Ten Great Elton John Songs by Ten Different Guitarists

I decided to post a collection of Elton John songs whose main guitar part is played by ten different guitarists. These songs showcase the mix of guitar and piano where you hear how well Elton plays piano with many guitarists. Elton’s lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics for six of the songs. We’re beginning with one of Elton’s most popular songs.

Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting - Davey Johnstone (1973)

It opens with Davey Johnstone’s charging guitars. It’s mainly guitars you hear at the start. Elton soon brings in his piano with a glissando just before the chorus. This glissando is repeated at the same spot throughout the song. Davey really rocks powerfully with all the guitars he plays on this song. Elton’s piano playing supports Davey well. Right at the end of the song, his rock & roll piano parts offer a good contrast with Davey’s guitars.

Street Kids - Caleb Quaye (1975)

Caleb Quaye & Davey Johnstone both play rhythm guitars. Davey also plays slide guitar. It opens with a guitar effect and then all the instruments come in including Elton’s piano which is mixed in well. Elton is singing aggressively. There are these strong guitar riffs throughout the song I’m assuming is played by Caleb. Caleb gives us a long creative guitar solo. The solo is so rock sounding yet it seems like he’s taking inspiration from jazz the way he changes notes so fast. This is a hard rocking guitar & piano song.

Earn While You Learn - Tim Renwick (1978)

Though this song appears as a bonus track on 1983’s “Too Low For Zero” album due to being a B-Side from that time, it was recorded during the sessions for the 1978 album “A Single Man”. This instrumental is written solely by Elton. It opens with “Earn While You Learn” (the song title) spoken by someone and then Tim’s guitar riff before being joined by all instruments.

When all instruments come in, we get Elton’s keyboards. Elton’s keyboards include prominent organ and synth parts with his piano underneath everything. At about the two minute mark, Tim plays his riff again with Elton’s piano coming in louder and Tim giving a guitar solo. This happens again later on without another guitar solo. This is powerful melodic instrumental rock. Elton gives good rock piano parts including a glissando in the last quarter of the song.

Two Rooms At The End Of The World - Steve Lukather (1980)

The guitar is played by Toto guitarist Steve Lukather. Steve’s guitar matches well with Elton’s electric piano. The drums drive this song as there are brief moments of just drums and Elton’s vocals. Just before the one minute mark, horns come in. The horns give a musical presence throughout the song. It’s nice how Steve’s guitar doubles with the horns and there is a section of good back and forth between guitar & horns. Elton gives an interesting electric piano solo. During Elton’s solo, the guitar & horns come in and out of it. Bassist Reggie McBride does some slap bass playing making his instrument more noticeable.

Dear John - Richie Zito (1982)

This song features another Toto member which is their late great drummer Jeff Porcaro. The lyrics are written by Gary Osbourne who Elton had written with during this period. This is a rock & roll song featuring guitars by Richie Zito. Richie played guitar in Elton’s band in the brief period in the early 80s when Davey Johnstone wasn’t in the band. There is a piano solo featuring synth flourishes by James Newton Howard. Richie’s guitars give a driving energetic presence.

Runaway Train - Eric Clapton (1992)

Elton & Bernie co-wrote this song with Olle Romo who plays drums on it. Eric plays lead guitar and sings this duet with Elton John. Elton’s piano is low in the mix. The rhythm guitar is played by Elton’s guitarist Davey Johnstone. The song has a guitar opening which is soon taken over by Eric’s aggressive lead guitar part. The singing goes back and forth between Elton and Eric. Eric then plays a guitar solo in the middle of the song which is followed by Elton’s organ solo. Eric adds guitar flourishes to the organ solo. There are other similar organ parts in the song. I’m not sure if Elton is playing them. The last chorus is sung by Elton. Eric brings his signature blues rock sound to this song.

If You Were Me - Chris Rea (1993)

After so many intense rock songs, we’re now going to something gentle. This is a duet with singer Chris Rea who wrote the song, produced it and played the guitars & keyboards alongside Max Middleton. The song opening is keyboards which includes electric piano. There are subtle guitars. After Elton & Chris sing, Elton’s piano comes in. Chris’ guitar parts are both acoustic & electric. This seems to be a pop song with blues elements. Chris gives a blues vibe with his guitar playing including his solo.

Birds - Rusty Anderson (2001)

I had written a blog post about this song three years ago. This country rocker opens with drumming following the mix of Elton’s piano and Rusty Anderson’s guitar riff. Once Elton starts singing, the guitar stops and we can make out harmonium which Elton plays in addition to his piano. Just before the chorus, David Channing’s dobro (a type of acoustic guitar) comes in which remains for the song. Rusty’s guitar comes in throughout the song including a rocking solo. Elton also provides a piano solo. Rusty concludes the song with good rock guitar playing.

Rock This House - B.B. King (2005)

This song is another duet with a singer-guitarist. Unlike the previous two who are English, the late B.B. King is American, specifically African-American. This song was recorded with the Elton John Band. Davey Johnstone plays the rhythm guitar and B.B. King plays the lead guitar. The song opens with Davey’s guitar riff before all the instruments come in. B.B.’s guitar is in the right speaker. This is a cover song by blues singer Jimmy Rogers which gives off a blues rock vibe. Both B.B. and Elton give solos. They sound like they’re having so much fun rocking this house. I like how there are horn parts in this song.

Take This Dirty Water - Doyle Bramhall II (2013)

This is an americana song primarily in the gospel genre with some country, soul and blues elements. In this song, the guitar has a supportive role. Elton’s piano opens the song. Doyle soon gives his guitar flourishes. Elton sings “in and out of everything” which reflects how Doyle’s guitar keeps coming in and out of the song. Around the three minute mark, Doyle gives a short guitar solo. I like the optimistic feel of this song. Elton sings so soulfully with good gospel sounding backing vocals.

Many of these songs are guitar driven and have a harder rocking sound. They show how great a rock performer Elton John is. In addition to rock there are also elements of pop, blues, gospel, soul and country. Interestingly, the duets all go in a blues direction. The Elton John Band guitarists who played on these songs are Davey Johnstone, Caleb Quaye, Tim Renwick & Richie Zito. Davey is the only guitarist who also plays rhythm guitar on some tracks as he’s Elton’s original and long-time guitarist. I hope to hear more rocking songs like this from Elton in the future.

Ten Great Songs Featuring David Paich

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David Paich is a keyboardist and founder member of the American rock band Toto. He sang their most popular song “Africa”. Toto is a band of session musicians, thus David has a prolific session career playing on numerous albums. In this article, I am featuring ten songs David has played keyboards on including one song by his band Toto. David is joined by most of his original Toto bandmates on some of the non-Toto tracks on this list. I had previously featured two songs David Paich played on in my article “Ten Great Piano Rock Songs by Ten Different Singers”. 

These Days - Jackson Browne (1973)

This song begins with just Jackson and his acoustic guitar with some slide guitar parts. It continues that way until just before the chorus when David Paich’s piano comes in at just under a minute. David’s piano is a welcome addition that makes the song whole. He gives good accompaniment including being a good match for David Lindley’s slide guitar. 

Put Out the Light - Joe Cocker (1974)

This is a soulful rocker featuring David Paich’s piano, wacky guitars, horns and powerful backing vocals. Joe Cocker sings with such passion. While the piano isn’t the loudest instrument, it has a great presence including some glissandos. The saxophone is there throughout a lot of the song including some solos. 

Doctor Wu - Steely Dan (1975)

This is a piano driven soft rock song with a jazz influence as Steely Dan are a jazz rock band. David stated that he played on this song, so I’m assuming that the piano part is his. David is joined by his future Toto bandmate Jeff Porcaro who also plays on the next two songs. There is a saxophone through sections of the song including a solo. The guitar part is subtle. The piano playing is cool and melodic. The sax and piano goes in a more jazz direction towards the end of the song.

Lido Shuffle - Boz Scaggs (1976)

This is a popular song by Boz Scaggs which is co-written with David Paich. Elton John is an influence of David Paich which comes through in this song as it sounds like an Elton John song including its piano. The song features the bass and drums in the first twenty seconds until all the instruments come in. There are horns which are most prominent during the chorus. David is playing all the keyboards on this song which include piano and synths. He is joined by another future Toto bandmate, bassist David Hungate. Boz sings powerfully with his high voice. There are prominent synth parts in the last minute of the song which David doubles with his piano. Having both piano and synths gives a foreshadow of Toto’s sound. 

Manuela Run - Toto (1978)

I’m now including a song by David Paich’s band Toto. This is a song from their 1978 debut album (which also features their hit song “Hold the Line”) which he wrote, played on and sang lead vocals. It opens with David’s piano riff which is played throughout the song. David sings “round” in an interesting way. Bobby Kimball sings good backing vocals. It also features good synthesizer playing by Steve Porcaro and a guitar solo by Steve Lukather. It has a unique end with a few piano notes followed by a closing door. This song is both pop rock and progressive rock.  

The Retreat - Elton John (1980)

This is a great Elton John ballad about the American Civil War. The guitar is played by fellow Toto member Steve Lukather. It has Elton’s piano and singing for up until the end of the first verse. The full band comes in from the first chorus featuring prominent organ by David Paich and interesting guitar parts by Steve Lukather. The organ continues throughout the song and adds to it. There is a synthesizer by James Newton Howard which comes in during the last minute of the song. The synthesizer goes back and forth with the organ and then with the guitar. 

Allies - Heart (1983)

This song features David Paich on piano and synth. It was written by Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain and this song is somewhat reminiscent of the Journey hit “Don’t Stop Believin’” with its combination of piano and intense guitars. It opens with the piano and is soon joined by Ann Wilson’s voice. The strong guitars come in as brief interjections in the first verse before fully coming in during the chorus. Ann sings powerfully on this song, especially in the harder rocking parts. The verses are piano driven. There is a section with David’s piano playing with his synth which reminds me of Toto. This is an intense ballad featuring powerful rock piano. 

New York Minute - Don Henley (1989)

This is an epic six and a half minute song which has a jazz influence. It opens with an orchestra that’s arranged by David Paich with flourishes of his piano. Following that there are keyboard notes which are soon joined by Pino Palladino’s bass and David’s piano. Jeff Porcaro’s drums and Pino’s bass have some jazz vibes. David’s piano too does this in the verses. Close to the two minute mark, Danny Kortchmar’s guitar brings rock to the song which goes away in the second verse and comes back for the chorus. African-American Christian vocal group Take 6 provide backing vocals during the chorus. At around the three minute and forty five second mark, the trumpet appears and has some notes throughout the remainder of the song. 

There Is No Greater Love - Wayne Watson (1992)

As a Christian, I was pleased to find out that David Paich played on a Christian song. The opening orchestra notes are similar to the previous song. This song has the simple arrangement of piano and orchestra. Piano and orchestra without any guitar, bass and drums is not my favourite arrangement as that runs the risk of it being a boring ballad for me. Thankfully, that is not the case here. David plays his piano powerfully. 

Please Forgive Me - Bryan Adams (1993)

David Paich’s acoustic piano comes for a short moment at the start of the song. What appears to be an electric piano replaces it until the chorus where the acoustic piano comes back. The acoustic piano is powerful when it returns. The chorus rocks with strong guitars and some hard hitting piano. This is a powerful rock ballad.  

David has played on a variety of different rock styles featured here being pop rock, soft rock, hard rock, progressive rock, jazz rock and rock & roll. There is also a Christian song featured. These songs cover a twenty year period from 1973 to 1993. I’m a fan of piano in rock music and piano is featured in all of these songs. David played piano on all the songs except one which is played by Elton John. This is fitting as Elton is a hero of David’s. These songs showcase David Paich’s great piano & keyboard playing as well as his skills as a songwriter, singer, arranger and producer. 

Ten Great Piano Rock Songs by Ten Different Singers

As I like piano in rock music, I decided to write an article featuring ten different piano rock songs. It’s similar to my previous articles ‘Ten Great Bob Seger Songs by Ten Different Piano Players’ and ‘Ten Powerful Rock Ballads by Elton John’. They are my two favourite singers and are featured in this article, with one of the songs from those articles featured here, but with different text. I’ll be featuring classic rock songs where I’m embedding official YouTube audio of these songs in it. This will allow you to listen to any or all of them if you wish. Not all the songs on this list feature piano solos or it being the loudest instrument, but they are songs I consider to be great featuring good use of piano.

157 Riverside Avenue - REO Speedwagon (1971) 

This is from REO Speedwagon’s debut album, long before their popular period. Their first lead

singer who sings this song is Terry Luttrel. It opens with an impressive piano intro which is soon

joined by other instruments. This song has a ragtime influence. There is a special piano solo by Neal

Doughty and two great guitar solos by Gary Richrath. Terry sings like Bob Seger which is fitting as

there’s a reference to Mainstreet in it and “Mainstreet” would be one of Bob Seger’s hits released

five years later.

Rikki Don’t Lose That Number - Steely Dan (1974) 

Followed by the marimba opening, Michael Omartian’s piano comes in, soon followed by Donald

Fagen’s singing. It has a light relaxed feel and does rock. The electric guitars are most prominent in

the chorus and there is a guitar solo which gives a sudden edge to the song making it more intense.

This song is jazz rock which beautifully mixes the two styles of music together. This was a Number

Four US hit for the band. 

The Pretender - Jackson Browne (1976) 

It opens with Jackson’s singing followed by Craig Doerge’s piano. Jackson sings with powerful

emotion, with parts of it being intense. It’s a mid-tempo rock song. It has great rock piano notes. The

drums are played by Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro who interestingly plays drums on the next two

songs. 

Jump Street - Boz Scaggs (1976)

This is an intense rock song that sounds similar to “157 Riverside Avenue”, as both songs have a

ragtime influence. It is both piano and guitar driven, featuring incredible piano and strong guitars. It

sounds like Elton John which makes sense as the song was co-written by its piano player David

Paich who would soon form Toto. Elton John is an influence of Toto and two other Toto members are

also on this track. The next track is a Toto song written and sung by David Paich. The live version is

also worth checking out as it features the additions of organ and horns.

Lovers in the Night - Toto (1982)

This is an album track from Toto’s very popular album “Toto IV”. It opens with a dark and special

piano part played by David Paich. There are intense guitars by Steve Lukather and synthesizer

interjections by Steve Porcaro. Parts of the song go back and forth between the piano/synth

combination and the guitars. There are two great guitar solos which feature good piano

accompaniment. 

I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That - Elton John (1988)

This song was a major US hit for Elton John reaching Number Two in the Billboard Hot 100. It’s

opened by Elton’s piano. There are also keyboards and subtle acoustic guitar. Elton is singing strong

and his piano matches well with his voice. In the end section Elton solos playing great piano and

gives a bit of singing. 

I Go To Extremes - Billy Joel (1989)

This next song comes from American singer/pianist Billy Joel who has musical similarities with Elton

John. It sounds a bit like the previous song, but rocks harder as it has electric guitars on it. It’s

catchy with interesting lyrics. It has two powerful rock & roll piano solos by Billy. This is one of Billy’s

hits.

Running on Faith - Eric Clapton (1989) 

This song is well known for its inclusion on Eric Clapton’s popular live “Unplugged” album in 1992. It

however first appeared on his “Journeyman” album three years ago in 1989. The studio version is

better than the live version as it benefits from the studio production. It was written by songwriter

Jerry Lynn Williams and first recorded by Eric Clapton. The first few seconds are piano played by

Greg Phillinganes. Greg plays along well with Eric’s acoustic guitar solo. Though there are a lot of

other instruments on this track, the piano provides great notes and can be heard. This song features

powerful drumming and choir. 

The Fire Inside - Bob Seger (1991)

This song has incredible inspired piano playing by Roy Bittan including two beautifully complicated

solos. It’s guitar part is acoustic played by Toto’s Steve Lukather and there is good supporting organ.

This is great melodic songwriting that’s an example of Bob Seger at his best.

World Gone Crazy - The Doobie Brothers (2010)

Though this song is sung by original lead singer Tom Johnston, it has a Michael McDonald influence,

with its piano playing and composition. This song has elements of jazz in its piano and horns that

later come on. Tom is singing powerfully. At the two minute and twenty second mark, there is a

noticeable organ that goes on for twenty to twenty five seconds. This is followed by a musically

diverse section that begins with drumming only, a piano solo, back and forth between horns and

electric guitar and a saxophone solo before returning to the chorus. Bill Payne delivers incredible

piano playing on this song. As non-relationship songs are my favourite type of songs, I’m pleased to

conclude this list with one.

If you enjoyed this article, you might be interested in my similar article ‘Toto Tribute Album’ writing of an imaginary tribute album to Toto featuring all of the artists on this list (and others) except Toto. Quite a few of the session musicians on these songs have played on songs for other artists featured on this list.