Saturday Night Live Transcripts
Season 7: Episode 17
Elton John performs “Empty Garden (Hey, Hey Johnny)”
…..Johnny Cash
…..Elton John
[FADE IN on Johnny Cash at home base wearing a tuxedo suit and shirt with a bow tie. Nigel Olsson’s band can be seen behind him.]
Johnny Cash: [smiling] And now it’s my pleasure to introduce our special musical guest: Elton John!!
[Cash gestures smoothly to his right toward Elton at the piano as the crowd cheers wildly. Elton is bedecked in a subtle neon blue jacket with a dark pink shirt underneath, and a black gaucho hat on his head. Johnny Cash bows formally to him, and Elton starts into “Empty Garden” alone on vocals and piano.]
Elton John: [ singing]
“What happened here,
As the New York sunset disappeared?
I found an empty garden
Among the flagstones there.
Who lived here?
He must’ve been a gardener that cared a lot,
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop.
And now it all looks strange.
It’s funny how one insect
Can damage so much grain.
And what’s it for,
This little empty garden
By the brownstone door?
And in the cracks along the sidewalk,
Nothing grows no more.
Who lived here?
He must’ve been a gardener that cared a lot,
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop.
And they are so amazed.
We’re crippled and we’re dazed.
A gardener like that one,
No one can replace.
And I’ve been knockin’,
But no one answers,
And I’ve been knockin’
Most of the day.
Oh, and I’ve been callin’,
“Oh, hey, hey, Johnny,
Can’t you come out to play?”
And through their tears,
Some say he farmed his best in younger years,
But he’d have said that roots grow stronger
If only he could hear.
Who lived there?
He must’ve been a gardener that cared a lot,
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop.
And now we pray for rain.
And with every drop that falls,
We hear, we hear your name.
And I’ve been knockin’,
But no one answers,
And I’ve been knockin’
Most of the day.
Oh, and I’ve been callin’,
“Oh, hey, hey, Johnny,
Can’t you come out to play?”
And I’ve been knockin’,
But no one answers,
And I’ve been knockin’
Most of the day.
Oh, and I’ve been callin’,
“Oh, hey, hey, Johnny,
Can’t you come out,
Can’t you come out to play?
Johnny,
Can’t you come out to play
In your empty garden?”
[Elton and the Nigel Olsson band repeat the ending several times, then play an instrumental for several bars. Finally they quiet to just vocals and Elton on piano.]
In your empty garden?
“Johnny,
Can’t you come out to play
In your empty garden?””
[Wild applause from the audience once the song is finished. Elton gives his overbite grin and mouths “Thank you” over the cheers. One audience member is heard repeatedly yelling, “OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” through the applause. FADE to black.]
Submitted by: Sean
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