Music Moment – Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection

There’s no disputing that Elton John (and lyricist Bernie Taupin) had an amazing string of hit albums in the 1970s. While not quite as popular as some of the others, Tumbleweed Connection (1970) is, in my opinion, one of the best. At heart, it’s a concept album. John and Taupin were inspired by the American Old West mythos and put together an album that pays homage to Americana.

It’s not exactly a rock n’ roll album, although it’s unmistakably Elton John. Each song also tells a story. There’s love, gunslingers, soldiers, and people of the land. And while each song stands alone, they all weave together to construct a beautiful tapestry of how John and Taupin romanticized the Old West.

I won’t go through every song on the album, but I want to highlight the ones that stand out to me. To start, the second track, “Come Down in Time”, is a hauntingly romantic song. It tells of a young man whose lover has asked him to meet her at night in a specific location. As he walks along he wonders if she’ll be at the meeting spot, or if he’ll find that she really doesn’t love him. It’s probably the one non-western-themed song on the album, but it still fits in with the overall mood. 

The next one is my favorite cut on this album on one of my favorite songs, “Where to Now, St. Peter?” The lyrics are written from the point of view of a gunslinger who is shot down by a ‘foreign gun’. Now, as he lies dying, he asks St. Peter where he’s going to end up. This is a melancholy song that drifts along like a boat on a river, lazily passing by like the life of the gunslinger.  

I also love “Amoreena”, which is a somewhat lusty love song told from the point of view of a man far from home. I picture him driving a herd of cattle across the plains and at night, sitting at a campfire, thinking about his love back home. The lyrics are some of Taupin’s best. He describes the man’s homesickness, the relationship he has with his lover, and his craving for her so simply and beautifully:

I can see you sitting, eating apples in the evening
The fruit juice flowing sweetly down the bronze of your body
Living like a lusty flower, running through the grass for hours
Rolling through the hay, yeah yeah, like a puppy child

The final song I want to mention is the album closer, and probably the most well-know song from this collection. “Burn Down the Mission” has been a concert staple for John since it was recorded. I’ve interpreted this song to be from the point of view of a Native American who is fed up with the greed and avarice of the missionaries. He and his tribe decides the only way they will be free again is to burn down the mission and drive away the interlopers. 

All in all, this is a fantastic collection of songs and an often overlooked piece of Elton John’s discography. If you haven’t listened to this album yet, please, do yourself a favor and give it a spin. It’s one that needs to be listened to, not as background noise, but like enjoying a good book. Sit back with a glass of wine, the liner notes and lyrics in hand, and let yourself be carried away by some brilliant songwriting. 

I took myself a blue canoe
And I floated like a leaf
Dazzling, dancing
Half enchanted
In my Merlin sleep

Crazy was the feeling
Restless were my eyes
Insane they took the paddles
My arms they paralysed

So where to now St. Peter
If it’s true I’m in your hands
I may not be a Christian
But I’ve done all one man can
I understand I’m on the road
Where all that was is gone
So where to now St. Peter
Show me which road I’m on
Which road I’m on

It took a sweet young foreign gun
This lazy life is short
Something for nothing always ending
With a bad report

Dirty was the daybreak
Sudden was the change
In such a silent place as this
Beyond the rifle range

So where to now St. Peter
If it’s true I’m in your hands
I may not be a Christian
But I’ve done all one man can
I understand I’m on the road
Where all that was is gone
So where to now St. Peter
Show me which road I’m on
Which road I’m on

I took myself a blue canoe 

——

RB