This was one of the first Elton John albums I owned. It was his second major-label release (in this country), and shows what Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin were capable of before all the flash that followed a couple years later.
The album has an old-west feel to it, which Taupin attributes largely to his hearing The Band’s Music From Big Pink. What makes it fascinating is that Tumbleweed Connection is a British album by British artists, yet you can see and almost hear the trains in songs like “Country Comfort” and “Son of Your Father” and the girl in the haystack in “Amoreena.” “Come Down in Time” and Leslie Duncan’s “Love Song” still stand as great expressions of love lost and discovered.
Since today is Father’s Day, this lyric, while somewhat sad, fits in as a tribute to fathers.

My Father’s Gun
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
From this day on I own my father’s gun
We dug his shallow grave beneath the sun
I laid his broken body down below the southern land
It wouldn’t do to bury him where any Yankee stands
I’ll take my horse and I’ll ride the northern plain
To wear the colour of the greys and join the fight again
I’ll not rest until I know the cause is fought and won
From this day on until I die I’ll wear my father’s gun
I’d like to know where the riverboat sails tonight
To New Orleans well that’s just fine alright
`Cause there’s fighting there and the company needs men
So slip us a rope and sail on round the bend
As soon as this is over we’ll go home
To plant the seeds of justice in our bones
To watch the children growing and see the women sewing
There’ll be laughter when the bells of freedom ring