Sacrifice (Elton John song)

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“Sacrifice” is a song by British musician Elton John, written by John and Bernie Taupin, from John’s 22nd studio album, Sleeping with the Past (1989). It was first released in October 1989 as the second single from the album. It achieved success in 1990, particularly in France and the United Kingdom, becoming John’s first solo chart-topper in both nations. The song describes how hard it is to stay faithful and devoted in a marriage, challenging the mantra that a successful union requires sacrifice. Due to the song’s success, John has played this song in various locations in the years since it was released.

Chart performance

“Sacrifice” was initially released as a single in 1989 but stalled at number 55 in the UK and at number 18 in the US in March 1990. In mid-1990, English DJ Steve Wright began playing the song on BBC Radio 1, soon followed by many more radio DJs. The song was then re-released as a double A-side single, along with “Healing Hands“, and reached number one in the UK in June 1990.

Thus, it became John’s first solo number-one single in the UK Singles Chart, remaining on the top spot for five weeks. Its success subsequently propelled the parent album Sleeping with the Past to the top position on the UK Album Chart in early July of 1990.

With this re-release, Elton John also got his first number one in France and stayed on the chart for 26 weeks.

Critical reception

David Giles from Music Week wrote, “Probably the best track from his slightly disappointing recent LP. Elton’s in subdued, wistful mood — it’s a ballad, and that’s where his strength lies these days — but it bears the stamp of true songwriting genius, the innate sense of which chord goes next to make the most interesting tune.” Much more critical, Iestyn George of Record Mirror described “Sacrifice” as “a hackneyed old ballad written by Bernie Taupin (also responsible for one of Cliff Richard’s recent aberrations) which is blown out of all proportion in the production suite”.

Music video

The accompanying music video for “Sacrifice” was directed by Alek Keshishian and starred supermodel Yasmeen Ghauri and singer-songwriter Chris Isaak. The video, which follows the song’s lyrics, portrays a man and woman having problems in their relationship after being married and raising a daughter. After they go their separate ways, the man raises his daughter alone.

Track listings

First release

1. “Sacrifice”
2. “Love Is a Cannibal” (from the Columbia Motion Picture Ghostbusters II)

• 12-inch and CD single

1. “Sacrifice”
2. “Love Is a Cannibal” (from the Columbia Motion Picture Ghostbusters II)
3. “Durban Deep”

Second release

1. “Sacrifice”
2. “Healing Hands”

• 12-inch and CD single

1. “Sacrifice”
2. “Healing Hands”
3. “Durban Deep”

Personnel

• Elton John – vocals, Roland RD-1000 digital piano
• Guy Babylon – Yamaha DX7
• Fred Mandel – Roland Alpha Juno synthesizers
• Peter Iverson – Fairlight and Audiofile programming
• Davey Johnstone – electric guitar
• Romeo Williams – bass
• Jonathan Moffett – Yamaha RX-5 programming

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Monthly charts

Certifications

Sacrifice Covers

• Ed Sheeran / James Blunt

• Sinead O’Connor

• OldGuitarMonkey

• Ennah

• Brenda Cochrane

• JK Sax

• Angelo Torres

• Orquestra Santa Cruz Filarmonia

• Maximizer

Sleeping with the Past (Album)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Chicago Tribune
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Hi-Fi News & Record Review	A:1
Los Angeles Times

Sleeping with the Past is the twenty-second studio album by English musician Elton John, released on 4 September 1989. It is his best-selling album in Denmark (where it was recorded) and is dedicated to his longtime writing partner Bernie Taupin. The album features “Sacrifice” and “Healing Hands“, which were issued as a double A-side and became John’s first solo number-one single in his home country on the UK singles chart. The single’s success helped the album also reach number one on the UK Albums Chart, his first since 1974’s Elton John’s Greatest Hits. It also became his first platinum album in the UK since 1985’s Ice on Fire. In the US it was certified gold in October 1989 and platinum in April 1990 by the RIAA. Sleeping with the Past became John’s best selling album of the 1980s.

John and Taupin intended for the songs to reflect the style of 1960s R&B singers such as Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, whom they admired.

Guy Babylon made his debut on this album and would continue to play keyboards with John for the next 20 years, while Fred Mandel left the Elton John Band shortly after. John went into rehabilitation in 1990.

Background

With renewed creativity after 1988’s Reg Strikes Back, Elton John and Bernie Taupin sought to create a cohesive album that had maintained a consistent theme. Inspired by the success of Billy Joel‘s 1983 album An Innocent Man, they decided to pay a similar tribute to the R&B sound of the 1960s and 1970s that inspired them as youths. Taupin would listen to ’60s soul songs and use those songs from the past to inspire new lyrics for their album. He would then write down which artists or songs influenced him. John would then use Taupin’s lyrics as a guide to write a soul-influenced song based on the original source of inspiration. As Taupin described to rock historian Steven P. Wheeler, “I said [to Elton] that we have to sit down and decide what we want to make, and make a cohesive album with a collection of songs that sound like they all fit together. So, we came up with the idea of going back and listening to the songs that inspired us when we first started writing songs, the time when R&B records were really great – the Chess days, the Stax records, and when Motown was at its peak. … So, I started dragging out all these old records and listening to them to get a feel, and we decided to basically make a white-soul album for the late ‘80s, and I think that’s what we’ve done.”

Sleeping with the Past is the second of John’s albums where he plays a Roland RD-1000 digital piano, which he used on all the songs except “Blue Avenue,” on which he played the Bösendorfer acoustic piano at Puk Studios. John used the Roland Digital on promotional appearances associated with the album and the subsequent Sleeping with the Past Tour. Davey Johnstone is the only member of the “classic” Elton John Band who appeared on the album—Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson being notable absences. Keyboardist Guy Babylon made his first appearance on an Elton John album, and also joined his touring band at the same time.

Months after the album’s completion, John attributed its creative success to the certainty that some unpleasant chapters in his life, such as his battle with The Sun, were drawing to a close. In 1989 he said: “This is the first album I’ve made where I didn’t have any pressures hanging over me…When I started it, I knew my personal life was going to be sorted out”. Some years later he said: “I was sober when I recorded Sleeping with the Past – just”. but that changed soon after: “I went off the rails when I did the tour afterwards”. During the tour’s first week, he collapsed onstage.

The album was released late during John’s 1989 American leg of his tour with little support from MCA Records. John canceled tour shows and interviews. In New Haven, Connecticut, on October 18, 1989, he rushed through his performance rarely talking to the audience. Midway through his concert, he announced he would not perform material from the new album because MCA was not promoting it.

In addition to “Sacrifice“, “Healing Hands” and “Club at the End of the Street“, which were singles in both the UK and US, the songs “Whispers” and “Blue Avenue” were released as singles in parts of Continental Europe. “Whispers” reached No. 11 in France, whilst “Blue Avenue” managed to reach the Top 75 in the Netherlands. “Blue Avenue” described his failed marriage to Renate Blauel.

Three other songs were recorded during the sessions: “Dancing in the End Zone” and “Love is a Cannibal,” both with Davey Johnstone as a co-writer, were released as B-sides to two of the album’s singles, and were later included as bonus tracks on CD re-issues of the album. “Love Is Worth Waiting For” had been demoed during the Reg Strikes Back sessions the year before and was further worked on at Puk but has never been released. This song, however, was performed live at an Athletes and Entertainers for Kids event in Los Angeles in July 1988, making one of only two Elton John/Bernie Taupin songs to be performed live but never officially issued. Another song, “Sugar And Fire,” also did not make it past the demo stage. “Love Is a Cannibal” was featured in the 1989 film Ghostbusters II.

Wynonna Judd recorded a contemporary country music cover version of “Stone’s Throw from Hurtin” which was featured in the 1992 film Leap of Faith starring Steve Martin.

The album was later re-mastered (by John’s longtime producer Gus Dudgeon) as part of the Elton John: The Classic Years series in 1998; and the rerelease included the aforementioned “Dancing in the End Zone” and “Love is a Cannibal” as bonus tracks.

Reception

Sleeping with the Past received lukewarm reviews when the album was released in 1989. After peaking at No. 6 in October 1989 on the UK Albums Chart, the re-release of “Sacrifice” as a double A-side with “Healing Hands” in June 1990, and that single’s rise to the #1 spot, Sleeping with the Past was propelled back up to the #1 position on the UK Albums Chart shortly afterwards, giving John his first No. 1 album in his home country since 1977. The feat was repeated when the greatest hits compilation The Very Best of Elton John was released in the autumn of 1990.

The album became his highest-selling studio album in the UK, being certified 3× Platinum and spawned his first solo No. 1 hit in his home country.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

Side one

Side two

• Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–10 on CD reissues.

Bonus tracks (1998 Polygram International reissue)

Notes

• The version of “Durban Deep” on the 1998 remaster features a different vocal mix and is slightly extended from the original album version (the fade out lasts about ten seconds longer). Conversely, “Stone’s Throw from Hurtin'” fades out around 10 seconds earlier.

Personnel

Musicians

Track numbering refers to CD and digital releases of the album.

• Elton John – vocals, Roland RD-1000 digital piano (1-7), backing vocals (1), acoustic piano (8-10)
• Guy Babylon – keyboards
• Fred Mandel – keyboards (1–3, 5, 7, 9, 10), guitars (1, 4, 8), organ (4), guitar solo (6)
• Peter Iversen – Fairlight and Audiofile programming
• Davey Johnstone – guitars, backing vocals (1, 2, 4–6, 8–10)
• Romeo Williams – bass
• Jonathan Moffett – drums
• Vince Denham – saxophone (4)
• Natalie Jackson – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 8, 9)
• Mortonette Jenkins – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 8, 9)
• Marlena Jeter – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 8, 9)

Production

• Produced by Chris Thomas
• Engineered by David Nicholas
• Engineering assistance by Karl Lever
• Mixed at Air Studios (London, England) and Puk Studios.
• Mastered by Greg Fulginiti at Artisan Sound Recorders (Hollywood, California).
• Album coordination – Steve Brown
• Studio coordination – Adrian Collee and Dee Whelan
• Technicians – Tom Pearce (keyboards), Rick Salazar (guitars) and Terry Wade (drums).
• Design by Wherefore Art?
• Photography by Herb Ritts

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for Sleeping with the Past

Year-end charts

1989 year-end chart performance for Sleeping with the Past

1990 year-end chart performance for Sleeping with the Past

Certifications and sales

Sacrifice also refer to these Songs :

• “Sacrifice” (Bebe Rexha song), 2021

• “Sacrifices” (Big Sean song), 2017

• “Sacrifices” (Dreamville, EarthGang and J. Cole song), 2019

• “Sacrifice” (The Weeknd song), 2022

• “Sacrifice”, a song by Black Atlass from the soundtrack to the film Fifty Shades Freed, 2018

• “Sacrifice”, a song by Converge from No Heroes, 2006

• “Sacrifice”, a song by The Devil Wears Prada from Color Decay, 2022

• “Sacrifice”, a song by In This Moment from Godmode, 2023

• “Sacrifice”, a song by Melvins from Lysol, 1992

• “Sacrifice”, a song by Tesseract from War of Being, 2023

• “The Sacrifice”, a song by Cult of Luna from Cult of Luna, 2001

• “Sacrifices”, a song by Drake from his mixtape More Life, 2017

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