Elton John Gershwin Prize Performances Ranked

Puth, at 32 the youngest artist on the invoice, appeared somewhat daunted by the duty of performing this stately rock ballad, however he pulled it off. Nonetheless, it received’t make anybody neglect both Elton’s unique, which reached No. 2 on the Sizzling 100 in 1974, or the 1991 George Michael/Elton John pairing that went all the way in which to No. 1.

The pop and nation singer did a high quality job on this ballad, which Taupin stated that he regards as one in every of their greatest songs. “It’s undoubtedly one in every of our most interesting songs…I imply, it’s a easy tune, but it surely’s a phenomenal tune.” It’s additionally the one tune carried out on the present that wasn’t written by Elton and Bernie alone. Davey Johnstone joined them in penning this tune.

Lennox opened the present by performing this gospel-inflected ballad, which Aretha Franklin changed into a high 40 hit on the Sizzling 100 in late 1970. The Queen of Soul’s model entered the highest 40 the identical week (Dec. 19, 1970) as Elton’s first high 40 hit as an artist, “Your Track” — so his songs had been his calling card from the beginning.

Carlile carried out these two early album cuts in separate spots on the present. The tender ballad “Sky Pigeon” was an ideal option to comply with an emotional, however overlong, section that featured Elton’s work with the Elton John AIDS Basis, in addition to his friendship with Ryan White.

Brooks, the 2020 Gershwin Prize recipient, ably carried out these high 10 Sizzling 100 hits in separate spots on the present. Kim Bullard’s accordion break within the torch tune “Sorry Appears to Be the Hardest Phrase” was intriguing and extremely efficient.

Porter, who additionally hosted the present, carried out this tune from the middle aisle within the viewers. Along with being the hardest-rocking single Elton ever took to the highest 10 on the Sizzling 100, this tune speaks to the interior brat in all of us: Who wouldn’t sometimes like to chop free and say “I don’t like these!/ My God, what’s that?”

The tune nonetheless has the electrical jolt that it dropped at pop radio in 1974, when it went up in opposition to extra sedate hits by the likes of John Denver and Olivia Newton-John. Porter (quite needlessly) stated, “Hear, it’s 2024. I don’t need you to be offended by the phrase ‘bitch.’ The queer group makes use of it as a love letter.” If “bitch” may fly on the radio 50 (gulp) years in the past, it’s a non-issue on this rather more permissive period.

Even with 29 high 10 hits on the Sizzling 100 to select from for his three-song mini-set, it’s fascinating that Elton chosen an album monitor, “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” (from 1972’s Honky Chateau). He additionally selected “Saturday Night time’s Alright…,” a Stones-like rocker that, on Billboard’s 2022 record, Melinda Newman known as “an unadulterated mix of youthful pleasure and aggression.” Elton was 26 when it was launched. He’s now 77 – a reminder that youthfulness is an angle, not a quantity.

“Your Track” might be Elton’s most universally beloved tune – and for good cause. The ballad marries a swish melody to a splendidly conversational lyric. “It could be fairly easy,” Elton sings, and that simplicity is on the coronary heart of the tune’s enchantment. In her remarks, Carole King known as the tune “perfection” – and he or she is aware of a factor or two about writing good pop songs.

Lusk, the lead singer of Gabriels, was in all probability the least well-known performer on the invoice. Lusk carried out “Are You Prepared for Love” alongside Elton on the Glastonbury Pageant final June, however he hasn’t actually damaged by way of within the U.S. but.

His extremely theatrical, falsetto efficiency of this smash, which bought the viewers on its ft, ought to increase his profile. This “spaced-out” tune is without doubt one of the most eccentric songs in Elton’s catalog of hits. The selection in early 1974 to go along with this as a single, quite than a extra typical Elton monitor like “Concord” or “Candle within the Wind,” was one of many boldest and finally smartest of his profession.

The tune ranked No. 7 on Billboard’s 2022 record of Elton’s greatest songs. Andrew Unterberger wrote “It performs nearly like a parody of glam rock… Elton and Bernie could have finally been too tradition-bound at coronary heart to actually match into glam full-time, however they’ve nice enjoyable attempting on the furs for one tune.”

This two-part opus, a spotlight of Elton’s 1973 double-album masterwork Goodbye Yellow Brick Street, topped Billboard’s 2022 record of Elton’s 75 greatest songs. Metallica amped up the rock element significantly, taking it from about 6.5 to 10 (if not 11). The end result was undoubtedly the hardest-rocking quantity within the historical past of the Gershwin Prize occasion. At evening’s finish, Bernie praised Elton’s band, calling them “the very best band on the earth – exterior of Metallica, in fact.”

We’re so used to listening to this as a spunky, sassy pop tune, are you able to even think about it slowed-down? Nicely, rattling if it doesn’t work that means too! Mitchell, the 2023 Gershwin Prize recipient, carried out it as a jazzy, mid-tempo ballad, which introduced out the tune’s sly humor. She additionally modified some lyrics, with Elton and Bernie’s permission, which superfan Brandi Carlile stated “is actually essentially the most Joni Mitchell factor I’ve ever heard of.”

Elton and Bernie wrote this tune to have fun Elton’s surviving some profession and private downs within the late ’70s and early ’80s. These had been bizarre struggles in comparison with the back-from-the-brink challenges Mitchell has overcome: 9 years in the past, she suffered a mind aneurysm rupture, which required her to endure bodily remedy and study to stroll once more. (That was unstated, however apparent to individuals who know her story.) At one level, Mitchell waved the strolling stick she nonetheless must get round within the air. That defiant gesture added to the tune’s sense of uplift – and the present’s sense of triumph.