We were driving through Los Angeles the other day when Elton John's "The Bitch Is Back" came on the radio. What an amazing track!
Once we heard the horns on this record, we knew it had to be Tower Of Power. And indeed it was, as Elton's producer Gus Dudgeon used the TOP boys to spice up this track and others on Elton's Caribou album.
We wrote another post about all the records TOP horns played on, and this is one of their great ones.
The horns sound amazing, but the real driving force in this song comes from Elton's long-time guitarist Davey Johnstone with the riff that kicks off the song and is its recurring musical figure.
And Bernie Taupin, Elton's songwriting partner and lyricist, should get much of the credit for this song. In fact, his wife at the time, Maxine Feibelman, provided its initial inspiration.
But she was not the "bitch" of the title...Elton was!
Apparently she would refer to Elton as a bitch when he was in a bad mood. "Oh God, the bitch is back!" she famously said one day, and Taupin took that inspiration and ran with it.
Elton has a great sense of humor and has been known to poke fun at himself with this song. At a concert back in 1974 when this song was running up the charts, Elton said, "This is a song not referring to anyone in the audience, but mainly to me."
Caribou was recorded in a blistering 9 days, which seems incredible compared to the time it takes to make most records today. This album sometimes gets overlooked because it came out between the two classics, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.
Although it might not be Elton's greatest record, it's easy to appreciate the amazing combination of Elton and the Tower of Power horns.
Leave A Comment
Now it's your turn. What's your favorite Elton John song? Favorite album? Leave a comment and let us know!
And if you like this track, you might also like:
Tower Of Power Played On Dozens Of Records By Other Artists
Little Feat And Tower Of Power Made The Ultimate Live Record
Once we heard the horns on this record, we knew it had to be Tower Of Power. And indeed it was, as Elton's producer Gus Dudgeon used the TOP boys to spice up this track and others on Elton's Caribou album.
We wrote another post about all the records TOP horns played on, and this is one of their great ones.
The horns sound amazing, but the real driving force in this song comes from Elton's long-time guitarist Davey Johnstone with the riff that kicks off the song and is its recurring musical figure.
And Bernie Taupin, Elton's songwriting partner and lyricist, should get much of the credit for this song. In fact, his wife at the time, Maxine Feibelman, provided its initial inspiration.
But she was not the "bitch" of the title...Elton was!
Apparently she would refer to Elton as a bitch when he was in a bad mood. "Oh God, the bitch is back!" she famously said one day, and Taupin took that inspiration and ran with it.
Elton has a great sense of humor and has been known to poke fun at himself with this song. At a concert back in 1974 when this song was running up the charts, Elton said, "This is a song not referring to anyone in the audience, but mainly to me."
Caribou was recorded in a blistering 9 days, which seems incredible compared to the time it takes to make most records today. This album sometimes gets overlooked because it came out between the two classics, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.
Although it might not be Elton's greatest record, it's easy to appreciate the amazing combination of Elton and the Tower of Power horns.
Leave A Comment
Now it's your turn. What's your favorite Elton John song? Favorite album? Leave a comment and let us know!
And if you like this track, you might also like:
Tower Of Power Played On Dozens Of Records By Other Artists
Little Feat And Tower Of Power Made The Ultimate Live Record