Songoftheday 5/3/13 - Don't wish it away, don't look at it like it's forever...

Elton John - "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues"
from the album Too Low For Zero (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15

Today's Song of the Day is by the biggest act of the seventies, Elton John, whose seventeenth studio album Too Low For Zero had already spun out two top-20 pop singles in the US, the defiant "I'm Still Standing" and rocking follow-up "Kiss The Bride".  For the third release Elton put out the song that he released as the lead-off single for the record in Britain, "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues". With lyrics by long-time collaborator Bernie Taupin and band member Davey Johnstone, the song had a timeless quality that stood out enough to predict that it would be the biggest thing he'd be remembered for in the 80s, and Stevie Wonder's harmonica solo is his own best of the decade as well.

"I Guess..." went to #4 on the pop chart in the US at the beginning of 1984, a half-year after reaching #5 in Britain. It almost topped the adult-contemporary chart, stalling at #2, and peaked out at #22 on rock radio (not surprising, considering it's more mature soundscape).

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One of the more notable artists to cover the song was Mary J. Blige, who also performed it with Elton...

...and Elton alone back in the day, I love that you can hear the piano quite well in this...

Up tomorrow: the Glimmer Twins go Contra.