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“Take Your Mama” – Scissor Sisters
(Words/music: Scott Hoffman and Jason Sellards, available on Scissor Sisters, Polydor 2004)

If we made a list of influential musicians from the 1970s, chances are Elton John appears relatively late in the list. Even if we specified it down to “glam” or “pop” influences, chances are he’s still in the second wave of answers. Simply put, Elton John isn’t particularly cool, and anyone who argues otherwise is foolish. Popularity aside, John knew his way around a song, whether during his earlier, grittier days or his more outlandishly dressed days. So it’s not surprising that the Scissor Sisters would look toward him as one of their songwriting muses – it’s only surprising because he’s not a particularly stylish musical influence.

While the Scissor Sisters’ share similarly campy indulgences as John, the comparisons lie deeper. “Take Your Mama” in particular draws heavier on John’s bouncy piano-pop than the dance influences in other places on the album. Yes, it has piano like an Elton John song, but the vocals draw the most telling comparison. Vocalist Jake Shears lets his voice bend as it travels up and down his register, occasionally darting upward briefly only to return to where it started. Even the quality of his voice – broad and sturdy down in the lower range and thinner near the top – makes Shears sound even more like John vocally. When Shears slips into his falsetto, it takes a page right out of “Bennie and the Jets,” a song where John uses all of the different parts of his vocal range for different aesthetic results. When Shears and John use their falsetto, it’s a way of shifting the song into the next gear at the end of a chorus. Like John, who would later contribute piano to the group’s second album, Shears dynamic vocals give the song versatility and make it feel like it’s gradually shifting into something different each phrase. It’s this malleability that makes John the perfect musical mentor for the Scissor Sisters, even if he’s not the most obvious choice for musical worship.

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