O/T - Elton John "Harmony"
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Printed Date: 10 September 2025 at 3:58pm
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Topic: O/T - Elton John "Harmony"
Posted By: Scanner
Subject: O/T - Elton John "Harmony"
Date Posted: 26 August 2025 at 9:54pm
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I heard this song played in the supermarket last weekend and wondered - how does a 50+ year old album track still get airtime when singles that spent months in the Top 10 are long forgotten?!? The song was the B-side to "Bennie And The Jets," but I never saw "Harmony" listed with "Bennie" on the Billboard, Cashbox, R&R or Record World charts. So, what was the story with "Harmony?" Was this an official single albeit as a B-side? If radio was playing this, why did it not chart anywhere especially in the airplay based R&R or in Billboard on one of its airplay charts like AC? ("Harmony" was certainly a better fit for AC than "Bennie" ever was.) Did it at least chart in Gavin? |
Replies:
Posted By: LunarLaugh
Date Posted: 27 August 2025 at 1:32am
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It was a turntable hit, much like "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac. When I used to live in New Jersey in the mid 1990s, I heard it constantly on WCBS-FM. I don't know if it ever turned up on radio surveys when it was a new track but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. This was the period when Elton became a superstar and he was only getting bigger and more popular so it would be a lot like when The Beatles' album tracks get airplay. They're so omnipresent, it almost doesn't matter that they weren't singles. ------------- https://thelunarlaugh.bandcamp.com/ - Listen to The Lunar Laugh! |
Posted By: Santi Paradoa
Date Posted: 27 August 2025 at 4:08pm
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In Miami both Y-100 (WHYI) and WMYQ (96.3 FM) played "Harmony" back in the 1973/1974 period when the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road LP was big plus the "Bennie And The Jets" 45 was released. One of these stations even had a call-in contest where they played two top songs and callers called in to vote for one of those two songs. After several minutes they would announce the song that won the voting and then the winning song was pitted against a new song. Then callers would call in again and vote for their favorite. This contest would go on for hours until finally after what seemed like an entire day the song that won the most head-to-head competitions was crowned the champ. I remember "Harmony" being one of those songs that was crowned champ. Always thought the song should have been an a-side release. ------------- Santi Paradoa Miami, Florida |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 27 August 2025 at 5:00pm
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There were a number of radio stations across the country that listed Harmony on their surveys im 1974. DATE LW = TW STATION CITY STATE US WKS FORMAT 1974-05-24 3 + 2 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 6 T40 1974-07-19 13 -- 19 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 14 T40 1974-05-03 27 ++ 11 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 3 T40 1974-06-14 1 #1 1 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 9 T40 1974-08-02 22 - 26 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 16 T40 1974-05-17 4 + 3 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 5 T40 1974-07-12 5 -- 13 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 13 T40 1974-04-26 39 ++ 27 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 2 T40 1974-05-31 2 = 2 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 7 T40 1974-07-26 19 - 22 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 15 T40 1974-06-21 1 #1 1 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 10 T40 1974-05-10 11 + 4 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 4 T40 1974-06-28 1 - 2 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 11 T40 1974-08-09 26 - 28 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US 17 T40 1974-04-19 -- ++ 39 WBZ Boston Massachusetts US T40 1974-05-09 14 -- 20 KFMG Des Moines Iowa US T40 1974-04-25 11 = 11 KFMG Des Moines Iowa US T40 1974-03-15 16 + 10 KIXS Killeen Texas US T40 1974-03-07 CFRC Kingston Ontario CA Progressive 1974-06-23 -- ++ 40 KVOZ Laredo Texas US T40 1974-05-15 WGTR Natick Massachusetts US T40 1974-06-21 5 + 4 KTSA San Antonio Texas US T40 1974-08-02 17 - 21 KTSA San Antonio Texas US T40 1974-03-22 KJR Seattle Washington US T40 1974-04-19 KJR Seattle Washington US T40 1974-03-15 KJR Seattle Washington US T40 1974-05-03 KJR Seattle Washington US T40 1974-03-29 KJR Seattle Washington US T40 1974-04-26 KJR Seattle Washington US T40 1974-04-26 8 - 12 WLCY Tampa Florida US T40 1974-03-15 13 + 8 WLCY Tampa Florida US T40 1974-05-03 12 + 11 WLCY Tampa Florida US T40 1974-04-12 16 ++ 7 WLCY Tampa Florida US T40 1974-05-20 XHIS Tijuana Baja California MX Progressive ------------- John Gallagher Erie, PA Celebrating 28 years as a full-time wedding & special event DJ! |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 27 August 2025 at 10:40pm
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I was going to say I heard it all the time on WBZ-FM but John beat me to it. I can't quite make at the tabulations above but I recall it getting very close to the top 5, if not in it. (John, can you tell us where it peaked, and where did you get this weekly chart info from?) I agree that it should have been an A-side single. I love it. |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 27 August 2025 at 11:35pm
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I'm a member of the ARSA radio survey site. Until recently, you could browse the entire website but lately they are requiring a registration, which is free, to browse the entire website. I did a search for Harmony from Elton John and came up with those statistics on how many radio stations played the song and how it charted on their stations. Unfortunately pasting it into this discussion messed up the text that I was pasting. ------------- John Gallagher Erie, PA Celebrating 28 years as a full-time wedding & special event DJ! |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 28 August 2025 at 7:36am
Pretty sure WVBF played it too, but they didn't publish a survey in 1974 (at least that I know of). WRKO was still king of the top 40 hill, and they did not play it.
Agree. Way better song than "Bennie" IMHO. |
EdisonLite wrote:Posted By: Scanner
Date Posted: 28 August 2025 at 8:26pm
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I only first heard both "Bennie" and "Harmony" a few years after they were released. So, I know them as oldies and heard them both about the same amount on the radio. When I bought my first chart book, Casey Kasem's one and ultimately only American Top 40 book, I was surprised "Harmony" was not among Elton's Top 40 hits. ("Bennie" was.) Years later, when I discovered Joel Whitburn's books, "Harmony" was still missing. How could such a pervasive hit not chart, I wondered, until seeing how many other big radio hits like the Bee Gees' "More Than A Woman" were also never "officially" singles. Since R&R was a radio chart, I'm surprised "Harmony" never charted there. "Pinball Wizard" did and I rarely recall hearing that on the radio. Did "Harmony" ever chart in Gavin? |
Posted By: Bellenger1981
Date Posted: 28 August 2025 at 9:07pm
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I checked my Gavin book, and "Harmony" never charted there. ------------- Jason Bellenger Byron Center, Michigan, USA |
Posted By: AndrewChouffi
Date Posted: 29 August 2025 at 12:00pm
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Interestingly from the first published issue of Radio & Records dated October 5, 1973 through early March, 1974 "Harmony" was consistently listed as one of the most played consensus cuts off the 'Yellow Brick Road' LP on their 'Rock Albums' page. This was a precursor to their AOR chart loosely documenting the then-called "Progressive" FM format but I'm pretty sure it received some input from the top-40 stations that got a little progressive at night with select album cuts. (I recall that being a "thing" in some markets from about 1971-1974.) Andy |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 04 September 2025 at 12:29am
I agree, too. Never understood why "Harmony" wasn't a single |
Posted By: AndrewChouffi
Date Posted: 04 September 2025 at 6:27am
I recall reading both "Candle In the Wind" and "Harmony" were potentially slated to be the follow up single to the hit song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". DJM Records in England generally made the decisions about single releases with Elton contributing a non-LP B-side to give more value to the 45 (Elton was admittedly a chart fan like all of us here). Elton heard from USA MCA Records that "Bennie & The Jets" was getting unsolicited R&B/Soul airplay in select large markets. I suspect part of the charm was the spacey keyboards reminiscent of Bernie Worrell's work in Parliament/Funkadelic. I even recall a story from an ex-boss of mine who worked in a Philadelphia record store recalling he couldn't figure out why so many Black people were buying the double LP 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' album when the only two singles out were "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" & the title track (both cuts with limited appeal to Black audiences). MCA asked Elton if they could release "Bennie" as a single to capitalize on the unsolicited R&B/Soul airplay and Elton authorized it because he was a big fan of R&B and he was impressed that the Black audience was digging one of his cuts. That helps explain why "Bennie" did not have a non-LP B-side. Possibly MCA chose "Harmony" for the B-side to hedge against Pop radio not embracing the weird (& wonderful) "Bennie". By the time "Bennie" was the next USA single, DJM England chose "Candle In The Wind", so MCA's plan was to issue "Candle In The Wind" as the set's 4th single, but MCA received word that a brand-new track ("Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me") was almost ready to be pressed so that's why "Candle" wasn't worked in the USA. I cannot recall where I received much of this information, but I suspect some of it came from reading Cashbox & Record World magazines at a record store (Apex Music Korner) when I was a kid. Andy |
Posted By: Santi Paradoa
Date Posted: 04 September 2025 at 8:23am
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Good info Andy. In May of 1975 Elton appeared on Soul Train and performed "Bennie And The Jets" plus "Philadelphia Freedom." Checking Billboard's Hot Soul Singles chart where "Bennie And The Jets" peaked at #15. Not too shabby for a kid from Pinner, Middlesex in London. Looks like Elton was so popular at this point that his crossover with the R&B radio listeners was a big plus for sales. ------------- Santi Paradoa Miami, Florida |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 04 September 2025 at 12:13pm
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I think Rosalie Trombley, the music director at CKLW in the Windsor/Detroit market, was also a big reason Bennie & The Jets was such a big song in the black community since CKLW was so huge not only in Detroit but as far east as Cleveland and here in Erie, PA. They, at one point in 1974 or so, had Elton on the air as a guest DJ one day. ------------- John Gallagher Erie, PA Celebrating 28 years as a full-time wedding & special event DJ! |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 08 September 2025 at 8:20am
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I prefer "Bennie" over "Harmony." Elton was so red-hot at that time that there was an embarrassment of riches to pick as singles, with several worthy songs not making the cut for one reason or another. "Pinball Wizard" is always the example I use, because it actually hit #1 in several different markets. |