R.K. Dwight nel 1973 è una rockstar super affermata, che nel suo palmares può già vantare una serie di dischi da antologia del pop contemporaneo, con annesse canzoni memorabili come "Your Song", "Tiny Dancer" e "Rocket Man" ma, come si suol dire, l'appetito vien mangiando e d'altro canto per l'Elton John di quei tempi sfornare hits e albums a getto continuo sembra quasi una straordinaria routine e così, ad appena otto mesi da "Honky Chateau" è già il turno di "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player", la dimostrazione vivente di cosa è in grado di concepire un genio del pop all'apice del suo fulgore artistico.
"Don't Shoot Me..." è un album ispiratissimo che, nonostante una personalità "globale" meno spiccata di "Elton John" o "Madman Across The Water" mette in mostra una verve e un estro creativo che si esprime in una gamma di sonorità eterogenee che coesistono in perfetta armonia, dal frizzante pop rock corale di "Teacher I Need You" alle atmosfere sour & sweet della ballata "High Flying Bird" fino ai brani più complessi ed orchestrati come l'epico e fumoso incedere blues del masterpiece "Have Mercy On The Criminal" e la soffusa e ricercata eleganza di "Blues For My Baby And Me", che sfocia in un chorus disteso e quasi liberatorio, senza dimenticare alcune perle meno conosciute come l'ironico swing di "I'm Gonna Be A Teenage Idol" e soprattutto lo stupendo country-western di "Texan Love Song", amara e disincantata canzone di denuncia che costituisce sicuramente uno dei punti di maggior impatto dell'album, insieme ovviamente alle due smash-hits che hanno fatto di "Don't Shoot Me..." un successo internazionale; ovviamente sto parlando di "Crocodile Rock", gustosissima e trascinante parodia del rock n' roll con il suo indimenticabile riff di organo Fanfisa e di uno dei massimi capolavori del Pianista di Pinner, la vellutata e malinconica "Daniel", che apre l'album nella miglior maniera possibile.
"Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player" è sena dubbio un album fortemente influenzato sia a livello musicale che lirico (in particolare i testi di "Daniel" e "Texan Love Song") dal periodo storico in cui è stato concepito, ma questo non intacca minimamente il suo valore assoluto e la sua brillantezza: non arriva alle 5 stelle solo per via di un paio di episodi interlocutori, "Elderberry Wine" e "Midnight Creeper", ma questo LP del 1973 è vulcanico ed eclettico proprio come il suo autore in quegli anni, che lo hanno incontrovertibilmente consegnato alla storia della musica contemporanea proprio grazie ad album come questo.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Daniel (03:53)
Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane
I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain
Oh and I can see Daniel waving goodbye
God, it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes
They say Spain is pretty, though I've never been
Well, Daniel says it's the best place that he's ever seen
Oh, and he should know, he's been there enough
Lord, I miss Daniel, oh I miss him so much
Oh, Daniel my brother
You are older than me
Do you still feel the pain
Of the scars that won't heal
Your eyes have died
But you see more than I
Daniel you're a star
In the face of the sky
Oh, Daniel my brother
You are older than me
Do you still feel the pain
Of the scars that won't heal
Your eyes have died
But you see more than I
Daniel you're a star
In the face of the sky
Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane
I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain
Oh and I can see Daniel waving goodbye
God, it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes
Oh God, it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes
03 Elderberry Wine (03:32)
There's a fly in the window
A dog in the yard
And a year since I saw you
There's a trunk in the corner
I keep all my letters
My bills and demands I keep too
Well I can't help thinking
About the times
You were a wife of mine
You aimed to please me
Cooked black-eyed peas-me
Made elderberry wine
Drunk all the time
Feeling fine on elderberry wine
Those were the days
We'd lay in the haze
Forget depressive times
How can I ever get it together
Without a wife in line
To pick the crop and get me hot
On elderberry wine
Round a tree in the summer
A fire in the fall
Flat out when they couldn't stand
The bottle went round
Like a woman down south
Passed on from hand to hand
Well I can't help thinking
About the times
You were a wife of mine
You aimed to please me
Cooked black-eyed peas-me
Made elderberry wine
Drunk all the time
Feeling fine on elderberry wine
Those were the days
We'd lay in the haze
Forget depressive times
How can I ever get it together
Without a wife in line
To pick the crop and get me hot
On elderberry wine
Drunk all the time
Feeling fine on elderberry wine
Those were the days
We'd lay in the haze
Forget depressive times
How can I ever get it together
Without a wife in line
To pick the crop and get me hot
On elderberry wine
Elderberry wine
Elderberry wine
Elderberry wine
Elderberry wine
Elderberry wine
Elderberry wine
Elderberry wine
06 Have Mercy on the Criminal (05:58)
Have you heard the dogs at night,
Somewhere on the hill.
Chasing some poor criminal,
And I guess they're out to kill.
Oh, there must be shackles, on his feet,
And mother, in his eyes, stumbling through the devil-dark
With the hound pack in full cry.
Have mercy on the criminal,
Who is running from the law,
Are you blind to the
Winds of change?
Don't you hear him any more?
Praying Lord you gotta help me,
I am never gonna sin again.
Just take, these chains
From around my legs,
Sweet Jesus I'll be your friend.
Now have you ever seen
The white teeth gleam,
While you lie on a
Cold damp ground.
You're taking in the face of a rifle butt,
While the wardens hold you down.
And you're never seen a friend in years,
Oh, it turns your heart to stone.
You jump the walls,
And the dogs run free,
And the grave's gonna be your home.
09 Crocodile Rock (03:57)
I remember when rock was young
Me and Suzie had so much fun
Holding hands and skimming stones
Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own
But the biggest kick I ever got
Was doing a thing called the Crocodile Rock
While the other kids were Rocking 'Round the Clock
We were hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock
Well Croc Rocking is something shocking
When your feet just can't keep still
I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will
Ow! Lordie-mama those Friday nights
When Suzie wore her dresses tight and
Crocodile Rocking was out of sight...
La... la-la-la-la-la...
La-la-la-la-la... la-la-la-la-la...
But the years went by, and the rock just died
Suzie went and left me for some foreign guy
Long nights crying by the record machine
Dreaming of my Chevy and my old blue jeans
But they'll never kill the thrills we've got
Burning up to the Crocodile Rock
Learning fast as the weeks went past
We really thought the Crocodile Rock would last
Well Crocodile Rocking is something shocking
When your feet just can't keep still
I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will
Ow! Lordie-mama those Friday nights
When Suzie wore her dresses tight and
Crocodile Rocking was out of sight
La... la-la-la-la-la...
La-la-la-la-la... la-la-la-la-la...
I remember when rock was young
Me and Suzie had so much fun
Holding hands and skimming stones
Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own
But the biggest kick I ever got
Was doing a thing called the Crocodile Rock
While the other kids were Rocking Round the Clock
We were hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock
Well Crocodile Rocking is something shocking
When your feet just can't keep still
I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will
Ow! Lawdy-mama those Friday nights
When Suzie wore her dresses tight
And the Crocodile Rocking was out of sight
La... la-la-la-la-la...
La-la-la-la-la... la-la-la-la-la...
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