“Daniel” by Elton John

Cut at the Château d'Hérouville with Gus Dudgeon producing, "Daniel" opens Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player, Elton John's 1973 album, and it pairs Bernie Taupin's words with Elton's melody. Elton plays electric piano and Mellotron, Davey Johnstone plays acoustic guitar, Dee Murray holds down the bass and Nigel Olsson handles drums and maracas, while engineer Ken Scott adds synthesizer.

As a single it reached No. 4 in Britain and No. 2 in the US, where Paul McCartney and Wings' "My Love" kept it off the top, and it ruled the adult contemporary chart for two weeks that spring. The B-side, a new recording of "Skyline Pigeon" from his 1969 debut Empty Sky, grew a following of its own, and John and Taupin won an Ivor Novello award, Best Song Musically and Lyrically.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.