Elton John & Boz Scaggs' Similar 70s Songs

I like Boz Scaggs’ hit song “Lido Shuffle”. I’ve noticed it sounds like an Elton John song and mentioned that when it was featured in my article “Ten Great Songs Featuring David Paich”. David is the keyboardist and co-writer of the song and would co-found the rock band Toto soon afterwards. Elton is a hero and an influence of David’s. I decided to write an article comparing it to an Elton John song, which is “Elderberry Wine”. That is the Elton song that comes to mind when I think of “Lido Shuffle” being like Elton’s music. Elton’s song comes from his album “Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player” (1973) and Boz’s song comes from his album “Silk Degrees” (1976). I’m embedding both songs with a paragraph about each one followed by a comparison of them.

Elderberry Wine (1973)

Elderberry Wine opens with Elton’s piano accompanied by drums and is soon joined by all instruments. The horns come in during the chorus and enhance this song. Elton sings with passion. The song closes with Elton singing the song title over and over again with Davey Johnstone’s guitar riffs in between them. This is a fun, melodic rocker.

Lido Shuffle (1976)

Lido Shuffle opens with bass and drums. Boz sings over it and all instruments soon come in. Just before the chorus, the horns start to appear and are most prominent in the choruses. David Paich plays all the keyboards on this song including both piano and synth. David’s piano provides a solid musical base and he provides creative synth work in parts of the song. Boz sings passionately. This is an iconic 70s rock hit.

Comparison

These are two 1970s pop rock songs featuring horns and piano. In my view, the melodies on both tracks sound alike. Elton and Boz sound similar including the way they sing. Elton’s song is more piano driven, although it does have a similarity in its opening. Elton’s song is opened with piano and drums and Boz’s song is opened by bass and drums. In both of them, this is followed with all the instruments coming in. Lido Shuffle’s horns are featured in more of the song than “Elderberry Wine”.

Both songs have similar runtimes with “Elderberry Wine” being 3:34 and “Lido Shuffle” being 3:43. It’s interesting that the number of seconds in Boz's song is the inverse of Elton’s song. One song (“Lido Shuffle”) is a hit song, while the other song (“Elderberry Wine”) is an album track. Elderberry Wine is connected with one of Elton’s hits as it was the B-Side to “Crocodile Rock”. In both cases, the singer wrote the song with a collaborator. Elton wrote it with his lyricist Bernie Taupin and Boz wrote it with David Paich who was the keyboardist of his “Silk Degrees” album. I consider them both to be great songs.

Celebrating Colombo

I decided to create a post collecting photos online from my hometown of Colombo, Sri Lanka. I give credit to the photographers below and provide some commentary on these photos.

Galle Face Green

Here’s a photo of Galle Face Green from 20 years ago in 2005. It’s good to see people enjoying themselves, kites and the Sri Lankan flag flying.

"Galle Face Green" by the very honest man is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

This is another look at Galle Face Green from a different angle.

"Galle Face Green" by Dennis S. Hurd is marked with CC0 1.0.

Viharamahadevi Park

We’re now moving onto Viharamahadevi Park. The photo below has the board of the park.

 

"Viharamahadevi Park" by Honeplus is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Here’s a walking path in this park with trees and plants. 

"SL210 Viharamahadevi Park" by S.K. LO is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

I really like the photo below which has grass, trees, walking paths and a bird pool in the centre.

"Viharamahadevi Park, Colombo - panoramio" by Alexey Komarov is licensed under CC BY 3.0.

Wellawatte

This is Wellwatte, the Colombo suburb I’m from. The photo below is from Rajasinghe Road. It has the Wellawatte look you get of houses, green trees and apartment buildings.

"Rajasinghe Road - Wellawatte, Sri Lanka" by Muunaa-Selva is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

The following two photos are at nighttime. I really like the way Sri Lanka looks at that time of day. Shehal Joseph took them from a friend's apartment 30 metres above the ground. The first photo’s blue light is positively striking. The second photo has a good contrast of minimal lighting at the front and strong lighting at the back. I notice it features a mix of apartment buildings and palm trees.

"Views from 30m above Ground in Wellawatte - 5" by shehal is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

"Views from 30m above Ground in Wellawatte - 6" by shehal is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

This is a nice view of Wellawatte beach by the railway.

"Wellawatte beach 2" by Yomal Indula Perera is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Beira Lake

Beira Lake is a beautiful lake in Colombo. Here’s a lovely photo of Beira Lake surrounded by large green trees and skyscrapers.

"South Beira Lake" by D-Stanley is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

I love how this photo has so many different elements. We see a train going by Beira Lake, a building, palm trees, vehicles and a boat.

"UG-LK Photowalk - Beira Lake - 2017-03-12 (2)" by Rehman Abubakr is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Here’s a footbridge on Beira Lake. I like the modern architecture of this bridge.

"South Beira Lake Colombo (Childrens Park)" by Kondephy is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This is a cool photo of Beira Lake at night. I love how the bridge lights up.

"File:Beira lake at Nite.jpg" by Arvindkumarn is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Buildings

Here’s a recent picture of the Colombo skyline with all these buildings. This looks very impressive! It reminds me of Dubai.

"Colombo skyline 2024" by T Chamika is marked with CC0 1.0.

This photo of Independence Memorial Hall in Independence Square is by ImageBang!.

"Independence Square" by Mydaas! is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Here’s a colourful look at Arcade Independence Square which is nearby.

"Arcade Independence Square" by Nazly is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

These are the Royal Park apartment buildings in Rajagiriya. I like how it goes with the sky and the trees.

"_MG_2176" by Dhammika Heenpella / CWSSIP Images of Sri Lanka is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

A good look at Colombo city from 10 years ago.

"Colombo City Line 01" by Priyantha Bandara is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

I’ll conclude with this lovely photo of Colombo at night.

"Colombo (Sri Lanka) at Night" by Dyl86 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

I hope you enjoyed these photos of Colombo. As a Sri Lankan abroad, seeing good photos of my hometown has a special feeling. I like how Colombo has both many buildings and trees. This proves to be a good combination which makes Colombo a special city.