Whitewash County – Elton John

This is one of Elton John’s most unheralded great latter-career songs. It’s got this irresistible groove and energy, and John is fantastic on the keys. It’s one of my favourite energetic, piano-driven tracks by him, with two great solos thrown in, and the one that wraps up the song is one of the finest piano passages I’ve heard in his vast catalogue.

I’m surprised Whitewash County wasn’t released as a single from The One (1992), which might partly explain its relative obscurity. The song emphasizes the piano sound of his early albums. On The One, he returned to playing an acoustic piano, using a Yamaha Disklavier, after the Roland RD-1000 digital piano had featured heavily on several of his previous albums.

It has a country, almost bluegrass, flavour, and it’s a great melody for his expressive voice too. Bernie Taupin’s lyrics are outstanding as well and complement the frenetic pacing of the music. It’s crafty too, as it combines an upbeat, driving tempo with dark, politically charged storytelling. I just love the lines:

Fans turning on the ceiling
I feel sticky as a chili dog

The song seems to critique the deceptive nature of power in a Southern setting, using metaphors such as ‘Whitewash County’ and ‘the devil in a suit’ to symbolize the struggle between truth and manipulation. On the official Elton John website, it states:

The final lines in the song Whitewash County (“Well you’ve changed your face so often / But you never change your mind”) refer to American white nationalist David Duke and his plastic surgery.

---

The One was John’s first album project since his rehabilitation from drug and alcohol addictions and bulimia in 1990. It was his biggest-selling album in the US since 1976. The album peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, where it remained for almost a year.

Verse

Tonight it′s hot down here
I can almost smell the rain
And I can almost taste the fear
Behind your name
Fans turning on the ceiling
I feel sticky as a chili dog
White boys howling in the evening
On that hollow log

Pre-chorus

Tall tales down the river
Say we aim to bury the truth
But the right hand just delivered
The devil in a suit

Chorus

And he talks big in Whitewash County
Talks sweet as sugar cane
Got a past that’s filled with lightning
Got a future filled with rain

Verse

Bug buzzing in an empty glass
Fiddle scratching some lazy tune
We′re just some place that history passed
New dust, new broom
And it’s a high hot buttered moon
He’s got a shiny new wax face
Swears the South′s gonna rise again soon
All over the place

Prechorus

Tall tales down the river
Say we aim to bury the truth
But the right hand just delivered
The devil in a suit

Chorus

And he talks big in Whitewash County
Talks sweet as sugar cane
Got a past that′s filled with lightning
Got a future filled with rain

And he talks big in Whitewash County
Talks sweet as sugar cane
Got a past that’s filled with lightning
Got a future filled with rain

Outro

Rain down on Whitewash County
Smell the air coming up the line
Well you′ve changed your face so often
But you never change your mind

References:
1. The One (Elton John song) – Wikipedia
2. ‘The One’ – 30 Facts for 30 Years – Elton John