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EltonLinks.com
Elton John FAQOver the
years, people have asked me all kinds of questions about Elton, and I've
always tried to answer to the best of my knowledge. I have put some of
these questions here along with some answers. If you have a different
opinion or answer to a question, or if you have a question of your own,
don't hesitate to .
- What is Elton
John's real name?
- What is Elton
John's address?
- In the song Levon,
was it a real NY Times headline?
- What is the meaning
of the song "Daniel"
- I Feel Like a
Bullet in the Gun of Robert Ford: Who is Robert Ford?
- What is the meaning
of the song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"?
- What is the meaning
of the song "Empty Garden"?
- Has the song "Dogs
in the Kitchen", the lyrics of which appear in the booklet of the
Captain Fantastic album, ever been recorded?
- Who was the song
"Song for Guy" written for?
- What is the
meaning of the song "Nikita"?
- What is the name
of the song about Jessie?
- Who is Dr. Winston
O'Boogie playing guitar on Elton's version of "Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds"?
- Question: What is Elton John's real name?
Answer: Elton's real name is Reginald
Kenneth Dwight. In the mid-sixties, his stage name was Reg Dwight. But
he didn't like his name, he didn't think it sounded too hip, so he
decided to change it. In his band at the time (Bluesology), the
saxophonist was called Elton Dean, and he really liked his name, so he
took Elton from there. He took the name John from Long John Baldry, a
British Blues singer whom the band Bluesology was backing. He launched
is first album, Empty Sky, in 1969 under the name of Elton John.
He officially changed his name to Elton Hercules John in 1974.
- Question: What is Elton John's
address?
Answer: To write to Elton, you should
send an email to fanmail@eltonfan.net. This address is provided by Hercules,
which is the official Elton John Fan Club.
They forward all e-mails reaching this address to Elton but please
do NOT expect a reply from him personally because he does not have a
private e-mail address and thus will not answer any e-mails. If you want to
keep the very slim chance of Elton replying to your fanmail you should write
a snail mail letter to him. The letter should be sent to Hercules. They will
then forward it to Elton. Click here to find the postal address where you can write along with more information.
- Question: In the song Levon, Bernie Taupin wrote the
lyrics: "And the New York Times said God is dead, and the war`s
begun...". I was curious if that was the actual headline, if the New
York Times was the publication in question, and what event sparked this
headline...
Answer: I'm not sure exactly if it
was a real headline or just something Bernie made up. It would make
sense that the war he's talking about would be the Second World War. The
family would go like this: Alvin Tostig, father of Levon, father of
Jesus. The song having been written in the early 70s, it would be
logical that Levon would have been born around the beginning of World
War 2. As for God being dead, I don't know. Again, it might have been
something Bernie made up. :-)
- Question: What is the meaning of the song
Daniel?
Answer: Daniel is the fictional story
of a blinded Vietnam veteran who comes home after the war and everybody
wants him to be a hero, but all he wants is to be left alone. So he
takes off for Spain to get away from it all. The story is told from the
point of view of his younger brother, who misses him and would like him
to come back home. It's not a true story, just an account of what
crippled Vietnam veterans had to go through when they came home from the
war. It is inspired by news coverage of the war that Bernie (Elton's
lyricist) watched in the early 70s.
- Question: I Feel Like a Bullet in the Gun of Robert
Ford: Who is Robert Ford?
Answer: Robert
Ford was the man who shot the notorious outlaw Jesse James. He himself
was the victim of murder years later. He was a member of the Jesse James
Gang, and he decided to collect the $5000 Dead or Alive award on Jesse's
head. One morning after breakfast, Jesse noticed a crooked picture on
the wall and turned to straighten it. Ford took the opportunity and shot
Jesse in the back. In the old west, to kill a man by shooting him in the
back was a most cowardly thing to do. It gives the victim no chance at
self-defense. More info here.
- Question: What is the meaning of the song "Someone
Saved My Life Tonight"?
Answer: The
song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is about an episode in Elton's
life. In the late sixties, he almost got married to a woman who didn't
even like his music and what he was doing. He wanted to get out of that
situation, but was too confused, and also didn't want to face her. So
one night he got drunk, then left his friends at the bar and went home.
When Bernie got back, he found Elton lying on the kitchen floor, his
head on a pillow for comfort, the oven open letting gas fill the room.
But there was also a window open. So Bernie started to laugh. :-)
This suicide attempt was in fact a cry for help.
The line "Paying your H.P. demands forever" refers to installment
payments. I've been told that the letters H.P. stand for Hire-Purchase
or Hire-Pay. It means that he would have had to pay for her expenses all
of their married life. He saw this marriage as a neverending chore. In
the lines "You almost had me roped and tied, altar-bound, hypnothized",
he speaks to her, saying, wow, I almost got caught in your web!
It's Bernie who wrote the words, so he had kind of an outsider view
of this relationship. He thought she was a Prima Donna, and that Elton
was "just a pawn out-played by a dominating queen". So anyway, after
having been "saved" by Bernie, and also by Long John Baldry, the blues
singer whom the band Bluesology was backing at the time, who talked
Elton into getting out of this relationship, his friends came in the
morning with a truck to take Elton home. Those lyrics are really great.
They tell the story in a very poetic way, in my opinion. In 1974, when
Elton recorded the song, it had been a couple of years since it
happened. But Elton was still shaken by this experience and he was very
emotional in the studio. The producer made him redo the vocals time and
time again until they were just the way he wanted them, and Elton found
that to be very painful.
- Question: What is the meaning of the song "Empty
Garden"?
Answer: The song Empty Garden was
written in the memory of John Lennon. He is the gardener that cared a
lot. In the line "It's funny how one insect can damage so much grain",
the insect is the guy who shot Lennon, who was the grain in that
imagery. So Elton knocks at John's door, but no one answers, because
Lennon's dead. "Can't you come out to play" here means can't you come
out to play music, and the empty garden refers to the Madison Square
Garden, where Lennon made his last appearance in public at an Elton John
show in 1974, after they had made the bet that if the song "Whatever
Gets U thru the Night", on which Elton had appeared, became #1, John
Lennon would go and play it live with Elton on stage. They also played
"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "I Saw Her Standing There" that
night. That was the last public appearance on stage by John Lennon.
"A gardener like that one no one can replace"
- Question: Has the song "Dogs in the Kitchen", the
lyrics of which appear in the booklet of the Captain Fantastic album,
ever been recorded?
Answer: No, the lyrics never became a
song. The song "Dogs in the Kitchen" was meant as a direct attack upon
the people at MCA. Knowing that the record executives would see it on
the lyric book was enough for Elton and Bernie. This was the point in
time when Elton's contract was almost up with MCA and he was suing them
for the publishing rights to their music which MCA had since signing
Elton and Bernie. Elton felt that they had been taken advantage of as
young artists and sued MCA. This is when Dick James died, and his son
believed it was from the stress of the trial. Needless to say, Elton and
Bernie won.
- Question: Who was the song "Song for Guy" written
for?
Answer: At the time Elton was
recording the "A Single Man" album, in 1978, a messenger boy for Rocket
Records (Elton's company) called Guy Burchett was struck by a car and
killed while riding his bicycle. "Song for Guy" was written for him.
- Question: What is the meaning of the song
"Nikita"?
Answer: The song Nikita appeared on
the "Ice on Fire" album, which was released in 1985. It is the song that
made me fall for Elton and his music! The song is about the old
communist USSR and East Germany (the video was shot near the Berlin Wall
in Germany) and how people were not free to do as they pleased. It's not
about a particular person, just a general fictional story about how
difficult it would be in those days for a Western man to be in love with
a woman from the communist side of the world.
- Question: What is the name of the song about
Jessie?
Answer: That song contains the
following lyrics:
Jessie paint a picture about how it's gonna be
By now I should
know better your dreams are never free
Tell me all about our little
trailer by the sea
Jesse you can always sell any dream to me
The song Jessie is in fact by another artist named Joshua Kadison,
who included it on his album Painted Desert Serenade, which was released
in 1993. You can view the album song listing by clicking on the
following link: Painted Desert Serenade. You can also hear an audio clip
of the song on the album page. It's true that his voice sounds a lot
like Elton's!
There is also an Elton John song that contains the name Jessie. It is
the song Planes, which was released as a B-side in 1975 and
appears on the Rare Masters double album. You can read the lyrics here. This is a really
good song, and an incredibly great album, full of great rare tracks and
B-sides. Definitely a must-have.
- Question: Who is Dr. Winston O'Boogie playing guitar
on Elton's version of "Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds"?
Answer: It is John Lennon, who had a
song in 1972 called Winston O'Boogie, so that nickname has come from
that.
Publisher: Bag Records
Reference: BAG5072
You can read more about that nickname on this website:
http://www.geocities.com/dr_boogie
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