for a week. Olsson and Dudgeon were searching for the \u201cultimate snare sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the record, his Slingerland kit comprised of a 14\u201d by 8\u201d snare, a 24\u201d by 20\u201d bass drum, five toms (8\u201d to 16\u201d), and three cymbals. Olsson got his drums dialled in just right so there would be no messing around when tracking started.<\/p>\n

Elton John – (Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket (Captain Fantastic Live \/ 2005) – YouTube
\n\"Elton<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Johnstone says a drum sound is a non-negotiable. It sets the table for the sound of an album. \u201cThat\u2019s the basis of the whole thing,\u201d he says. \u201cGus and his engineers did a great job putting all that together.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the drum sound already established the time Elton arrived at the studio, there was more time to experiment with different sounds. There was no hurry. Having safely handed over Julian Lennon to his father, John, at New York Harbor, they were expecting the former Beatle to join them at the studio at some point, and were busy recording the album in the order it was written.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Elton\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Provided\/PR)<\/p>\n

First up, the title track, and the lilting, steely splash of Johnstone\u2019s Yamaha<\/a> FG-140 acoustic guitar<\/a> inaugurating what would be one of the most intense recording experiences they would ever have. The chords came tumbling out and away they went.<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty much every single track was intense because we recorded it in order,\u201d says Johnston. \u201cWe recorded it in the order that Bernie had written the lyrics and saw the album. We thought, \u2018Okay, here are all the songs. Here are all the lyrics. Let\u2019s do each song as it comes.\u2019 We already knew how Captain Fantastic\u2026 would go because we started it on the boat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came up with that opening riff which became what it is, this kind of little folk-country song, and then it goes into this fucking totally different [thing]. So each song was treated really, really separately, and really importantly. It wasn\u2019t like, \u2018Okay, we\u2019re gonna lay the track down.\u2019 Each track was really intense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"The\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The title track is a work of field-born Americana, the soundtrack to an imaginary western. Johnstone lays down two acoustic guitar parts, three electric guitar<\/a> parts, and two mandolin parts. Elton had a wah pedal<\/a> on his electric piano.<\/p>\n

We just went on and went back out on the road, and then we\u2019d come back in the studio and back on the road. We never stopped <\/p>\n

There are layers and layers as they take this dusty folk-country song and electrify it. It\u2019s like a metaphor for John\/Taupin\u2019s career. The bright lights were inevitable.<\/p>\n

If the album is the origin story of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, musically it serves up the quintessence of what made the band what it became; Johnstone\u2019s folkie sensibility and gift for playing pretty much anything with strings, Elton\u2019s rock \u2019n\u2019 roll energy and musical curiosity to take a song off-road, and this strange phenomenon of a band of British players making Americana central to their sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re absolutely right. Americana is now this whole thing. We were fucking playing it in the \u201870s. This is what we did,\u201d says Johnstone. \u201cDixie Lily [from 1974\u2019s Caribou], Captain Fantastic, all of these tracks are steeped in Americana. So, yeah, very much so, we\u2019ve always been that kind of a band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elton John – Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Old Grey Whistle Test 1982) – YouTube
\n\"Elton<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Each song presented its own challenges. Someone Saved My Life Tonight is Elton at his rawest. The arrangement had to leave space for that. With a running time just under seven minutes, it did not make the most obvious choice for a single, but then this was 1975 and there was something in the air.<\/p>\n

On Someone Saved My Life Tonight, the main point that we wanted to get across was the vulnerability of the song, and the beauty of the piano sound<\/p>\n

A few months later, Queen<\/a> would do something similar with a piano<\/a>-led epic as they released Bohemian Rhapsody as the lead single from A Night At The Opera. It still blows Johnstone\u2019s mind that it was successful as a single.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Someone Saved My Life Tonight, the main point that we wanted to get across was the vulnerability of the song, and the beauty of the piano sound,\u201d says Johnstone. \u201cNow, I mean, pfft! Here\u2019s another thing. I\u2019m still confused when I think of the fact that it was a massive hit single [laughs], because it was the only single on that record, which is kind of weird. It could have been could have been others. It was very, very emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"A\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Robert Knight Archive\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

How could you follow Someone Saved My Life Tonight, this operatic cri de coeur? It was an unorthodox single but the perfect way to close out Side A, an almighty mic drop. You can pick yourself off the floor as you turn the vinyl over.<\/p>\n

Someone Saved My Life Tonight is a piano track but in the mix you will hear the swirl of Johnstone\u2019s acoustic guitars through a Leslie.<\/p>\n

There was always often a whiff of psychedelia in Elton\u2019s \u201870s work, as on Tower Of Babel with its Univibe piano \u2013 all these modulated elements to contrast with the biscuity dryness of acoustic folk instrumentation, and the straight-ahead, decade-appropriate sound of Johnstone playing his 1972 Les Paul Custom through a Vox AC30, as he did on the Tower Of Babel solo.<\/p>\n

Elton John – Rocket Man (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Elton<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Johnstone\u2019s approach is worthy of study. Oftentimes his acoustics and mandolinw will be layered and panned, and used to sit alongside the piano, filling out those frequencies, whereas he will use the electric guitar like a secondary lead vocal, like on Bitter Fingers, where his rhythm\/lead lines sound like they are in conversation with Elton.<\/p>\n

If I was doing an acoustic guitar, whatever kind of it was, we would double it to get a bigger, more glossy kind of sparkly effect<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why I was so audacious to think that I should play the tune behind the chorus, but it works,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen we did it, I remember Elton going, \u2018Oh, I fucking love that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

What makes it doubly audacious is that it the fuzzy tone is really just a little Pignose amp pushed hard. Johnstone would use it regularly throughout the Captain Fantastic\u2026 sessions. \u201cI used to go to the bass pickup, take all the bass off so that it was just a pure \u2018woooo\u2019 type of sound,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

On occasion, he would bypass the outboard gear completely and just plug his guitar direct into the console, as he did on Writing, a track that\u2019s all light on its feet, with Johnstone\u2019s guitars tip-toeing through these almost celestial frequencies, doubling his acoustic with a Stratocaster, while Dee Murray\u2019s bassline does much of the heavy lifting, giving it ballast.<\/p>\n

Johnstone and Dudgeon had a reputation for double-tracked guitars, and by the time Captain Fantastic was being recorded they had it down to a tee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I had a double or something, it pretty much would happen straight away. Don\u2019t waste time on it,\u201d says Johnstone. \u201cIf I was doing an acoustic guitar, whatever kind of it was, we would double it to get a bigger, more glossy kind of sparkly effect, and I would do it straight away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not bragging here, but it became a thing that I became the double-track guy, so when we did this stuff on Writing, which was all direct into the board on that Strat, it was like, \u2018Oh, let me just double that. I\u2019ve got an idea.\u2019 I was really playing off of it. I wasn\u2019t doubling the part, per se, all the way. I was putting a couple of harmonies on, and then having them offset each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elton John – We All Fall In Love Sometimes \/ Curtains (Captain Fantastic Live \/ 2005) – YouTube
\n\"Elton<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

There is a story online that Johnstone had to intervene when they were tracking the album\u2019s centrepiece, Somebody Saved My Life Last Night, that Dudgeon was pushing Elton too hard, given how difficult the subject matter was. But that\u2019s not how Johnstone remembers it. One of Dudgeon\u2019s greatest gifts was to humour Elton and keep him on-point.<\/p>\n

I really miss Dee Murray because he was such an integral part of what we were doing<\/p>\n

\u201cGus has always been perfect at getting the best out of Elton,\u201d he says. \u201cGus was a major, major part of this whole thing\u2026 A wonderful producer, who needs to be heralded, not only for this album but all of Elton\u2019s albums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray, too, was key. In Johnstone\u2019s opinion a criminally underrated bass player, \u201cstunningly brilliant,\u201d and capable of playing a line you would least expect. The first time Johnstone worked on a track with him, on 1972\u2019s Honkey Ch\u00e2teau, he couldn\u2019t believe what Murray came up with.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he comes in on Rocket Man, that bassline is fucking devastating. Who would think of playing that kind of a line?\u201d says Johnstone. \u201cYou know, most bass players would just go to the root note. Dee, he\u2019s just phenomenal. He does the same thing on Curtains, and, again, as you\u2019ve mentioned, Writing is a phenomenal part. I really miss Dee Murray because he was such an integral part of what we were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"The\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Koh Hasebe\/Shinko Music\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Curtains was another one where the Univibe saw some action. Johnstone\u2019s electric went through one and then into the Pignose. The Yamaha acoustic had served him so well. It was a dream to record. Dudgeon loved it. But Captain Fantastic\u2026 was the first time that Johnstone started experimenting with different acoustics. Johnstone brought a Martin D-28 to the studio.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a spirit of expansionism running through the album. Little wonder John Lennon<\/a> wanted to experience some of it, and he did, turning up to the studio to record a cover of the Beatles<\/a>\u2019 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Lennon is credited as Dr Winston O\u2019Boogie), which was released as a single with Lennon\u2019s One Day (At A Time), also recorded during these sessions, as the B-side.<\/p>\n

These side missions were indicative of how prolific this hit-making machine had become. Philadelphia Freedom, written in tribute to Billie Jean King, was recorded during the Captain Fantastic\u2026 sessions.<\/p>\n

Elton John – Goodbye yellow brick road live at Dodger Stadium 1975 (Source Merge) – YouTube
\n\"Elton<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

That was another song on which Johnstone plugged an electric into the desk, this time a Fender Telecaster<\/a>, before they gave the track to Gene Page to add orchestration. Again, Philadelphia Freedom was a hit, another number one. They were on a hot streak. Johnstone says they were always thinking one album ahead. There was no time for reflection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just went on and went back out on the road, and then we\u2019d come back in the studio and back on the road,\u201d he says. \u201cWe never stopped to go, \u2018Jesus, that is really fucking good.\u2019 We never actually stopped to do that. Which was probably, in retrospect, it was probably a good thing. We didn\u2019t get full of ourselves and the rest of it. We just carried on doing what we were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there was much work to do. They were pulling out all the tricks. On Better Off Dead, they put Olsson\u2019s drums through an Eventide Harmonizer. There are reportedly six layers of backing vocals on the track. Their appetite for adventure grew with each passing track, exploring the limits of vocal harmonies, Johnstone bringing his folk influences to bear on them.<\/p>\n

Elton John – Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Live At Est\u00e1dio Do Flamengo, Brazil \/ 1995) – YouTube
\n\"Elton<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

The wind was in their sails. So when they came to closing out Captain Fantastic\u2026 with We All Fall In Love and Curtains, they decided just to record the tracks together, no breaks in between, 10-minutes plus of music.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d become famous for doing these really majestic background vocals, with really great parts, and we loved doing them<\/p>\n

Hey, they had opened Goodbye Yellow Brick Road like that, Funeral For A Friend\/Love Lies Bleeding. What could go wrong? Well, they did it, and in two takes. It was 50 years ago now but Johnstone remembers it like it was yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a long, long fucking piece. It\u2019s like Funeral For A Friend\u2026 plus!\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019d become famous for doing these really majestic background vocals, with really great parts, and we loved doing them, but when we were doing the backgrounds for Curtains, and we were standing in a circle \u2013 I\u2019ll never forget it \u2013 the three of us were almost in tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd just like us\/You must have had\/A once upon a time\u2026 Even when I\u2019m telling you this right now, I\u2019m choking a little bit, because it\u2019s fucking special. Listening to these words, and we\u2019re getting to sing this as part of our history, the history of this band, and of course Elton and Bernie\u2019s whole history up to that point, the whole thing was very moving. It was very deep, very fucking moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elton John – Davey Johnstone’s 3,000th Show – YouTube
\n\"Elton<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Johnstone hasn\u2019t had that long to sit with the new 5.1 Atmos mix of Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy, which was overseen by Greg Penny, and yet he is already hearing details that he had never heard before.<\/p>\n

Today was a good day to catch him because hearing it in 5.1 has given him a deeper appreciation of not only album but that iteration of the Elton John Band and what they were capable of, and the part he played, and what the band\u2019s greatest strengths were \u2013 what made the ultimate \u201870s band tick.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, here\u2019s the thing, we never, ever told each other what to do,\u201d he says. \u201cI tend to know the right things to play. And I\u2019ve always been blessed with the gift of not stepping on the vocal. I think if a song\u2019s great, leave it the fuck alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Davey\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Peter Wafzig\/Redferns via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the point of blowing a loud meaningless guitar solo over a great vocal line? That\u2019s something that\u2019s always come to me naturally, and I think there was an awful lot of trust between all of us, because we just played what we wanted to play, and instinctively things came out that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll sit back and make sure everybody gets the chance. It\u2019s something that we learned in the original band, with just the four of us, that we loved the space. The space between the notes, to me, is as important is the notes themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really important in music as a whole \u2013 the tension that you can build that with space. Instead of filling every nook and cranny up with a lick or a line or whatever, I always feel that it\u2019s important to let the thing breathe on its own.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Elton John Band had one hour each day in the music room of the SS France to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":{"0":"post-254184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}