Watch the New Video for ‘Skyline Pigeon’

We are very happy to announce that we have just added a new video to Elton’s VEVO channel: Elton performing ‘Skyline Pigeon’ live at Allianz Parque in São Paulo, Brazil.

On April 6, 2017, amidst heavy rain, Elton and the band presented a lovely new arrangement of the song, which has taken the South American country by storm ever since it was released as the b-side to Daniel in January 1973 and was included in the soundtrack of the popular Brazilian soap opera Carinhoso (“Affectionate”) later that year.

The success of that telenovela’s soundtrack brought Skyline Pigeon into the consciousness of South America’s largest country, turning the obscure track into a radio hit and allowing an opportunity for Elton to play it at concerts in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and other Brazilian cities over the years.

In fact, it wasn’t until 1975 that fans in Brazil realized that this version, recorded in June 1972 during the Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player sessions, was not the original. That was the year that Elton’s first album, Empty Sky (originally put out in the UK in 1969), was finally released in the Americas.

The story of Skyline Pigeon goes back to 1968 when Elton and Bernie composed the song during their first formative year as a creative team writing for the Dick James Music publishing organisation. Elton says it was, “the first song Bernie and I ever got excited about that we ever wrote.” Dick James thought so highly of the song that it was quickly covered by two UK artists, Guy Darrell and Roger James Cooke, who both released their versions in August 1968.

Elton’s original rendition was recorded, with Elton solo on harpsichord and organ, in December 1968 at the Dick James Music Studios in London and was released on the Empty Sky album. Elton had previously performed the song live when he appeared on BBC Radio’s Stuart Henry Show on October 28, 1968, for broadcast six nights later.

Skyline Pigeon quickly became a fan favourite and Elton featured it in some of his concerts in 1971, including those at the Crystal Palace Bowl in London, the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, and on his first tour of Japan in October that year.

Then, in June 1972, as Elton was recording Don’t Shoot Me… at the Château d’Hérouville (known as “Strawberry Studios” at the time) in France, when, according to producer Gus Dudgeon, his wife, Sheila, suggested to Elton that he re-cut the early gem.

Keeping it in the same key (Eb) and retaining much of its hymn-like feel, Elton otherwise re-invented Skyline Pigeon by performing it on piano and with his band: Davey Johnstone on guitar, Dee Murray on bass, and Nigel Olsson on drums.

“During the Don’t Shoot Me… sessions in mid-1972 at Chateau d’Herouville, we had really established a sound that was very much ours,” explains Davey. “Towards the end of the sessions, Elton said, ‘I want to re-record a song from my first album called Skyline Pigeon‘. We did it in two takes and it certainly does have that hallmark Elton, Davey, Dee & Nigel sound. It’s also very ‘unadorned’ – no overdubs except a few tracks of acoustic guitar.”

Famed orchestrator Paul Buckmaster also contributed an arrangement of strings and oboe that helped take the song to new heights. It was one of the late arranger’s most treasured efforts on an Elton track.

Elton opened his 1974 live album, Here And There, with a solo piano version of Skyline Pigeon, recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in London on May 18, 1974. He has since performed it in concert on special occasions or on select tours of the US and Europe…but it is in Brazil where it holds a special place in his set list, as evidenced by the audience reception it receives in this new video.