Elton John - Skyline Pigeon

B-side of the hit-single “Daniel“ (1972). Music by Elton John; lyrics by Bernie Taupin. Lyrics: Turn me loose from your hands Let me fly to distant lands Over green fields, trees and mountains Flowers and forest fountains Home along the lanes of the skyway For this dark and lonely room Projects a shadow cast in gloom And my eyes are mirrors Of the world outside Thinking of the way That the wind can turn the tide And these shadows turn From purple into grey For just a Skyline Pigeon Dreaming of the open Waiting for the day He can spread his wings And fly away again Fly away skyline pigeon fly Towards the dreams You’ve left so very far behind Just let me wake up in the morning To the smell of new mown hay To laugh and cry, to live and die In the brightness of my day I want to hear the pealing bells Of distant churches sing But most of all please free me From this aching metal ring And open out this cage towards the sun. Bernie Taupin: “That’s a song with a history. I think, funnily enough, Skyline Pigeon was the first really good song that we ever wrote. I think it was a lanmark as far as our writing was concerned - it was a good blend of lyrics and melody. It was originally included on the Empty Sky album, and was also one of the first songs that we wrote that was covered. There was a guy called Roger Cook that wanted to record it, and in order for him to record it, Dick James gave part of the publishing to him. We obviously liked the song enough to re-record it later on, and I think it also turned up on a couple of live albums. Most recently it turned up again, because at AIDS victim Ryan White’s funeral Elton played it, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s a quote from it on Ryan’s grave“, 1992.