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List Price: $19.95 | | Publisher: Billboard Books
Salesrank: 894958
Released: June 15, 2002 |
| Our Price: $4.13 |
| Used Price: $3.16 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John has become a critical volume in serious appraisals of this remarkable artist's career. More comprehensive than previous biographies, His Song provides the full story behind all of Elton John's recordings, including lyrical and musical analyses which, to date, have been offered by only a few books in only skeletal fashion; a complete chronicle of all the artist's concert tours; an authoritative view of how Elton John grew from a meek, unassuming man into a personality powerhouse both on and offstage and a major superstar; and the true story behind John's flamboyant costumes and why he wore them.
This revealing biography also examines the ebb and flow of Elton John's career, including the real reason for his commercial downturn post-1976 and his difficult business relationship with David Geffen; his "coming out" as, first, a "bisexual" man and, finally, as a "gay" man; his rocky relationship with both the music and mainstream press regarding his sexuality; his problems with drugs, alcohol, bulimia, and sexual addictions; his relationship with AIDS sufferer Ryan White and his family; and the complete story of Elton John's performance at Princess Diana's funeral and his rewriting of his song "Candle in the Wind," which went on to become the biggest selling single in music history. Also covered are concerts of special note, including his 1979 tour of the former Soviet Union, his 1986 tour of Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and his 1994-1995 joint tour of North America with fellow piano superstar Billy Joel. The book includes 40 black & white photographs chronicling the breadth of Elton John's career, as well as a discography.
Few artists in the music world have achieved the consistency and success of Elton John. From his self-titled debut album in 1970 to his music for the hit Broadway musical Aida, he has been lauded both for his recordings and for his extravagent and compelling live performances. It is estimated that he has sold over 200 million records worldwide. As of 2000, he had 10 multi-platinum, 24 platinum, and 33 gold albums in the United States alone. In addition, he boasts the biggest-selling single in the history of the music business, the double A-sided Princess Diana benefit record "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight," and totals in America alone one multi-platinum single, six platinum singles, and 19 gold singles. In 1992, Elton John tied Elvis Presley's record for 23 consecutive years of Top 40 hits. By the spring of 1999, he would have a song in the Top 40 every year for 30 years.
Elton John has also won five Grammys, and been nominated 29 times since 1971, and has received a Grammy Legend award for his continuing contributions to music. In addition, he has won an Academy Award winner in the Best Original Song category for "Can You Feel the Love tonight" from The Lion King soundtrack, and he received a Golden Globe Award for the same song. Finally, Elton John has twice been inducted into a music Hall of Fame: with his lyricist Bernie Taupin he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John (Book) Reviews:
THE Elton resource for fans... 
2006-09-19 - Elizabeth Rosenthal has done the near-impossible. Not only has she given an accurate account of Elton John's life and career (which spans nearly six decades), but she did it in a way that focuses on the vast amount of music this guy has put out.
And not just the Greatest Hits, either! No, no, no...she comments on almost all of his album and non-LP-B-side tracks - leaving one to wonder where she finds the time to do her grocery shopping.
As someone who has done a fair bit of writing and research on Elton John as well, I can recommend this book as an invaluable read for casual fan and fanatic alike. Even Elton himself may have learned a thing or two.
John F. Higgins
Album by album, song by song...overly effusive writing. 
2005-12-06 - "His Song" is an impressive attempt at a biography of Elton John, using his album and single releases as a guide.
It appears to be exhaustively researched and is clearly a labor of love for the author.
I feel it does a good job of describing those dizzying, heady days of the early 70's. The author is meticulous about recording the various band members, release dates, important concerts...all thoroughly footnoted.
It's just not written very well, and is so effusive in praise that by the end of the book, you as the reader have become numb to it.
It's fairly repetitious. An example: She refers to the single, "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" as "thrilling."
Whether or not you happen to agree (of ALL his singles, THAT'S the "thrilling" one? Uh, no.), it does reveal a laziness in vocabulary when she uses that adjective for that single more than once.
It got to the point where I started to blow off every mention of Elton's "pianism."
What's a "chewy" melody? Is that good or bad? She uses even THAT adjective more than once, specifically to describe a melody.
Listen, I'm not asking for objectivity. Anyone who writes a biography always has an agenda. The author must find the subject fascinating, interesting...they either love or hate the subject...whatever. Bias doesn't bother me.
Blind faith does, though. There's no perspective. When she describes how unpredictably great he was in the 70's, I totally believed her. I listened to every album right before I read about it...which is a pretty cool experience, by the way.
Anyways, when she equates some of his lesser, later work with those early albums, it denigrates those older ones. It doesn't brighten his star, it dims it.
Then, when by all accounts he does release some classy, "old-fashioned" Elton John albums later in his career...they get the same adulation as the weak ones. Again, it diminishes his achievement...
Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh because I love Elton John; for many of us, he was the first rock superstar we came to love. I love the idea and concept of this book: a biographical review of a rock star's career, album by album, song by song. I wish this was available for dozens of other rock acts...
My problem is that the execution left a little to be desired.
A Collection of Reviews
2005-09-22 - The excitement of sitting down and reading about your favorite performer is wonderful. When I heard about Roshenthal's book I went straight to the public library to check it out. I came home with a copy of the book and just finished about three days ago. I will tell you of my experience.
Rosenthal is a very good writer indeed. The language she uses is very strong and very entertaining. I believe her skill in authorhsip really saves this novel. I have been an Elton John fan for twelve years or more, and indeed, I found this book interesting. The research must have taken forever so that Ms. Rosenthal could include all of the information she includes.
Although the writing is well done, the information is overdone. The reader doesn't want to hear a detailed description of the album, because the reader has already heard the albums, maybe ever multiple times. Yet, the descriptions are well written, but there is too much description. The reader can only take so much, and at times I felt like I would just abort the book and move on. But, I kept my faith in Ms. Rosenthal and have to say that she did a fair job.
Much of the novel is just a collection of reviews about Elton John. It is not usually interesting, but it pulls through.
The information that is given, that does not pertain to the description of the albums, is very interesting. It draws the reader in to see Elton John commiting suicide or going on a drunken binges. The facts presented in the book are many that even the most advanced fans couldn't possibly know.
The part that really drew me in, was the prologue. It was written very well, and the information at the end sets the reader on fire. They want to read more.
I believe any Elton John fan should read this book, then consider purchasing it.
Altoghether, the book is well written and contains some very good facts about the musical legend.
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Good reading!
Simply THE best book about Elton yet 
2004-01-15 - This book focuses on the music of Elton, unlike any other bio. It goes through an album song by song, and offers interesting interpretation and insight into each, unlike Norman's or other bio's that mention the two or three well known songs from each album. It was amazing the amount of info I learned in this book even though I've been a lifelong fan.
Terrific "musical biography"!
2004-01-10 - This is a marvelous book, especially noteworthy because the author pays as much attention to the music as to the musician. Although her writing style at times can get a bit florid, that's understandable given the fact that she has to describe literally hundreds of songs and performances, so she's always searching for new and creative descriptions. Sometimes it doesn't work, but usually it does. At any rate, this is a highly detailed, engrossing account of Elton John's life and music, and I always found that I had trouble putting it down. Better yet, I was always eager to get back to it! The author clearly loves her subject, "warts and all," which she doesn't shy away from. A very enjoyable and extremely informative book--a must for dedicated Elton John fans, and highly recommended even for more casual fans who simply want to learn more (a lot more) about one of the most successful artists in the history of popular music.
