Someday Out of the Blue was the first single
released from Elton's music for the animated film The Road
to El Dorado. Unfortunately the film didn't do so well and,
even though the songs are excellent, they didn't do well
either.
This version is from Sir Elton’s appearance on the
Rosie O’Donnell show in March 2000. In my opinion,
this is not quite Elton at his best. It feels rushed and
a little heavy handed, but since it’s the only solo
version I’ve heard, maybe that’s how he’s
choosing to perform it. I don’t know, but I’ve
tried to recreate that feeling with this midi. After all,
I want to capture Elton faithfully with 100% accuracy, even
if its not quite up to his standards of excellence.
There are several reasons I’m saying this; they’re
not good or bad, they just ARE. First of all, this version
clocks in at about 45 seconds faster than the studio version.
Second, although Elton starts off with a more gentle left
hand, he later shifts to pumping quarter note pulses in the
lower registers of the piano. Finally, this version is far
more syncopated than the studio. He starts off in the more
relaxed “on-the-beat” feel of the original studio
version, but he soon shifts. By the time he’s 6 bars
into it, he’s consistently playing on the up beat.
I don't know, maybe he had a clock on him and he needed to
rush it. Maybe he was sick of it already!
The song definitely has “movie song” stamped
all over it. With its lyrics about love and yearning, its
almost impossible to not conjure up scenes from the movie.
I'm (favorably) reminded of another great animated movie
song “Somewhere Out There,” from those mouse
movies - you know the ones I'm talking about!
The song is in Bb, one of those pianist-friendly keys. (Pianists
prefer the song key to have 2 or 3 black notes because our
thumbs and 5th finger’s are much shorter than our middle
fingers.) He pretty much stays in key. Besides plenty of I-IV-V
type harmony, he throws in lots of IIm, IIIm, and VIm. He also
does things like play a Bb with a D bass just to keep things
interesting (a standard Elton device). Resolving the chorus
to Gm at the end is also an interesting twist.
Structurally it’s really kind of different: intro-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-verse-chorus-chorus.
The 2-bar intro is followed by an 8-bar chorus that is sung 5 times
throughout the song. The verses are placed in between the choruses
and they are 8 bars in length with an added 6-beat tag-along bar.
The bridge is 8 bars and consists of a little repeating descending
bass line figure.
The playing style should be very familiar to Elton fans. This
is actually an excellent tune for the intermediate pianist who
wants to sound like Elton. Most of the song consists of his standard
chord riffing style that he’s used throughout his career,
all the way back to “Your Song.” Here's the intro.
He also intersperses his Mozart style of arpeggiating in the softer
parts of the song. I particularly loved the following part. Classic
Elton on display here. Gotta love it!
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