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Watch the 2020 Update! https://youtu.be/fj6zHnswgSY

"Curtains" was released on Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy album in the spring of 1975. This is one of the touchstone albums of my youth and played a huge role in my developing love of rock and roll. It's the first Elton John album that I remember actually purchasing myself upon release. It was a huge deal at the time and it was the first album ever to debut at #1 on the U.S. Pop Chart and it was ranked #158 in Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. What none of knew at the time was that it would also be the last album Elton John recorded with his classic band.....ending a string of truly monumental albums and brilliant work by a crack band....incredible musicians all!

This is my 3rd video for an Elton John song, after "Dirty Little Girl" and "Roy Rogers".

The video for this one is one of those cases where I was working on another video (a hopefully epic "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" for my continuing series for songs from that double-album masterpiece) and a video for another song just took over and was fast-tracked to completion.

Specifically, while editing clips from "Wizard Of Oz", I found my usual amazement at watching Ray Bolger's dance work as the Scarecrow....the guy is absolutely genius, the movements he makes seriously appear as if he has no bones....just extraordinary and absolutely some of the greatest dancing ever committed to film! Of course the scarecrow from Oz makes me think of Elton's "Curtains" (just as that song always makes me think of the scarecrow from Oz).....so I started playing around with some different edits of the dance behind "Curtains".

I think the scarecrow's swirling dancing utilized in conjunction with the looping swirl effect as a mask exposing the imagery beneath as he dances is pretty cool....and I spent a good portion of the work time trying to sync his movements to the loop to create that effect. One of the things that drew me to jump on "Curtains" and rush it through was the long drawn out and repetitive refrain where I knew would be a great place to have a lot of Scarecrow dancing!

I'd love to do something for every single song on this beautiful record....till then, I hope you like this one!

Thanks to Elton, The Wizard of Oz, and especially Roy Bolger! Also thanks to: http://www.youtube.com/user/LouieSchwartzberg for a couple of brief flower clips. Incredible x2 videos on this channel.....check out the full versions and more!....and of course, as usual anyone else who supplied any of the other ingredients (that I thought perfect) used in this little dish.

Please visit a few of the other Elton John videos I've made:

"Candle In The Wind"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK1XlMsTgmM

"Daniel"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vin-E1KFWhU

"High Flying Bird"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RM4vgXR6JQ

"Dirty Little Girl"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cCkiOl3hAY

"Roy Rogers"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2yRASZqKeM

"Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance!)" Version 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0utr4NLLh58

"Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance!)" Version 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu3PMoE2J24

[Lyrics]
I used to know this old scarecrow
He was my song
My joy and sorrow
Cast alone between the furrows
Of a field no longer sown by anyone

I held a dandelion
That said the time had come
To leave upon the wind
Not to return
When summer burned the earth again

Cultivate the freshest flower
This garden ever grew
Beneath these branches
I once wrote such childish words for you

But that's okay
There's treasure children always seek to find
And just like us
You must have had
A once upon a time

Lonely lovely day....