Neverending Top Ten #5.1 - Still Standing (After Norfolk)

On returning from a week in Norfolk, one track stands out as the song we'll remember this holiday by. It's been the most requested tune from Sam this week, and it marks the first time that Sam has actually discovered a song on his own and asked me to put it on a compilation.

5.1 Elton John - I'm Still Standing

How he discovered I'm Still Standing remains something of a mystery. He came home from nursery one day singing it and when I asked him how he knew it, he said a) one of his friends had been singing it and b) it was on TV. I'd convinced myself the track must have been used for a kid's TV show, but I can't find any reference to that on the internet. The song was featured in the animated movie Sing, which Sam saw with his mum about a year ago, but he's never mentioned it until now. Perhaps one of his friends has the film on DVD and (as kids are wont to do) has watched it over and over until he's memorised the whole thing. I suspect I'll never know, but I reckon there are worse tracks to have as your very first request.

Others will, of course, disagree. I'm Still Standing was recorded in 1982 and I'm sure there are those who see it as the moment Elton switched from being a credible songwriter to a glory-hound pop sensation. The video certainly helps that impression. Then again, I've seen others claim that happened back in 1976 with Don't Go Breaking My Heart, while there are also those with the opinion that he never had it in the first place, so there was nothing to lose.

Sam doesn't know any of that. He doesn't know or care who Elton John is (though he liked the video) and isn't remotely bothered about anybody else's opinion of the man or his music. Don't you think that's a wonderful way to be? To just like a song and be oblivious to all the extraneous noise that goes along with it? If only we could all be like that...