Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

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"Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting"

Single by Elton John
from the album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Released	1973
Format	Vinyl Record (7")
Recorded	Chateau d'Hierouville
Genre	Hard Rock
Length	4:54
Label	MCA
Writer(s)	Elton John, Bernie Taupin
Producer(s)	Gus Dudgeon
Chart positions
#12 (USA) #7 (UK)
Elton John singles chronology
"Daniel" (1973)	"Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" (1973)	"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (1973)

"Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" (sometimes written "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)") is a rock & roll song performed by musician Elton John. The song was written by Bernie Taupin and composed by John for his album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It is one of John's harder-rocking songs, with a sound similar to bands like The Who and The Rolling Stones (indeed The Who would cover it in 1991). The song completely destroyed his past renown as a mellow singer/songwriter.^[1]

The song was released in 1973 (see 1973 in music) as the album's first single, and entered the Top Ten in the U.K and the Top 20 in the U.S. Despite only being a modest hit compared to his other hits, it remains one of his best-known songs.

In 1988 it was covered on Flotsam and Jetsam's album No Place for Disgrace. In 2003 it was also performed by Nickelback and included in their album The Long Road. It is also used by the US cable network Showtime as introduction music for its Showtime Championship Boxing series (as the series airs on the first Saturday of each month). An edited version of the song is used at the end of the opening tease for the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, as that series airs on Saturday nights. It is also used as the theme song for TBS's College Football Saturday.

1 Composition and inspiration
2 Chart performance
3 Format and tracklist
4 Charts
5 References

[edit] Composition and inspiration

"Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" is a lively throwback to early rock & roll with a glam edge; the lyrics discuss a night out in town in which the narrator plans to "get about as oiled as a diesel train." Taupin has said that the song was meant to be an American rock & roll song, set in Britain, and was inspired by his raucous teenage days.

[edit] Chart performance

The single peaked at #12 in the U.S., and #7 in the UK. It was his only song to not make the U.S. Top Ten in the three year period between 1973 and 1976.