No, this is defintely written to the artistic upper-crust. People like Andy Warhol - but not necessarily to Warhol in specific - who surround themselves with famous artists musical, artistic, etc Lines like, "I'm not a present for your friends to open," makes me think this is not written about a signifcant other why would he be shared with others, if he's in a relationship? Also, if he were in a relationship, would his lover get over being dumped with a couple drinks? Possibly, but coupled with the line about finding a replacement, it makes me think the relationship is a bit less intimate.
The replacements, being mongrels, looking for "tidbits like you," sounds like he's calling the object of the song unimportant. Not someone who made the singer what he is, but someone who gave him simple social spotlight. We can wrap this up by taking the main line, "Beyond the Yellow Brick Road. All glittery, but very little substance - the Wizard himself being a metaphor for the life of empty wealth. I kind of see the singer comparing himself to The Wizard, in fact.
A country-boy, elevated to prominence, then giving it all up to fly back to that poverty. In other words, "Stop worshipping me! I'm breaking free of this life-style. There was an error. Yes, but sometimes Elton doesn't know what he's singing about, so he might of sang a song bashing himself bthree on June 28, Those lyrics were too good to pass up.
And everyone knows it's not gonna betoo obvious to everyone what or who it's about. I'd say Elton liked and liked those lyrics. The line huntin the horny back toad allows him to express himself with subtle accents. Also I've heard him sing it with "and" at the start, changing it's meaning to refer to himself instead of the owl.
To be able to add melody as beautifully to great lyrics is an exciting triumph that overshadows any other minor concerns such as how it's going to be interpreted. As we can see there will always be many different interpretations and a song can mean much to different people in different ways. In trying to determine the line of thought that might have inspired the lyrics in the main we should not pick out any single line if not corroborated by others, as the writer would have exercised licence to perhaps include wording which didn't strictly stick to the point.
Opening lines are a good starting point to set the meaning in place and then to see if it is consistant in the main. In this case he seems to be addressing someone who doesn't have their two feet firmly on the ground, perhaps someone who has gotten a little carried away. The writer detaches himself from it and suggests to himself that he should have stayed on the farm. He should have listened to his Father.
Bernie's father was a comercial farmer and tried independent farming too. The following lines suggest some artistic licence was applied to fit the rythem and rhyme, I'm not a he has to be something! And like "the blues" his unhappyness. The rest of it all fits with the notion that it's Bernie talkin about himself and his professional relationship with Elton and perhaps his disalusionment with aspects of it and perhaps there's a touch of resentment coming through.
Maybe he feels unappreciated undervalued ans unrecognised. The last verse compounds this theme. Refering to mongrels like him who are hard up, The final line is the hardest hitting and almost pushing it too far but not quite It's continuing with the imagery of the mongrel like him that allows it.
Well that's what mongrels do. It's a fantastic song, Elton makes it that. Before hand it was fantastic lyrics. Credit to them both, but it seems obvious to me that Bernie wrote it about himself and Elton. It's a sad song, anyhow Bernie collaborated with numerous other artists and still works with Elton to this day or certainly recently so it needn't be taken to seriously.
Wow, kind Sir, thanks. That would appear to describe the song and the inspiration behind it perfectly. I never knew what a powerful song this was from Elton. My respect for him and his amazing voice has just gone through the roof! General Comment I have a DVD about the making of this album and I'm sure Bernie said although he couldn't quite remember what he was thinking at the time it's a song about disillusionment, probably about fame and the fact that it's not all it's cracked up to be for a country boy like him.
I have sung this song to my daughter from birth as it was the only song I knew all the words to and 2 years later it is the only song that calms her down. Kinda wish I had chosen a more cherry song, but there ya go! No Replies Log in to reply. Memory This song gets me everytime I hear it. I had a teenage boyfriend at a time in Highschool. He was not right for me, but I did not know how to let him go, I think we both just wanted to date someone at the time.
All the words ring in my ears because I lived on a farm at the time and my father never wanted me to go into town to see him. A bit later my father died and I felt it was the chapter of childhood comming to an end.
Reality hit our family and it was brutal and our yellowbrick road was gone. But it seemed that she just had a more sympathetic bent to her, so I used her. And she was female, and that was more vulnerable. When you saw them, they looked like they came from another planet. And they kind of changed the world. The audience sounds were taken from a show we did at the Royal Festival Hall years earlier.
The whole thing is very weird. I had an argument with MCA and the only reason I caved was because the song was the number one black record in Detroit. To this day, I cannot see that song as a single.
And then I put on my piano part afterwards. So I overdubbed my piano afterwards and sang the vocal live. With so many of my songs, the lyrical content has been misconstrued, misinterpreted and you get to the point where you feel like you have to make something up in order to make somebody happy.
Things like that sometimes are a great surprise in the studio, little things just happen like that. A lot of the songs began when I came across a great first line. It would have gone a number of different ways, but it ended up being a tune about a bootlegger. Again, it was one of those cinematic stories. I was just the guy who wrote the melodies, that was my job. I just love writing to his lyrics.
He just gave me the lyrics. Like any other child of my generation in England, I grew up on American music, American movies and American television. The lyrics to the title track do say that I want to leave Oz and get back to the farm. He was always the quiet one and the more thoughtful one. It was a time that we had no fear, nothing was beyond us.
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