"Skyline Pigeon" is a ballad composed and performed by English musician Elton John with lyrics by Bernie Taupin. It is the eighth track on his first album, Empty Sky. It was originally released in August 1968 as a single on the Pye label by Guy Darrell and simultaneously by Roger James Cooke on Columbia Records. It was also recorded by Deep Feeling in 1970, Dana, Judith Durham, and Gene Pitney on his Pitney '75 album.
Musical structure
The original recording from the Empty Sky album has Elton John on harpsichord and organ. It is the only song on the album with John without other musicians. He wrote the song in the style of a hymn. The lyrics of the song are metaphorical — describing a pigeon that is flying high and free having been released from a human hand, with the line in the second verse, but most of all please free me from this aching metal ring, possibly revealing a human longing to be released from a broken marriage and set free to pursue new, truer dreams and ambitions — a theme that would reappear in 1975's Someone Saved My Life Tonight, using a similar metaphor of a butterfly flying free. Though there exists also the more literal interpretation of a war pigeon, as they were most commonly used to carry urgent messages in a small capsule affixed to the leg with metal bands, and carried on the backs of soldiers in small cages with a single wire door for the pigeon to look out of.
1972 version
In 1972, John re-recorded the song with his band during the sessions for Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player. The new recording used piano instead of harpsichord, and strings and oboe arranged byPaul Buckmaster. Originally issued as the B-side of the hit-single "Daniel", it first appeared on CD in 1988 as part of the DJM issue of the Lady Samantha compilation album, then a few years later in the US and abroad on the 1992 Mercury release Rare Masters, and as a bonus track on the 1995 reissue of Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player. The 1972 version of Skyline Pigeon appears again on the third CD of John's 2017 compilation box set Diamonds.
Performances
"Skyline Pigeon" was played on the radio as early as 1968. It was the most popular song during the very early period of John's musical career, yet it was not released as a single. It is, however the most performed live and best known track from the Empty Sky album. The song was performed live in various eras and venues throughout John's career, mainly in Britain, and frequently during his solo shows and pairings with the percussionist Ray Cooper. John has always said he regards "Skyline Pigeon" as one of the first "great" songs that he and Taupin wrote. John performed the song at the funeral of the AIDS victim and friend Ryan White in 1990 on a grand piano, although he played Roland Piano on tour and in the studio at the time. Apart from its earlier appearances on record, a live, solo piano version recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in London during summer 1974 was also included as the opening number on the "Here" side of the Here and There album in 1976, a place it retained in the 1995 2-CD expanded version remixed by the album's original producer Gus Dudgeon. It was also released on Volume 1 of two EltonJohn.com limited edition CDs recorded live in Madison Square Garden, as part of a series of solo performances John gave in October 1999. The song received a brief revival during a UK tour in 2009. The 1972 version was a hit in Brazil. A live performance from 17 January 2009, was broadcast on TV along with the rest of an entire concert John that performed in São Paulo, Brazil. Again in Brazil in 2011, he played the song during a concert at Rock in Rio in front of 150,000 people in Rio de Janeiro, on 23 September. During the 2013 tour he played the song again in São Paulo, on 27 February, and in Porto Alegre, on 5 March.
