Rocket Man (song)

"Rocket Man"
Single by Elton John
from the album Honky Château
B-side	"Susie (Dramas)"
Released	14 April 1972 (1972-04-14)
Format	Vinyl record (7")
Recorded	Château d'Hérouville, Hérouville, France; mixed at Trident Studios, London
Genre	Soft rock[1]
Length	4:41
Label	Uni (US) DJM (UK)
Songwriter(s)	Elton John, Bernie Taupin
Producer(s)	Gus Dudgeon
Elton John singles chronology
"Tiny Dancer" (1972) "Rocket Man" (1972) "Honky Cat" (1972)
"Tiny Dancer" (1972) "Rocket Man" (1972) "Honky Cat" (1972)
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"Rocket Man" (officially titled "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)") is a song composed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and originally performed by John. The song first appeared on John's 1972 album Honky Château and became a hit single, rising to No. 2 in the UK and No. 6 in the US. On 05 October 2018, the song was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of 400,000 digital downloads.

Rolling Stone lists it as No. 245 of its 500 greatest songs of all time.

Song information

The song was inspired by the short story "The Rocket Man" in The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury, and echoes the theme of David Bowie's 1969 song "Space Oddity" (both recordings were produced by Gus Dudgeon). But according to an account in Elizabeth Rosenthal's book His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John, the song was inspired by Taupin's sighting of either a shooting star or a distant aeroplane.

The song describes a Mars-bound astronaut's mixed feelings at leaving his family in order to do his job. Rosenthal's account goes on to relate that the notion of astronauts no longer being perceived as heroes, but in fact as an "everyday occupation", led Taupin to the song's opening lines: "She packed my bags last night, pre-flight. Zero hour: 9 a.m. And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then."

Musically, the song is a highly arranged ballad anchored by piano, with atmospheric texture added by synthesizer (played on the recording by engineer Dave Hentschel) and processed slide guitar. It is also known for being the first song in John's catalog to feature what would become the signature backing vocal combination of his band at the time, Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson and Davey Johnstone.

"Rocket Man" was ranked #242 in the 2004 list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, though it dropped to #245 in the list's 2010 revision.

Another song called "Rocket Man" (and also based on Bradbury's short story "The Rocket Man") was released by the musical group Pearls Before Swine on their 1970 album The Use of Ashes. In an interview in Billboard magazine, Taupin acknowledged that the song, written by Tom Rapp, had been a direct inspiration for his own lyrics. Rosenthal's account indicates that Rapp's lyrics were inspired by the writings of noted science-fiction author Ray Bradbury. Due to some similarities in Elton John's "Rocket Man," some presume this song might also be an allusion to David Bowie's character Major Tom. Bowie himself made the connection during live performances of "Space Oddity" in which he called out, "Oh, Rocket Man!"^[2]

The first stanza of "Rocket Man" was thought of by Bernie Taupin whilst he was on the motorway heading to his parents' home; he had to "repeat it to himself for two hours," which was "unfortunate",^[3] but in later interviews he said that since it gave him a hit, it was all worthwhile.

The song has been a staple of John's concerts. Among numerous other performances, John played "Rocket Man" at the launch site of Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998.

The song includes the line, ""And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then". The website Schmoop commented, "The phrase "high as a kite" is a common idiom almost always used to refer to drug use. There's nothing to suggest that lyricist Bernie Taupin really intended the double entendre, but the song did come out at the peak of stoner '70s culture. The usual meaning of the expression, which Taupin would have been familiar with, is highly intoxicated.

Music video

In May 2017, an official music video for "Rocket Man" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival as a winner of Elton John: The Cut, a competition organized in partnership with AKQA, Pulse Films, and YouTube in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of his songwriting relationship with Bernie Taupin. The competition called upon independent filmmakers to submit treatments for music videos for one of three Elton John songs from the 1970s, with each song falling within a specific concept category. "Rocket Man" was designated for the animation category, and was co-directed by Iranian refugee Majid Adin and Irish animation director Stephen McNally;^[4][5] the video was inspired by Adin's own migration to England, portraying a character envisioning himself as an astronaut to draw parallels between the song's lyrics and the experiences of a refugee.^[6][7]

Track listing

All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

In 2003, Universal Records released both a 12-inch vinyl (promotional only) & CD maxi-single with three new remixes of the song:

• A. "Rocket Man (KDME remix)" - 4:20
• B1. "Rocket Man 03" - 4:01
• B2. "Rocket Man (Royal Garden's Radio mix)" - 4:19

Of these, "Rocket Man 03" was also included on the Rocket/Island/Mercury EP "Remixed," along with four other remixes of Elton recordings.

Personnel

• Elton John – piano, lead vocals
• Davey Johnstone – electric slide & acoustic guitars, backing vocals
• Dee Murray – bass, backing vocals
• Nigel Olsson – drums, backing vocals
• David Hentschel – ARP synthesizer

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1972) Peak position Canada RPM Top Singles 8 German Singles Chart[8] 18 Irish Singles Chart[9] 6 Italian Singles Chart[10] 6 New Zealand (Listener)[11] 11 UK Singles Chart[12] 2 U.S. Billboard Hot 100[13] 6 U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary[14] 39 Chart (2008) Peak position Norwegian Singles Chart[15] 18

Year-end charts Chart (1972) Rank U.S. Billboard [16] 40 UK [17] 44 Certifications Region Certification Certified units/Sales United Kingdom (BPI)[18] Gold 500,000 sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

Kate Bush version

"Rocket Man"/"Candle in the Wind"
Single by Kate Bush
from the album Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin
A-side	"Candle in the Wind"
Released	25 November 1991
Format	CD, vinyl record (7" and 12"), audio cassette
Genre	Reggae, art rock
Length	5:02
Label	Mercury
Songwriter(s)	Elton John, Bernie Taupin
Producer(s)	Kate Bush
Kate Bush singles chronology
"Love and Anger" (1990) "Rocket Man"/"Candle in the Wind" (1991) "Rubberband Girl" (1993)
"Love and Anger" (1990) "Rocket Man" (1991) "Rubberband Girl" (1993)

Kate Bush released a cover of "Rocket Man" in 1991 as part of the Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute album Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. Her reggae-inflected version of "Rocket Man" was a commercial success, reaching number 12 on the UK singles chart and number two in Australia (held off the top spot by Julian Lennon's "Saltwater"). In 2007, the track won The Observer readers' award for Greatest Cover of all time.^[19] The B-side of the single was Bush's recording of another Elton John classic, "Candle in the Wind."

From the age of 11, Elton John was my biggest hero. I loved his music, had all his albums and I hoped one day I'd play the piano like him (I still do). When I asked to be involved in this project and was given the choice of a track it was like being asked 'would you like to fulfill a dream? would you like to be Rocket Man?'... yes, I would.

— Kate Bush^[20]

David Fonseca version

The Portuguese singer David Fonseca released his version of the song as a single in Portugal reaching #12 in the Portuguese Top 20. The song, full title "Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long, Long Time)", also appears on David Fonseca's third album Dreams in Colour released in 2007 and on the Dreams in Colour: Tour Edition released in 2008. The music video was directed by David Fonseca himself.^[28] Fonseca also regularly performs the single live in his concerts.^[29]

Other cover versions

• At the 5th Saturn Awards Ceremony, which aired as the Science Fiction Film Awards in January 1978, Taupin introduced William Shatner's spoken word^[30] interpretation of the song. It used chroma key video techniques to simultaneously portray three different images of Shatner, representing the different facets of the Rocket Man's character. The performance built up a cult following, and was parodied on the U.S. animated series Animaniacs, Family Guy, Freakazoid!, Futurama, The Simpsons, the Canadian CGI series ReBoot, and in the video for "Where It's At" by Beck. On a 1992 episode of Late Night with David Letterman, Chris Elliott parodied Shatner's performance, complete with chroma key effects. Shatner re-recorded the song for his 2011 album, Seeking Major Tom. In his book What Were They Thinking? The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History, author David Hofstede ranked Shatner's performance at #17 on the list.^[31]
• Hank Marvin did an instrumental of the song on his 1993 album Heartbeat.
• The John Tesh Project featuring Brandon Fields on saxophone, covered the song from their 1997 album "Sax All Night."^[32]
• Steven Drozd (of The Flaming Lips) and Maynard James Keenan (of Puscifer, Tool and A Perfect Circle) released a cover of the track for the soundtrack of the 2009 documentary The Heart is a Drum Machine. The song was released for digital download from the iTunes Store on 15 October 2010.
• Daphne Rubin-Vega released a dance version in 2003, which reached the Club play charts^[33]
• Matthew Morrison, from Glee, recorded a duet of the song with Elton John on his eponymous debut album in 2011.^[34]
• Neil Diamond covered this song live; a recording of this cover can be found on his album Stages: Performances 1970–2002.
• In 2018, rapper Young Thug prominently sampled "Rocket Man" in his song "High", as featured on his EP On the Rvn. John, a fan of Young Thug's, gave his approval for the song in 2016.^[35]

Use in media

"Rocket Man" has been featured in several films and television series.

• Notable uses in cinema include the 1996 action film The Rock, Disney's 1997 comedy film RocketMan, the 1998 biography film Without Limits, the science fiction film K-PAX (2001), the 2017 action spy comedy Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which also stars John as himself, and the closing credits of The Astronaut Farmer (2007).
• The song was also played during the 40th and 45th anniversaries of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing and the day after the death of Neil Armstrong in the Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts in Anaheim, California and Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
• The Norwegian company Statoil also used the song for one of their commercials, part of the song being covered by Silje Gulbrandsen Hagen and the latter part sung by Elton John.^[36]
• When Elton John and fellow singer-pianist Billy Joel tour together, their concerts are often billed as "Rocket Man Meets Piano Man," the latter being a reference to one of Joel's well-known hits.
• In February 2018, Jim Bob's Music Massacre dissected the lyrics in S01 E01 after identifying that they did not quite make sense.^[37]

Use in diplomacy

In September 2017, President Donald Trump referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un as "Rocket Man" in one of his tweets, in apparent reference to the song.^[38]

At their 2018 summit in Singapore, Kim Jong-Un reportedly asked about the nickname, to which Trump asked if he was familiar with the song. In July 2018, some media sources reported that when Mike Pompeo went to North Korea on a diplomatic trip, he brought a CD of the song, autographed by Trump, as a gift to Kim; this was later denied by the State Department.^[39][40]

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics