When I think of someone I heard a lot of work by at the white house, I think of this 8-Track tape of Elton John's
Greatest Hits album. I don't remember picking this one out or anything, Dad was just playing it one day, and I loved what I was hearing. After that, though, I asked to hear it again and again. Obviously, I liked "Bennie & The Jets" the best, and on the 8-Track copy, the song was on there twice. In fact, there's even a picture of myself on Christmas Eve of 1979, banging away on a little red toy piano, and trying to sing this, so I had the urge in me even back then!
One evening, Dad had picked up and put on
Greatest Hits, Volume II. I was expecting some more great tunes along the lines of "Rocket Man" or "Daniel" or "Bennie", but...no. "Island Girl", "The Bitch Is Back" and "Philadelphia Freedom" didn't work the same magic on me, though I liked his cover of "Pinball Wizard", and this was before I saw
Tommy. I still loved the first one, and we played it so much that we eventually wore it out completely and had to throw it away.
As a result of the second volume, I didn't really keep up with anything else he'd done, but had fond memories of the first volume, even if I hadn't played it at home for a very long time. One day in 2009, thirty years after first hearing it, I found a vinyl copy of
Greatest Hits at the Goodwill Outlet store, in nice condition. I bought it, took it home, put it on the turntable, and re-connected with an old friend after all those years. It felt great.
When I think of someone I heard a lot of work by at the white house, I think of this 8-Track tape of Elton John's Greatest Hits album. I don't remember picking this one out or anything, Dad was just playing it one day, and I loved what I was hearing. After that, though, I asked to hear it again and again. Obviously, I liked "Bennie & The Jets" the best, and on the 8-Track copy, the song was on there twice. In fact, there's even a picture of myself on Christmas Eve of 1979, banging away on a little red toy piano, and trying to sing this, so I had the urge in me even back then!
One evening, Dad had picked up and put on Greatest Hits, Volume II. I was expecting some more great tunes along the lines of "Rocket Man" or "Daniel" or "Bennie", but...no. "Island Girl", "The Bitch Is Back" and "Philadelphia Freedom" didn't work the same magic on me, though I liked his cover of "Pinball Wizard", and this was before I saw Tommy. I still loved the first one, and we played it so much that we eventually wore it out completely and had to throw it away.
As a result of the second volume, I didn't really keep up with anything else he'd done, but had fond memories of the first volume, even if I hadn't played it at home for a very long time. One day in 2009, thirty years after first hearing it, I found a vinyl copy of Greatest Hits at the Goodwill Outlet store, in nice condition. I bought it, took it home, put it on the turntable, and re-connected with an old friend after all those years. It felt great.
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