Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
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"Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" is the opening track on the double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John. The first part, "Funeral for a Friend", is an instrumental created by John while thinking of what kind of music he would like at his funeral.[1] This first half segues into "Love Lies Bleeding". In the Eagle Vision documentary, Classic Albums: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, John said the two songs were not written as one piece, but fit together since "Funeral for a Friend" ends in the key of A, and "Love Lies Bleeding" opens in A, and the two were played as one elongated piece when recorded.
The grandiose introduction to "Funeral for a Friend" was performed on ARP synthesizer (erroneously credited as A.R.P.) by the album's engineer, David Hentschel, who John recalled overdubbed track after track of music and synthetic atmospheric effects until the mini-opus was complete. With lyrics like "And love lies bleeding in my hand/Oh, it kills me to think of you with another man", Elton John uses death symbolism as an angry take on a breakup song.[1]
Release and reception
The song was well received by critics. Allmusic's Donald Guarisco called "Funeral For A Friend" "a stunning instrumental" with "a powerful fusion of classical and rock elements where a gentle, lyrical motif is developed and energized until it builds into a powerhouse full of emotion and bombast."[1]
"Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" was too long for a single release, but got plenty of airplay on FM stations that were predisposed toward rock epics.[1] The whole piece together is just over 11 minutes long. A fan favourite, it became a staple part of many an Elton John tour set list.
Covers
- The song was covered live by the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, and appears on the 1995 EP A Change of Seasons[2]
- American progressive metal band Redemption also covered the song as a bonus track on their 2011 album This Mortal Coil.
- "Love Lies Bleeding" was covered by the Clearwater, Florida-based band Très bien! on The Next Great American Band.
References
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- Pages with reference errors
- Use British English from February 2012
- Use dmy dates from February 2012
- Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows
- Pages using infobox song with unknown parameters
- Elton John songs
- Songs with music by Elton John
- Songs with lyrics by Bernie Taupin
- 1973 songs
- Song recordings produced by Gus Dudgeon
- 1978 singles
- DJM Records singles
- MCA Records singles
