Sir Elton John has released ‘Scarecrow’ and five other rareties from ‘Elton: Jewel Box’ digitally for the first time.
The music legend has marked his 74th birthday (25.03.21) with the announcement that the iconic track, which marked the start of his long-time songwriting partnership with Bernie Taupin in 1967, plus deeper cuts, are now available to stream on major platforms.
The other tracks are: ‘Holiday Inn’, ‘Keep It A Mystery’, ‘Smokestack Children’, ‘Two Of A Kind’ and ‘Conquer The Sun’.
Elton has reflected on the “wild ride” with Bernie over the past five decades or more and admitted “how lucky” they are to “have found each other”.
The ‘I’m Still Standing’ hitmaker said in a statement: “‘Scarecrow’ will always have a very special place in my heart, and I know that Bernie feels the same way too. It’s the song that started it all. This last year in lockdown has given us all time to look back and reflect – finding this song again when I put together the ‘Jewel Box’ and thinking of everything that has happened in our careers and friendships that has sprouted from this one point is just remarkable. ‘Jewel Box’ contains the embryos of something special, and ‘Scarecrow’ goes right to the heart of that, naive compositions of a time and place that went on to become something very special indeed. What a wild ride it’s been so far and how lucky we are to have found each other.”
As well as the digital release, BBC4 will be broadcasting re-runs of some of their legendary programmes from their Elton John archives.
On Friday (26.03.21) evening, ‘Elton John: Electric Prom’, ‘Elton John at the BBC’ and ‘Elton John: Uncensored’, his 2019 interview with Graham Norton, will air again.
The ‘Jewel’ boxset was originally released in November and contains over 60 previously unreleased tracks.
The ‘Tiny Dancy’ hitmaker said in a previous statement: “To delve back through every period of my career in such detail for ‘Jewel Box’ has been an absolute pleasure.
“Hearing these long lost tracks again, I find it hard to comprehend just how prolific Bernie [Taupin] and I were during the early day.
“The songs just poured out of us and the band were just unbelievable in the studio. I always want to push forward with everything I do and look to the future, but having time during lockdown to take stock and pull these moments from my memory from each era has been a joy.
“As a devout record collector myself, this project has really excited me and I couldn’t be happier with the level of craft involved in such a carefully curated, lovingly constructed boxset. I’m sure my fans will enjoy it as much as I have.”
The veteran entertainer previously insisted he wouldn’t have achieved anything without Bernie when the pair scooped their first joint Oscar for Best Original Song for ‘Rocketman’s ‘(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again’ at the 2020 Academy Awards.
And the lyricist compared his bond with the ‘Candle in the Wind’ singer – who he first met in 1967 after both answering an advert placed in the NME for a songwriting contest – to a marriage.
He said: “It’s like marriage. It really is.
“And one of the things that makes it work is being different, having different lives, leading different lives. But we always come back together for the music, and the music is the thing that has run through the bloodline of our veins ever since we first met.”
Elton and Bernie, 70, have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date and were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992.