Birds by Elton John

I decided to write a post giving my thoughts on a great Elton John song. I wanted to showcase one

of his lesser known songs, that beings “Birds” from his 2001 album “Songs From The West Coast”. I

consider it to be one of Elton’s best albums and it was a comeback album for him. I have covered a

song from this album in my previous posts “Sci-Fi Elton John Songs” and “Ten Powerful Rock

Ballads by Elton John”. The music of the song is written by Elton John and the lyrics are written by

his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. I’m embedding the official audio from YouTube below which

you can listen to as you read this post.

The song opens with soft drumming. Four seconds in it’s joined by piano and electric guitar. After the

electric guitar riff is played a few times, it goes away and we can hear a harmonium that’s also

played by Elton in the background. The soft drumming continues. The chorus is joined by dobro (a

form of acoustic guitar) and the guitar riff from the start of the song comes back. In the second verse,

Matt Chamberlain’s drums are louder and he gives a modern touch with his playing. The song is

faster in the second verse, and the second chorus rocks harder with the drumming and its electric

guitar parts. Elton then delivers a piano solo which is followed by Rusty Anderson’s country rock

sounding guitar solo. We then have the chorus again and the song is closed by Rusty’s guitar work

which Elton accompanies well with his piano playing. 

Bernie Taupin’s lyrics are smart and thought provoking dealing with a person who has personal

issues that he doesn’t talk about. I like it how the chorus compares the situation of birds with the

narrator, pointing out why birds don’t fall from the sky when they die. Listening to the song makes me

wonder that myself. Feel free to discuss this issue in the comments. 

This Elton John rock song has country, americana and to me, some alternative rock elements. While

alternative rock isn't my kind of music, I hope some of its fans will check out this song due to its

similarities with their music. It gives them an introduction to Elton John and they could become

interested in his other work. The alternative elements have been incorporated into Elton’s music in

this song without changing of taking away from his sound. They come most prominently with the

drumming, some of the lyrics and Elton’s vocal delivery. At the end of the day it is an Elton John

song coming from an album which had a back to the 70s approach. It has a great melody and is a

good example of Elton’s songwriting, piano playing and vocal skills. This is my last blog post for this

year. I’ll be back next year and month with my 50th blog post which will coincide with the fourth

anniversary of this blog.