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Elton John · S2 E3
Empty Sky
The debut album. Raw, ambitious, overlooked. The sound of two young men figuring out who they are
Dick James, the man who published the Beatles' songs, signs two unknown kids for ten pounds a week each. For the next two years, every single song they write gets rejected.
Elton John -- Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters. Written a few years after the DJM struggle, this song carries the quiet ache of someone who has seen both failure and success. Bernie's lyrics turn New York into a poem, and Elton's vocal barely rises above a whisper.
The Formula Pop Years
Dick James Music puts Elton and Bernie to work writing songs for other artists, churning out catchy, commercial, radio-friendly pop. They compose track after track in the DJM offices. None of them land. Not one single placement in two years.
TAP TO REVEAL: Who told them to throw out every rule?
Empty Sky (1969)
The title track of their debut stretches past seven minutes, a wild, ambitious piece that sounds nothing like the disposable pop DJM had been demanding. Elton's harpsichord-driven arrangement builds from a gentle opening into a full-blown rock crescendo. It sold poorly at the time, but it proved that when Elton and Bernie wrote for themselves, something clicked.
DJM Studios, New Oxford Street
The small eight-track studio where Empty Sky was recorded. A modest room that launched one of the biggest careers in music.
Who published Elton and Bernie's early songs?
Hymn 2000 -- Elton John
A deep cut from the Empty Sky album that shows just how far Elton and Bernie had come in two years. The arrangement is dense and layered, closer to prog rock than pop. Bernie's lyrics reach for something cosmic, and Elton matches him with a vocal full of conviction.
Empty Sky barely registers on the charts. Then one morning, Bernie slides a lyric across the breakfast table that begins: "It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside."
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