All Across the Havens is a song by Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

 with lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Bernie Taupin

Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in...

. It was originally the b-side of his second single "Lady Samantha

Lady Samantha

"Lady Samantha" is a song by Elton John with lyrics by Bernie Taupin. It was released on January 17, 1969, six months before his first album, Empty Sky came out...

" and appeared as a bonus-track of the 1995 reissue of his first album "Empty Sky

Empty Sky

Empty Sky is the debut album of British singer/songwriter Elton John, released on June 3, 1969. It was finally released in the United States in January 1975, with a different cover photograph, well after John's fame had been established internationally...

".

Musical structure

It opens with an acoustic guitar, but when the main verse kicks in the country-feel goes off. The drums are echoed and the song is led by a hammond organ

Hammond organ

The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...

. It is also a very slow song, and as many of John's other songs at the time, it could be written in style of a hymn

Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

. It is relatively short for a John song, but not for a single b-side.

Lyrical meaning

This was written as early as 1967 or 1968. It clearly bares the feel of Taupin's religious childhood, using crosses hanging from people, etc. The song mentions walking across the havens to the waterfall, separating the waters and going on to a road that leads to what could be heaven. It is a very cryptic lyric in style with other of Taupin's earliest compositions.

Performances

It appeared on several radio shows in 1968. Released as the b-side to a single that didn't even hit the charts the song was very unpopular and not known at all. Today it is still relatively unknown, not being performed anywhere else.

Personnel

• Elton John - hammond organ
  Hammond organ
  The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
  
  , grand piano, vocals
• Caleb Quaye
  Caleb Quaye
  Caleb Quaye , is an English Afro-European rock guitarist and studio musician best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with Elton John, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney and Hall & Oates...
  
   - guitar
  Acoustic guitar
  An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
  
  
• Tony Murray - bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Roger Pope - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....