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Our list of the 10 best Elton John songs from the 1990s showcases his music from a decade in which he released the fewest albums of his 20th-century career. We’re not going to really count the 1960s because he only released one album, which was his debut album in the UK, which was not released in the United States until the mid-70s. If we look back at the entire decade of the ’70s, we see that Elton John released 12 studio albums and a whole lot of singles in between them. It was by far the most prolific decade of his entire musical career. He didn’t slow down much in the 1980s, releasing nine studio albums. However, many of them disappointed some of his fans, as his sound completely changed in the ’80s.
Elton John’s musical output slowed considerably as far as traditional Elton John studio albums in the 1990s, during which he released only three studio albums. However, that does not include The Lion King Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, the Broadway concept album Aida with Tim Rice, or the soundtrack to the motion picture The Muse. He also released a wonderful Duets album. Many fans think the quality of his ’90s records may have been a step above that of many of his ’80s albums. I am one of them. For this article, we’re taking a deeper look at his 1990s material and picking out 10 of our Elton John’s favorites from the decade.
# 10 – Written In The Stars
We open up this ’90s list of Elton John songs with one of the tracks he composed with Tim Rice for the Aida album. This is a very different-sounding Elton John from the days of “Levon” and ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’.” But this is where he was in the 1990s. It’s quite a beautiful song. He performed this duet with LeAnn Rimes.
# 9 – The Muse
If you missed this one, you’re not alone. Nonetheless, it’s actually a really beautiful song with a sweet, soothing, melancholic groove that is quite heartwarming. Elton John delivers a beautiful lead vocal in front of some wondrous backing vocals. There’s a slight 70s folksy soulfulness to this one that you will understand if you take a listen.
# 9 – Can You Feel the Love Tonight
Well, talk about expanding your audience to a much younger demographic. These Disney movies were huge in the 1990s. I remember teaching piano at the time and every one of my students wanted to learn this song from The Lion King.
# 7 – The Power
In 1993, Elton John released his Duets album. Most of the album’s 16 tracks were cover songs. Although there were a couple of originals, including Elton John’s duet with George Michael on “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” which was previously released 2 years earlier. There was also a great original Elton John song called “A Woman’s Needs” recorded with Tammy Wynette. However, the song I have chosen to include here is the soulful gospel-like original by Elton called “The Power.” On this one, two of rock and roll’s all-time great piano players and performers, Elton John and Little Richard, teamed up to record one for the ages.
# 6 – Made In England
“Made In England” served as the title track of Elton’s 1995 studio album. It was the only song on the album with a title longer than one word. It’s an album full of haunting ballads, so this track stood out for many reasons. It’s a feel-good track that echoes his late-70s, early 80s work.
# 5 – Something About the Way You Look Tonight
This is a beautiful mid-tempo ballad from the 1997 album The Big Picture. The album was not as strong as his two previous 90s albums, The One and Made in England, but it was still a much more valiant effort than his mid-to-late 80s records. You can definitely hear the impact of his Broadway and Disney work in this song.
# 4 – Believe
This one is very powerful. The song was released on the Made In England album. It was the first single released from the record. Its majestic descending bass line, powered by one of Elton’s strongest vocal performances in years, resulted in Elton John enjoying great chart success with this one. It hit number one in many countries worldwide and had great success in the US.
# 3 – The One
After a handful of lackluster albums released in the late 80s, Elton John’s 1991 album The One was seen as somewhat of a comeback. It was the strongest record he had made since Too Low For Zero in 1983. It was the title track here that caught everyone’s attention and sent his old-time 70s fans back to the record stores to pick this one up.
# 2 – Runaway Train
There’s nothing like adding Eric Clapton to one of your songs to take it to the next level. While the album title track, “The One,” stole all the attention when the album was released, I always thought “Runaway Train” was the strongest track on the record.
# 1 – Candle in the Wind 1997
The reason behind this song being rewritten is tragic. Originally composed as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe and released on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album in 1973, Elton John was so heartbroken over the loss of Princess Diana that he had Bernie Taupin rewrite the lyrics to pay tribute to his dear lost friend. Elton John swore that he would only sing it once and would never sing “Candle in the Wind” again. The song was released as a charitable single and sold over 33 million copies. It’s the second biggest-selling single of all time behind Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.”
Elton John’s 1990s Albums
The One – 1992
Duets – 1993
The Lion King Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – 1994
Made In England – 1995
The Big Picture – 1997
Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida – 1999
The Muse Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – 1999
If you want to dig deeper into some of our more rare Elton John articles, check out our stories on Why Elton John’s Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player Was One Of His Most Melodic LPs, Why There Were Many Overlooked Gems On Elton John’s Caribou LP, A Look At Elton John’s Christmas Songs, Elton John And Chappell Roan’s Duet at Oscars Party Goes Viral, 10 Saddest Elton John Songs, and Why Elton John’s Captain Fantastic Album Was So Great.
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