Customer Reviews

Elton John: The Bitch Is Back

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As an author myself I usually don't criticize someone else's book, but here I found that I had to. Publisher's Weekly calls Mark Bego "The #1 Best-Selling Pop Biographer", but based on the number of inaccurarcies I found in this book, I wonder how that could be. The following is a summary of the major errors I have found.

Page 120 - Bego writes: "From the forthcoming album came "The Young Girls Love Alice", "Funeral for a Friend" leading into "Love Dies Bleeding", and "Crocodile Rock".

First of all, the title of the first mentioned song is "All The Girls Love Alice", as Bevo correctly wrote on page 123. "Funeral For A Friend leads into Love LIES Bleeding, not Love DIES Bleeding, but I'll give Bego the benefit of doubt and assume this is a typo (which the book is full of). Finally, "Crocodile Rock" was NOT from the forthcoming album. It was from the previous album!

Page 139 - Bego writes: "One of the most dramatic songs on Caribou is the song "Ticking", about a deranged man who takes a group of hostages. It was essentially the same story later filmed in Dog Day Afternoon".

"Ticking" and Dog Day Afternoon have very little in common! "Ticking" is a fictional account about a deranged man who takes a bunch of bar patrons hostage in Queens. He kills some of the hostages before being shot dead by the police. Dog Day Afternoon is a true account about a pair of bank robbers who take bank employees hostage during a botched robbery of a Brooklyn bank. All of the hostages are safe at the end but one of the robbers is shot dead by the police. And what makes this paragraph even more appalling was the fact that Dog Day Afternoon opens with Elton John singing "Amoreena" and Bevo doesn't even say this! Why even mention the film?

Page 150 - Bego talks about the release of Greatest Hits (Volume 1) - "Included on the album was Elton's version of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". ...Aided by the success of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", the album Elton John: Greatest Hits proceeded to sell over 12 million copies worldwide."

"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" was not on Greatest Hits.

Pages 215-216 - Bego writes: "As he was recording 21 At 33, an interesting thought occurred to Elton. On March 25, 1980, he turned 33 years old. And, if he counted his album releases the way that Elton chose to count them, this was to be his twenty-first legitimate album. To come up with this figure, the British Empty Sky (1969) and the American Empty Sky (1975) each had to be counted separately, and The Thom Bell Sessions mini-LP had to be counted as a full album as well. Hence, the new album was titled: 21 At 33."

This is not true at all. Empty Sky was not counted twice (which is ridiculous), and the Thom Bell Sessions (which only contained three songs) was never counted as an album. In order to get the number to 21, Elton counted each of his two double albums, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Blue Moves, as 2.

Page 226 - Bego writes: "Elton was so impressed with Diana that he and Bernie wrote the song "Princess" about her and included it on his next album." Not true! The song was actually written by Gary Osborne, not Bernie Taupin, which Bevo confirms just four small paragraphs later: "Bernie Taupin contributed five compositions, including "Spiteful Child," "I am Your Robot," "Where Have All The Good Times Gone," "All Quiet On The Western Front," and "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)." Gary Osborne contributed four songs: "Dear John," "Ball and Chain," "Princess," and "Blue Eyes."

On page 191 it says "While he was in New York City that summer, Elton gave one of the most important press interviews of his career. It was to appear in the November 7, 1976, issue of Rolling Stone magazine. In a frank conversation with writer Cliff Jahr, Elton finally opened the closet door of his sex life......Instead he chose to admit to being "bisexual". But on page 286 it states: "It seemed that whenever Elton had a bombshell of an announcement to drop on the public, he did it on the pages of Rolling Stone magazine. Fourteen years after describing himself as "bisexual," the singer "came out" and proclaimed his homosexuality. Speaking to writer Philip Norman in its March 19, 1992, issue......" If I do my math correctly, March 19, 1992 is 15½ years after November 7, 1976, not 14.

Page 294 - The title of Elton's duet with Tammy Wynette is "A Woman's Needs", not "What A Woman Needs" which is what was printed.

Page 314 - "That night he entertained the crowd by singing "Your Song" and "The Way You Look Tonight".

"The Way You Look Tonight" is not an Elton John song. Bego is probably referring to "Something About The Way You Look Tonight" which is correctly mentioned two pages earlier.

Page 337 - "June 9, 2008, saw the release of deluxe and expanded versions of the albums "One" and "Tumbleweed Connection". Each one contained bonus tracks, rare recordings, demos, and even BBC broadcasts of some of his most beloved songs."

Technically, the album is called "THE One", not "One". But it doesn't matter because it was the "Elton John" album that had been rereleased along with "Tumbleweed Connection."

A somewhat breathless account of the career of Elton John. I found the book tedious as a whole, especially in two areas: 1. Mr. Bego uses exclamation points and 2. Mr. Bego refers to Elton John by a variety of silly sobriquets. Both contrivances are unnecessary.

This book is a "must read" for the Elton John fan. I am a huge fan and I was extremely impressed with this book. There are some excellent photos included along with a really awesome pic on the front of the book jacket. If you love Elton...you'll love this book!!

The definitve bio of Elton from birth to present. Just when you think you knew everything on Elton this details his life from beginning to present with every deatil possible referring to all albums and important songs and charitable causes. Completely objective and informative with no bad opinions or hear say. Just complete biographical information taken from many interviews and essays given by Elton himself. A very thorough read for any Elton fan.

LOVED THE BOOK! Bego is a great story teller about Elton and all the other celebrities he writes about. I've always tried to have one of his books on hand for my vacations - they provide a great read and dish plenty of dirt!

Whose next?! Brad Pitt!?