![]() ![]() The opening lyrics came to Bernie Taupin while he was driving near his parents’ house in Lincolnshire, England. In the Pearls Before Swine song, a child can no longer look at the stars after his astronaut father perishes in space. Taupin says that song gave him the idea for his own “Rocket Man” (“It’s common knowledge that songwriters are great thieves, and this is a perfect example,” he said). The sci-fi author’s tale is told from the perspective of a child, whose astronaut father has mixed feelings about leaving his family in order to do his job.īradbury’s story was the basis for another song called “Rocket Man,” which was released by the folk group Pearls Before Swine (fronted by Tom Rapp) in 1970. Released in 1972, around the time of the Apollo 16 mission, which sent men to the moon for the fifth time, it might be assumed that was the motivation behind the song, but according to the songwriter, Bernie Taupin, the inspiration was the short story The Rocket Man, written by Ray Bradbury. But then yesterday, my friend Michael Seidel posted Rocket Man by Elton John and … I immediately knew I had my song for today! Thank you, Michael … I owe you one! I have been lax in doing music posts for a few days, mainly because I just haven’t had a song in my heart or my head. I’ve got way more to do with my time than worry about what Donald Trump says.I must admit to a bit of thievery in today’s music post. I didn’t really give it five minutes of thought. “He used to write in the morning while everybody was having breakfast,” says Taupin, “and write at the piano in the canteen area.”Īs for President Trump calling North Korea leader Kim Jong-un “Rocket Man” at the United Nations in 2017, Taupin says, “It’s water off a duck’s back. And the rest of the song just followed through from there.”įor his part, John composed the music during the sessions for 1972’s “Honky Château” album at Château d’Hérouville near Paris. The minute I got there, I rushed in and wrote it down. “The story was on my mind, and I was in the car, and the whole first part of the song came into my head: ‘She packed my bags last night, pre-flight/ Zero hour, 9 a.m./ And I’m gonna be high as a kite by then.’ That whole stanza was going around and around in my head for two hours until I got to my parents’ home, which was in a very rural area, so there was nowhere I could stop on the way and find somewhere I could write it down. “I was going to visit my parents up in the north of England,” he recalls. With the fuse lit for the tune, though, a young Taupin was struck by lyrical lightning at an inopportune moment. ![]() ‘The idea of the story was that, in the future, being an astronaut would almost become as routine as being a cab driver or a bus driver.’ And I thought that was a fascinating idea.” ![]() “It was a series of science-fiction stories, and within the book, there was a story called ‘The Rocket Man.’ The idea of the story was that, in the future, being an astronaut would almost become as routine as being a cab driver or a bus driver. So what exactly did launch “Rocket Man” into the stratosphere? “Where the idea for the song came from was a book by Ray Bradbury called ‘The Illustrated Man,’ ” explains Taupin. “I can put that to rest immediately, because when I was younger, I didn’t really listen to traditional radio that much, so I wasn’t really that familiar with that particular song.” “A lot of people think that we wrote it in the wake of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity,’ ” says Taupin, referring to Bowie’s 1969 hit. The three biggest sore losers in astrology, based on their zodiac signīernie Taupin is the ultimate songwriting wingman, penning the words that Elton John would set to music for such golden-era gems as “Honky Cat,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”īut the 69-year-old lyricist would like to set the record straight about the inspiration behind “Rocket Man,” the 1972 hit that spawned the title of “Rocketman,” the new movie musical based on John’s life, out Friday. Trump says he scratched 'made in South Korea' sticker off Elton John CD he gave to Kim Jong-un Domino's Pizza trials first-ever 'Rocket Man' delivery before Elton John showĮlite event planner spills on divas, sex-crazed bosses and real-life Succession ![]()
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