I thought, ''Maybe I can write songs.'' So I answered this advert for Liberty Records.
I thought, ''What can I do?'' I sang a couple of songs with the band, but I didn't really sing. At this stage we were doing cabaret, because he'd had a couple of pop hits. That conversation took place backstage before one of their shows at the First Union Center here last month.ĪNTHONY DeCURTIS It's easy to see how a young person could get interested in being a performer, but how did you get interested in writing songs?ĮLTON JOHN I was in a mediocre band called Bluesology, playing behind the English blues singer Long John Baldry. They seemed, then, like ideal candidates for a conversation about the art of songwriting - its rewards, its discontents and its current state of health. John unleash close to three dozen pop gems: ''Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me,'' ''Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,'' ''Levon,'' ''New York State of Mind,'' ''Rocket Man,'' ''Piano Man.'' Most extraordinarily, their catalogs, dating back three decades, run so deep that you could construct another set list, equally long - and equally strong - without repeating a single song. Last year he released ''Fantasies and Delusions: Music for Solo Piano,'' which, as performed by the pianist Richard Joo, went to No. Instead, he has turned to composing instrumental piano pieces in a Romantic style. Joel has not released an album of new songs since ''River of Dreams'' in 1993, and he has no plans to do so any time soon. John released ''Songs From the West Coast,'' a suite written with his longstanding collaborator, the lyricist Bernie Taupin, which has been hailed as reminiscent of their strongest work from the 1970's. John, who turns 55 this month, are at different points in their careers. The shows, in which the two men perform each other's songs both together and separately, are noteworthy at a time when attention-addled listeners are increasingly focused on specific songs, rather than albums, and find few artists worthy of their continued support. Billy Joel and Elton John's Face to Face tour, which stops in the New York area for nine arena shows beginning at Madison Square Garden on Friday, serves up a staggering array of hits that fans regard as well worth the money even at a top ticket price of $175. AT a time when the music industry is jittery about its very future, two veteran artists are touring together and selling out shows as if the boom times of the 90's had never ended.
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