Day 30 - I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues

Elton John

1983

Disclaimer: All perspectives, opinions, and memories in this entry are mine and mine alone. Some content is rugged, raw, and - sometimes - NSFW, but it's all authentic and included with purpose.

Why It’s On The List:

If I had any music and/or vocal talent, this would be the song that I would bust out at the piano whilst attending swanky dinner parties. I love every inch of this song.

(PS - this is the 2nd time I've mentioned playing piano at fancy soirees. What kind of social life do I think I'm living??)

I’ve always been blown away by the song construction process between Elton John and his songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin. Ever since day one, Bernie will hand Elton a sheet of lyrics and then Elton will sit down and write the music to it. That’s an absolute bananas system to me, of which my brain can not comprehend. 

My buddy Paul and I have always thought we make a pretty decent collaborative team. If ever I “made it” as a writer, it would have to be with Paul as a creative partner (of course it would all end in an inevitable cocaine-induced murder-suicide, but still). Paul and I have an ability to throw out a garbage idea, stay with it, and turn it into something half decent.

Paul and I work out ideas - and life for that matter - behind the scenes so that we can be somewhat normal when we go to interact with the humans. We’ve always been able to see things scary super macro or scary super micro. Our problem is that we have a hard time living in the regular day-to-day. I honestly don’t know if it’s good that we have each other to process through together or if we’re just continuing to enable each other (pretty sure our wives would go with “B”).

To bring it back to Elton John and Bernie Taupin, I'm going to provide you with a behind-the-curtain peek of how Paul and I work together. Below is an actual text thread between the two of us from January 2019. This is 100% all true and exactly how it happened. I simply hit copy and paste.

It’s the PEAK Paul and Josh experience.

PAUL: Never knew til today that the term “blockbuster” was literally because the line to get into the theater was around the block. Blockbuster is a cooler word than that literal combo. According to this podcast I’m listening to, it was Jaws that coined the term

JOSH: Whoa! So cool! So obvious but never put it together.

PAUL: Oh good, I felt dumb.

JOSH: I would have never been cool enough to come up with “buster.” I would have been lame like “blockwaiter” or “blockliner.”

PAUL: A - I always love phrase origin. B - always tickled by obvious things I didn’t put together for decades. C - “buster” is epic. I’m a bit too literal to ever get there. I’m stoked you are indulging me. The guy that came up with it needs more credit.

JOSH: I’m now going to spend the rest of my day thinking about what dumb phrase I would have come up with instead. I don’t know if I ever even get to “Block” honestly.

PAUL: “People are lined up around the block” doesn’t seem like it needed its own term. That’s the hardest part for me. I could workshop and get there but would never have started.

JOSH: “People are lined up” is where I would have started.

PAUL: Again - this was the FIRST one. Not like you needed a category. The fact that we come up with “Blockliner” and go home is depressing.

JOSH: Again I’m sitting here thinking I don’t even get to “Block.” “Jaws is a movie you have to wait in line for!” might have been my ceiling if I’m being totally honest. I don’t think I even think of any term for it.

PAUL: I’m with you. That’s why this hit me.

JOSH: You would have said to me, “I think we need a phrase for this” and I think I’m surprised.

PAUL: Exact same. Marry me. Zero people I know would get this. People think I’m insane but I knew this was interesting.

JOSH: Ok. Ugh. Now I’ve accepted that I would have been surprised I’m now moving on to what I would have actually thought of. Paul says “we need a term” and now I’m thinking…

PAUL: I want to be honest and say I don’t go home after “blockliner.”

JOSH: Nope. I still need a minute. I can’t get over how surprised I am that I didn’t know we needed a term. Like I’m vicariously shaming myself as if I’m in this reality currently.

PAUL: Same.

JOSH: Paul says “we need a term” and I think about quitting my job because I didn’t know we needed a term.

PAUL: Imagine a lifetime of “Hit of the summer!” It’s conceivable that “Blockbuster” never happens.

JOSH: I’ve made peace with “This is why famous people are famous.” They are the ones that think of “Blockbuster” when the rest of us dummies never do. I’m still recovering over here.

PAUL: Credit to this guy for sure.

JOSH: Ok. “Jaws - the summer’s newest ‘camp out’ movie!” I think that’s my first terrible offering in that moment. Paul, I never get to “block.”

PAUL: Ever. That’s another “good enough, let’s go eat.”

JOSH: I’m now trying to construct a path where I get to “block.” Getting to “buster” would be like asking how to get to the moon at this point. “Camping” and “waiting” would have been my line of thinking but both are terrible because they are both so passive. I HOPE one of us says that while we are at lunch. Ok, so thinking more active.

PAUL: What about this: “Everyone is doing it.” “The line isn’t bad.” “Embrace the line!” The line is a feature not a bug. You want to go BECAUSE there is a line.

JOSH: Good stuff. I think I dead serious pitch “Get in line!” and “Be first in line!” like a dummy. 

PAUL: I’m right there with you. So easy and so hard.

JOSH: I can’t get to “block” in an exercise where I KNOW “block” is the answer. Ok, I’m trying to avoid committing suicide over the shame of this exercise. So we pitch “get in line!” or “camp out!” and our hypothetical boss says he needs a one word, catchy phrase.

PAUL: That’s the key. Have to get to one word. Do we get to “buster” on pure alliteration? I would just start yelling random “B” words. That’s a part of my process.

JOSH: That helps. One word helps. I think we start with single words: “Wait,” “Camp,” “Line.” In that trail, I can see FINALLY getting to “Block.” Now you’re shouting “B” words and - are you ready for this - here is the submission that we both feel amazing about: “Block. Breaker.” I would have been so happy and proud of that.

PAUL: And that actually might have stuck. “It’s Blockbreaker season!” And now Blockbreaker Video is bankrupt.

JOSH: I never get to “buster” but very happy with “Blockbreaker.” This was fun and depressing.

PAUL: Thank you for being alive and being my friend.

Listen to "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" here:

Favorite Line:

“Laughing like children

Living like lovers

Rolling like thunder

Under the covers
And I guess that’s why they call it the blues”

If You Liked This Song...
Here are some of my other favorite songs by Elton John:
- Rocketman
- Don't Go Breaking My Heart
- Crocodile Rock
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- Daniel
- Someone Saved My Life Tonight
- The One