Elton John Was Unaware of Inspiration Behind ‘Rocketman’ Until Recently
“Rocketman” is one of the most iconic songs in Elton John’s discography. However, since John doesn’t write the lyrics to most of his tracks, he didn’t know where lyricist Bernie Taupin found inspiration. Taupin recently revealed the basis behind “Rocketman” in a new interview, and John was completely surprised by this revelation.
Elton John and Bernie Taupin are one of music’s most dynamic duos
Bernie Taupin and Elton John met on a chance encounter in 1967. The pair both answered an advertisement for talent in the New Musical Express. John admitted he wasn’t good at writing lyrics and was handed an envelope containing poems by Taupin. Thirty albums later, Taupin and John have dominated music for over 50 years.
Taupin would write the lyrics, while John would compose the music. The pair have created plenty of classics together, like “Crocodile Rock”, “Bennie and the Jets”, and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”. One of their biggest hits is “Rocketman”, which debuted in 1972. In an interview shared on John’s Instagram page, the singer said “Rocketman” was easy to compose the music for.
“‘Rocket Man’ was our first-ever number one record, I think – and it was on the Honky Chateau record,” Sir Elton shared. “It was a pretty easy song to write a melody to because it’s a song about space so it’s quite a spacious song.”
Elton John was unaware of the origins behind ‘Rocketman’
While Elton John is correct that “Rocketman” is about space, it goes much further than that. In the same interview, Bernie Taupin unveiled the origins behind the song, saying it was based on a short story written by Ray Bradbury.
“It was actually a song inspired by Ray Bradbury from his book of science-fiction short stories called The Illustrated Man,” Taupin explained. “In that book, there was a story called The Rocket Man, which was about how astronauts in the future would become sort of an everyday job… so I kinda took that idea and ran with it.”
Elton responded to this, saying, “Do you know, I never knew that…”
‘Rocketman’ is still one of John’s most memorable tunes
When many think of Elton John, the first song they might think of is “Rocketman”. It was one of his earliest hits and has defined the artist in many ways. His 2019 biopic starring Taron Egerton was named after the famous track. Today, it has become certified double platinum and has been covered by many artists like Kate Bush and Star Trek’s William Shatner. John even did a recent remix of the track with Dua Lipa that became a top 10 hit.
John is incorrect on one detail, though, as “Rocketman” did not reach No. 1 on the charts. It peaked at No. 2 in the U.K. and at No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Still, it’s not like that detracts from John’s career too much, as he has still had several No. 1 hits, including “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, “Candle in the Wind”, “Philadelphia Freedom”, and “Bennie and the Jets”.
