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...!
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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.
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