Rocket Man (song)

The song was inspired by Ray Bradbury's short story "The Rocket Man" in The Illustrated Man, about a professional astronaut whose work keeps him away from his anguished family for months at a time. It echoes the theme of David Bowie's 1969 song "Space Oddity" (both recordings were produced by Gus Dudgeon).^[5] Taupin has denied that the Bowie song was an inspiration, but has acknowledged borrowing from Pearls Before Swine's 1970 "Rocket Man", written by Tom Rapp,^[6] which was also influenced by the Bradbury story. 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.^[7]

The song describes a Mars-bound astronaut's mixed feelings at leaving Earth 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."^[7]

Musically, the song is a highly arranged classical rock ballad anchored by piano, with atmospheric texture added by synthesizer (played on the recording by engineer Dave Hentschel) and slide guitar. It is also known for being the first song in John's catalogue to feature what would become the signature backing vocal combination of his band at the time, Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson and Davey Johnstone.^[8]

The first stanza of "Rocket Man" was thought of by Bernie Taupin while he was on the motorway heading to his parents' home; he had to "repeat it to himself for two hours," which was "unfortunate",^[9] but in later interviews he said that since it gave him a hit, it was all worthwhile.

On the cover of the UK 7-inch single release, John appears in a photograph wearing a Nudie Cohn-made suit originally made for and stolen several years previously from John Christopher Ethridge of The Flying Burrito Brothers. After passing through several owners, almost 50 years after the single release the suit was recovered by Ethridge's family and placed on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee.^[10]

Record World said, "Elton John explores the outer limits of the possibilities of pop music" and that the song "should be a huge hit; it's one of his best."^[11]

"Rocket Man" was ranked No. 242 in the 2004 list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time; it was ranked No. 245 in the list's 2010 revision,^[12] and 149 in the 2021 revision.^[3] 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. In tribute to David Bowie after his death in January 2016, John performed a piano rendition that combined "Rocket Man" with Bowie's "Space Oddity".^[13]

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 organised 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;^[14][15] 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.^[16][17]

All songs written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

1. "Rocket Man" – 4:38
2. "Suzie (Dramas)" – 3:21

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.

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

English singer-songwriter Kate Bush released a cover of "Rocket Man" (with the subtitle "I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time") 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 No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 2 in Australia. In 2007, the track won The Observer readers' award for Greatest Cover of all time.^[44] 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^[45]

Upon its release, Ian Gittins of Melody Maker described it as a "real curio" as Bush's "ickle-girl quaver is applied as liberally as Elt's cod space-epic is unexpectedly white-reggaed up behind her".^[46] Stephen Dalton of NME was negative in his review, noting Bush's "ill-advised decision" to "croon breathily over an abysmal 'reggae' arrangement".^[47]

• Kate Bush – keyboards, vocals, producer
• Del Palmer – engineer

Additional musicians^[45]

• Davy Spillane – uilleann pipes
• Del Palmer – bass
• Alistair Anderson – concertina
• Charlie Morgan – drums
• Alan Murphy – guitar

Portuguese singer David Fonseca released his version of the song as a single in Portugal, reaching No. 12 in the Portuguese Top 20. The song—fully titled "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)"—also appears on 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 Fonseca himself.^[64]

At the 5th Saturn Awards Ceremony, which aired as the "Science Fiction Film Awards" in January 1978, Taupin introduced William Shatner's spoken word^[65] 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 gained notoriety as the most well-known example of Shatner's interpretive spoken word cover versions, and it has often been used for mockery or as an unintentionally funny novelty. It 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 No. 17 on the list.^[66]

Elton John and Dua Lipa's 2021 collaborative song "Cold Heart" samples "Rocket Man" for its chorus, along with snippets of other Elton John songs. It topped the charts in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, reached No. 2 in Ireland, and peaked at No. 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100.