Elton Rocks! (Or Attempts To Rock)
And it looks like I’ll be first up today (actually, no — simulpost!) as we continue our full week of weekday tunes, with a song from Elton John in his prime (if not a prime Elton John song), “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.”
I quite like this silly song, which is — or so I have always assumed — intended as a joke. Bernie Taupin always had a sense of humor, and he must’ve been amused by positioning pasty, earnest Elton as a hard-partying working class lout. (“I’ll sink a little drink and shout out, ‘She’s with me!’” Sure, Elton, sure.) It’s such an entertaining notion that I can’t really dislike this song, unpersuasive though it is.
The biggest problem is that, though he gives it a good try, Elton’s voice is just not suited to heavier music. Though he can be an expressive singer at times, his voice is very light, and he is utterly incapable of singing loudly. And “Saturday” sits mostly on the mid- to high side of his narrow range; if he’d gone after it in a lower key, it might’ve had more energy to it. As it is, he’s reduced to a sort of grainy shout on the chorus, so the producer seems to have just shoved him back in the mix and hoped for the best.
Though Elton by this time was working with a crew of first-rate session players, they don’t seem at home in this territory either. There’s no lead guitar line at all — it’s all rhythm, and it sounds as light as Elton’s voice. The bass meanders pleasantly but meaninglessly, failing to anchor a song that desperately needs it, and, while you can’t have an Elton John song without a piano, it adds nothing to this one. The only persuasive performance here is from Nigel Olsson, playing machine gun drums and trying vainly to pull it all back to earth.
Still, taken for what it is, “Saturday” is a lot of fun. There’s just something so cheerful in the notion of Elton John as a don’t-give-a-damn street tough. It’s so entertaining that this has been a favorite in his live shows for the last 30-some years.
(Many other bands have been tempted to take a stab at “Saturday” over the decades, with varying degrees of success. And here’s how it should’ve been sung. Whatever you think of Nickelback — and what I think is not much — Chad Kroeger is a very good rock singer, if occasionally overwrought, and he takes this dopey little tune and almost makes you believe it. And yes, I am aware that the Who covered it, too. Nickelback does it better.)
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March 17th, 2010 at 8:00 am
Elton John’s version was one of the first songs
that came to mind when this topic came up,
I knew Saturday would come.
(Have you ever danced to this, hopefully that made you smile)
…and for a Saturday song, it did make me smile
though at 2:49 it confused me I must admit, why?
Now, the Nickleback version, that was convincing
though I do ultimately like The Who’s version better
Not sure who to give this one to
Can I vote a tie?
Thanks Bridey!