Rocket Man

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This article is about the song by Elton John. For the film, see RocketMan.

For John's 2007 compilation album, see Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits.

"Rocket Man"

Single by Elton John
from the album Honky Château
B-side(s)	"Suzie (Dramas)"
Released	1972
Genre	Pop/Light Rock
Label	MCA
Writer(s)	Elton John, Bernie Taupin
Chart positions
#6 (U.S. Pop) #2 (UK)
Elton John singles chronology
Tiny Dancer (1972)	Rocket Man (1972)	Honky Cat (1972)

"Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be a Long, Long Time)" is a song composed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and popularized by John. It is loosely based on the short story "The Rocket Man" in Ray Bradbury's book The Illustrated Man, and shares a similar theme to the David Bowie song "Space Oddity". It first appeared on John's 1972 album Honky Château and became a hit single and popular album track. As Taupin once noted, "It became very popular among the listeners."

The lyrics in the song, written by John's longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin, describe a Mars-bound astronaut's mixed feelings at leaving his family in order to do his job. Musically, the song is a highly arranged pop ballad anchored by John's piano, with atmospheric texture added by synthesizer and processed slide guitar.

In the climax of the song's chorus, it is notoriously difficult to understand what John is singing. The true lyric is "burning out his fuse up here alone".

It was ranked #242 in the 2004 List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Another "Rocket Man" song (also based on Bradbury's short story) was released by the musical group Pearls Before Swine on their 1970 album The Use of Ashes. In an interview in Billboard magazine, Taupin acknowledged that the original Pearls Before Swine song, written by Tom Rapp, had been a direct inspiration for his own lyrics.

[edit] Performed by other artists

The song has been performed by many others but arguably the most famous performance was in 1978, at a science fiction film awards ceremony, Bernie Taupin personally introduced William Shatner's unique interpretation of Rocket Man. Shatner's version utilized then-modern chromakey video techniques to portray simultaneously three different facets of the Rocket Man's character. Videos of this performance circulates on the Internet. It has built up a cult following, and was parodied on the U.S. animated series Family Guy, Freakazoid, Futurama, Canadian CGI series ReBoot, as well as in the video for "Where It's At" by Beck.

One unique adaptation was done by an amateur band that was put together for just one day by the producers of the American radio show This American Life.[1]

Kate Bush released a cover of "Rocket Man" in 1991 as part of the Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute album, Two Rooms. Her reggae-inflected version reached #11 in the UK.

The cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes covered Elton John's song for their first album release, Have a Ball.

Foetus performed a reworked cover of "Rocket Man", titled "Puppet Dude", on the Male live album. The lyrics were altered as a tribute to Muppets creator Jim Henson.

The Nixons presented this song on their 1999 EP Scrapbook.

Boysetsfire covered the song on their 2000 EP Suckerpunch Training.

Ryan Adams and Elton John sang the song as a duet at the 2002 Country Music Television Crossroads.

William Hung covered the song on his 2004 debut album, Inspiration.

Jenny Gear sang "Rocket Man" top 5 on Canadian Idol.

Andrew Flintoff also sang it in a duet with Sir Elton on May 9, 2006, all for charity, at Battersea Park.

It was recorded by The Chipmunks on The A-Files: Alien Songs. In this version, Alvin has taken a spaceship for a joyride, giving quite a different meaning to "I think it's going to be a long, long time".

Electronic artist Daphne Rubin-Vega recorded a version of Rocket Man, which naturally contained a more synthetic take on the song.

Neil Diamond performed the song and it is on his album Stages (Performances 1970-2002).

Gerald Collier, formerly of the Sub-Pop band Best Kissers In The World, recorded an alt-country version found at least on a Warner Bros/Revolution promo single.

[edit] Other media

In the 1996 action film The Rock, the song is played early on, and near the climax Nicolas Cage's character asks a marine if he knows of the song, and states that the marine is the eponymous "rocket man" before launching a missile into him.

The 1997 comedy movie titled Rocket Man starring Harland Williams was about a goofy guy who goes to explore Mars with some other scientists and a chimpanzee. Elton John's song was played during the closing credits.

In the 1998 biopic Without Limits, based on the life of American runner Steve Prefontaine, "Rocket Man" is playing on the car radio at the time of Prefontaine's fatal accident.

In the FX show Nip/Tuck, "Rocket Man" was played while Sean McNamara's mistress, Megan O'Hara, commits suicide to cope with her recurring cancer, in season one.

In the Thomas Pynchon novel Gravity's Rainbow, Slothrop, the main character, at one point takes on the persona of "Rocketman" by donning a cape and using the tip of a V2 rocket as a helmet. Certain moments of the novel seem to mirror the emotional tone of the song. However, this is a debatable reference as rocketry figures heavily in the novel.

It is featured in Episode 303 of Six Feet Under ("The Eye Inside").

It is featured at the end of Episode 3-11 of Numb3rs ("Killer Chat") when Peter MacNicol's Dr. Larry Fleinhardt is taking off on his Space Shuttle mission.

During the first Face to Face tour featuring John and Billy Joel, ads promoted the event as "Rocket Man meets Piano Man".

During Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens' tenure with the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros, Rocket Man was played at Yankee Stadium and Minute Maid Park when Clemens was taken out of a game in the middle of an inning. The song was also played on the Fenway Park organ as Clemens took the mound as a member of the Boston Red Sox, where he first received the nickname "Rocket."