His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John (Hardcover)

~ Elizabeth Rosenthal (Author) "CARNEGIE HALL on the night of April 12, 1995 was the site of the annual benefit for Trudie Styler and Sting's Rainforest Foundation..." (more)
Key Phrases: sleeping with the past, honky cat, boogie pilgrim, United States, New York, Los Angeles (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Rosenthal, a freelance writer, here attempts only the second serious biography of the bespectacled pianist (after Philip Norman's Elton John, LJ 2/1/92) and the first to include significant critical analysis of the star's music. As a biographer, Rosenthal relies exclusively on secondary sources to cobble together John's story, risking the perpetuation of inaccuracies. She also presents an assembly line of factoids but fails to give the reader a broader understanding of the man. As a critical analysis of John's music, the book is more successful, but here, too, are puzzling inconsistencies. Rosenthal takes pains to discuss every album track John has recorded in his 30-plus-year career, yet she ignores the plethora of nonalbum B-sides that he has released on singles a significant oversight. Oddly, the author devotes considerable space to lesser-known songs and only two sentences to "Your Song," arguably John's most beloved composition. Still, as a secondary selection, Rosenthal's well-meaning work is vastly superior to Susan Crimp and Patricia Burstein's The Many Lives of Elton John (Birch Lane Pr., 1992). Despite being dated, Norman's book remains the most definitive account. Lloyd Jansen, Stockton-San Joaquin Cty. P.L., CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Documentation rather than biography is the raison d'etre of new books on aging rock superstars.Rosenthal on Elton John details all one could ever want to know about the intricacies of, say, "The Bitch Is Back." Copiously annotated, the dense recording-by-recording study comprises a full discography with some lamentable limitations; all songs and composers are listed, but none of the sidemen who played with John on recordings. Entertaining yet meaningful, disposable yet probably significant, John's continued popularity seems to guarantee readers for this good source of information on the working aspects of a career so voluminous that people will be serious about it, even if most of the songs are little more than Paul McCartney's "silly love songs." Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Billboard Books (September 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823088936
• ISBN-13: 978-0823088935
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #814,566 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars E.J. biography centers around the music, November 26, 2001

By	Gary Gardner "Your resident dillettante" (Ellsworth, ME United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Seeing as Elton John's career in popular music has been going strong for well over thirty years, it is easy to see why there are so many biographies about him. And why not? After all, John has always been an artist of unusual candor, not to mention unusual stage uniforms running from the trashy to the just-plain garish. But the music has always been the main thing, the reason his fans throughout the years still pay good money to see him, even at the ripe old age of 54.
Elizabeth Rosenthal's take on Elton revolves predominantly on the music in this lastest John biography. Those looking for fresh perspectives behind the man, rather than the performer, will be disappointed; certainly those more interested in the recording and performing parts of Elton's life will be most thrilled.
In fact, some of the more interesting items about E.J.'s off-stage life are given short shrift, indeed. Rosenthal hardly mentions the musician's public and private tiffs with his father, his early struggle with his dubious sexuality, or even his renowned drinking/drugging binges...and subsequent recovery in the early 1990's. Only scant mention is made of these life stories, which for better or worse have molded the man into what he is today. Many of the quotes you see (and they are few and far between) are ones given many years ago to other publications. Apparently, Rosenthal had the pleasure of meeting the singer in Atlanta, GA, where he makes his American home, but was apparently not able to interview him. Perhaps it's because John was still managed by the imposing John Reid, who has since been canned by Elton after some financial treachery done by the one person the megastar trusted for almost twenty-five years; Reid had been known to stand in the way of independent biographers who wanted fresher quotes from the star.
It's obvious to anyone who reads the book that Rosenthal is a big fan; she even runs a website devoted to her subject. She does an admirable job, however, of noting many of Elton's career missteps, if not all of them. She is less critical, however, of some of his missteps in his personal life, choosing instead to merely recount these unfortunate events.
Where Rosenthal eventually fails is in neglecting certain events in John's career that proved noteworthy. For instance, she doesn't elucidate in even one sentence why Elton split with lyricist Bernie Taupin after the recording of 1976's "Blue Moves." The motives behind the separation of the two in work collaboration is explained only briefly later on in the book. Other biographies had done a better job with this issue. After all, Taupin was as instrumental to the Elton John hits machine of the early-mid 1970's as the pianist himself. Without Taupin's entrancing lyrics, Elton's music had little outreach beyond some nice melodies constructed here and there.
Still, I enjoyed the copious background on the music. Rosenthal examines each album track, one by one, dissecting them and explaining why each one succeeded or failed. Her prose is definitely unique, and it provides an upbeat style that makes it an absolute joy to read. Those looking for more personal stories about the singer's extremely interesting life will only thirst for more, and are urged to seek out the various other E.J. biographies available.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book on a great entertainer, November 29, 2001

By	Scott N. Burton (Bridgeport,CT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just finished reading this book today & all I can say is "WOW"-Elizabeth Rosenthal did an enormous amount of research & it shows-Rosenthal is undoubtedly a major fan who fortunately paints a rather convincing portrait of Elton John-Here you read about his various triumphs (gold & platinum records,a sell-out cross country tour with Billy Joel in 1994)& tragedies (the deaths of fashion designer Gianni Versace & Princess Diana,which both occurred in 1997)-The appendix lists a complete discography of every single & album that Elton has released during his monumental career-This is a great Christmas present to give someone who likes Elton John just as much as I do.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT READ FOR ELTON FANS!, March 25, 2003

By	Benjamin Okuly (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This book was a Christmas gift for me, and when I started it I figured I would read bits and pieces here and there. Instead I started on page one and just couldn't put the book down! The information was interesting and the notes on all the music from all the albums was very interesting! The one thing I liked about this book was that it stuck to discussing the music, and did not dwell into Elton's personal life too much. I'm not a fan of Elton for what he does and does not do off the stage, to me it's the music that matters. I highly recommend this book, especially if you want to know about all of Elton's albums and the songs that went into the making of a classic musicial and singer. Thanks, Liz, for the great read!!!! :)