Elton John: 10 Best Classic Rock Songs

10. Bitter Fingers

Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy is an album that finds Elton(The Captain) and Bernie(The Cowboy) looking back at the early days of their career, before success came calling.

Even alongside brilliant and acclaimed tracks like Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Bitter Fingers is the album’s catchiest number and one of its most memorable. It’s about the time the pair spent churning out songs to order for other acts, while Elton struggled to find success as a performer.

The song wrong foots the listener with gentle, reflective verses before the chorus kicks in with strident drums and squealing double tracked electric guitar.

“It’s hard to write a song with bitter fingers” John tells us but those self same, titular fingers prove that they can sure pound a piano.