"Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" is the opening track on the double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John. The first part, "Funeral for a Friend", is an instrumental created by John while thinking of what kind of music he would like at his funeral. This first half segues into "Love Lies Bleeding." In the Eagle Vision documentary, "Classic Albums: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", John said the two songs weren't written as one piece, but fit together since "Funeral For A Friend" ends in the key of A, and "Love Lies Bleeding" opens in A, and the two were played as one elongated piece when recorded.
The grandiose introduction to "Funeral For A Friend" was performed on A.R.P. synthesizer by the album's engineer, David Hentschel, who Elton recalled overdubbed track after track of music and synthetic atmospheric effects until the mini-opus was complete.
"Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" was too long for a single release, but got plenty of airplay on FM stations that were predisposed toward rock epics. The whole piece together is just over 11 minutes long. A fan favourite, it became a staple part of many an Elton John tour set list.
The atmospheric opening to the track was used in the final scene of Blackadder II as the camera pans across the dead bodies of the main cast.
Read more about Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding: Covers
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