Tuesday, November 2, 2021

THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

This was written for my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), but is not in the book's current blueprint.

An infinite number of songs can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!


ELTON JOHN: Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
Written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin
Produced by Gus Dudgeon
Single, MCA Records, 1973

Somebody's gonna get their head kicked in tonight.

In 1973, I had never heard (nor heard of) the song with that title. "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight" had been the non-LP B-side of Fleetwood Mac's "Man Of The World" single in 1969; for that rockin' B-side (written by Mac guitarist Jeremy Spencer), the group used the pseudonymous nom du hooligan Earl Vance and the Valiants, perhaps to establish plausible legal deniability for its intent to bash in craniums with mallets aforethought. Years later, it became something of a punk rock standard via a cover by the Rezillos. In '73, relatively few Americans knew the song. Hell, in '73, I had barely heard of Fleetwood Mac.

Oh, but I betcha Elton John and Bernie Taupin knew it. They didn't copy the valiant Mac, but the pugnacious spirit of "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight" drinks at the same bar as a song Elton and Bernie wrote and Elton released as a single in 1973: "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting."

Elton John's big hit singles were among the highlights of my prime AM radio days, commencing with "Crocodile Rock" in 1972. I discovered (and embraced) his previous nuggets "Your Song" and "Rocket Man" shortly thereafter, and rode right along with his subsequent hits "Daniel," "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting," and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." I hated "Bennie And The Jets"--I still do--but was otherwise all in for whatever our Reg was doing on the radio. There was a TV special called Goodbye Norma Jean to promote his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album; I loved the documentary and I was intrigued by the album (especially the [then] less-familiar "Candle In The Wind" and the girl-girl enticement of "All The Young Girls Love Alice"), even though I didn't get around to owning a copy of that album until many, many years later.

No, my sole contemporary EJ artifacts were his Greatest Hits album and later his "Philadelphia Freedom" 45, the latter purchased because my friend Jim Knight told me its B-side featured John Lennon in a live performance of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There." SCORE!! Greatest Hits allowed me the chance to play my Elton favorites again and again. I memorized Bernie Taupin's lyrics for "Your Song," and they became among my preferred passages when I was practicing typing, mentally dedicating the sentiment to every pretty girl I ever knew. (On the other hand, my choice for another practice typing piece--a quote from the 1940s comic book superhero the Sandman--kinda illustrates why I didn't have a girlfriend.) 

"Your Song," "Rocket Man," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." But my # 1 was "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting," its rat-a-tat percussive opening and furious tempo oddly presaging the interest I would develop in punk rock just a few years later. That borders on the ironic, since punk is a large part of why I lost interest in Elton John's music in the late '70s. Still, other than "Crocodile Rock," I've never relinquished my affection for the Elton John songs I loved in my teens. 

Especially this one. 

I didn't pay particularly close attention to its lyrics. If I had, I might have been put off by its stated endorsement of drunken bar brawls. But I was 13; what the hell did I know about bar brawls? I had been in my share of fistfights at school, none of them drunken, all of them stupid and ill-advised. No heads were kicked in during the making of my middle school years. Nor was I much aware of the British pub experience, the Us v. Them scene combusted from the volatile mix of football and alcohol. The belligerent approach of "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" was in the tradition of aggressive records by the likes of the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Faces. And by Fleetwood Mac, alias punters Earl Vance and the Valiants. Somebody's gonna get their head kicked in tonight. It is, after all, Saturday night.

So yeah, let's have a drink, and raise a cheer for our side. Don't give me none of your aggravation. Get a little action in. Elton John's alright, alright, alright...!


TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:


Volume 1: download

Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:  CD or download

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.

No comments:

Post a Comment