Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding

For other uses, see Love Lies Bleeding (disambiguation).

"Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding"
Song by Elton John from the album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Released	5 October 1973
Genre	Glam rock, instrumental rock, progressive rock
Length	11:07
Label	DJM (UK/world) Uni (US/Canada)
Writer	Elton John, Bernie Taupin
Producer	Gus Dudgeon
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road track listing Side One "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" "Candle in the Wind" "Bennie and the Jets" Side Two "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" "This Song Has No Title" "Grey Seal" "Jamaica Jerk-Off" "I've Seen That Movie Too" Side Three "Sweet Painted Lady" "The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1903-34)" "Dirty Little Girl" "All the Girls Love Alice" Side Four "Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock 'n' Roll)" "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" "Roy Rogers" "Social Disease" "Harmony"

"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.

Covers

• The song was covered live by the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, and appears on the EP A Change of Seasons; as well as in the special edition of the album This Mortal Coil by the also American progressive metal band, Redemption.
• "Love Lies Bleeding" was covered by the Clearwater, Florida based band Très bien! on The Next Great American Band.