Rocketman lyrics

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rocketsonly

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This is the first time I've actually taken a look at the song, not sure about you all.

She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine a.m.
And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then
I miss the earth so much I miss my wife
It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight

And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone


Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it's cold as hell
And there's no one there to raise them if you did
And all this science I don't understand
It's just my job five days a week
A rocket man, a rocket man


And I think it's gonna be a long long time...
 

cydermaster

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I HATE the original Elton John version, of this song, with aplomb. However Me First & The Gimmie Gimmies do a kicking cover of it. :D
 

rstaff3

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Many pop lyrics don't make sense, unlike good ol' C&W...cryin', dyin' or goin' somewhere...stuff you can relate to :)

I personally though Elton was great during that period, his concerts were really good and a lot more rock n' roll than many of his songs seemed. Then he went down hill. Now all his songs sound the same to me.
 

lalligood

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Originally posted by cydermaster
However Me First & The Gimmie Gimmies do a kicking cover of it. :D

Me First & The Gimmie Gimmies do a LOT of kickin' covers, period! ;)
 

DynaSoar

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Originally posted by Steward
Don't really make much sense... does it...???

Many lyrics written by a poet and then set to music don't make much sense when you read them. Elton John managed to make Bernie Taupin's lyrics seem to make sense even when they didn't. Procol Harum managed to make Tim Reed's lyrics look surrealistic (such as Whiter Shade of Pale) when they didn't make sense.

I suppose, Way Back When, when my parents would complain that they couldn't understand the words, I could have told them "Exactly."

Paul Kantner used to write lyrics before music, but at least had an idea of the music he wanted when he started. That made more sense in the end, whether he wrote them from scratch:

Have you seen the stars tonight?
Would you like to go up on A deck and look at them with me?
Have you seen the stars tonight?
Would you like to go up for stroll and keep me company?
Do you know,
we can go,
we are free.
Anyplace we can think of,
we can be.
Have you seen the stars tonight?
Have you looked at all the family
of stars.
("Have you seen the stars tonight". From Blows Against the Empire. The only rock album nominated for a Nebula Award.)

or whether he took them from others' science fiction, as he often did. Lyrics from two different songs on Crown of Creation used lines from John Wyndam's 1951 scifi novelette "Rebirth":

In loyalty to their kind.
they cannot tolerate our minds [rise].
In loyalty to our kind,
we cannot tolerate their obstruction.

Rush did some similar fine poetry/lyrics work, but not consistently. And, much of the stuff written by Ian Anderson could have been published in books rather than turned into Jethro Tull songs.

Someday someone should write a book about the poetry (not just good lyrics) in rock music.
 

Planet Andy

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the lyrics to "Rocket Man" as written by Bernie Taupin were inspired by the short story by Ray Bradbury "R is for Rocket" which is within his collection "The Golden Apples of the Sun".
Dynasoar...nice reference from "Blows Against the Empire"

Andy
 

hokkyokusei

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You need to listen to Rocket Man "sung" by William Shatner, to really not understand it.
 

powderburner

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I remember reading somewhere that Elton sort of screwed up a bit when he sang the lyrics, that the line:

"And there's no one there to raise them if you did"

Was originally written to be:

"And there's no one there to raise them if you died"

Makes more sense to me, but I'm not the rock-n-roll star so I defer to Sir Elton's version.
 

kenobi65

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Originally posted by rstaff3
Many pop lyrics don't make sense, unlike good ol' C&W...cryin', dyin' or goin' somewhere...stuff you can relate to :)

Reminds me of the old joke:
Q. What happens if you play a country record backwards?
A. You sober up, your wife comes back, you get your job back, your pickup truck starts running, and your dog returns from the dead.

(This, of course, dates me to the time when one could actually play a record backwards...because one actually had records. :D )
 

rstaff3

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Originally posted by kenobi65
Reminds me of the old joke:
Q. What happens if you play a country record backwards?
A. You sober up, your wife comes back, you get your job back, your pickup truck starts running, and your dog returns from the dead.

(This, of course, dates me to the time when one could actually play a record backwards...because one actually had records. :D )

:)
 

dragonshiprider

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Originally posted by hokkyokusei
Have you heard Shatner's version? Live?

No,I haven't.I don't think that even as vivid an imagination as mine can completely contemplate the horror.
 

cydermaster

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Originally posted by rstaff3
Many pop lyrics don't make sense,
IE:
Agadoo doo doo push pineapple shake the tree
Agadoo doo doo push pineapple grind coffee
To the left to the right jump up and down and to the knees
Come and dance every night sing with a hula melody


... and that managed to get to #2, over here, many years ago! :eek:

Originally posted by rstaff3
unlike good ol' C&W...cryin', dyin' or goin' somewhere...stuff you can relate to :)
.... and Punk Rock, of course. ;)
 

hokkyokusei

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Originally posted by cydermaster
Agadoo doo doo push pineapple shake the tree
Agadoo doo doo push pineapple grind coffee
To the left to the right jump up and down and to the knees
Come and dance every night sing with a hula melody


Pathetic claim to fame:
I have recorded in the same studio as that song was recorded.
 

graylensman

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Originally posted by hokkyokusei
Have you heard Shatner's version? Live?

I have an mp3 of a recording made at the World SF convention in 1978. Bernie Taupin himself actually introduced (and I quote) "my 'Rocket Man' as interpreted by our host, William Shatner."

It is truly incredible to hear.
 

hokkyokusei

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Originally posted by graylensman
I have an mp3 of a recording made at the World SF convention in 1978. Bernie Taupin himself actually introduced (and I quote) "my 'Rocket Man' as interpreted by our host, William Shatner."

It is truly incredible to hear.

That's the one I'm talking about.
 

Elapid

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Originally posted by graylensman
I have an mp3 of a recording made at the World SF convention in 1978. Bernie Taupin himself actually introduced (and I quote) "my 'Rocket Man' as interpreted by our host, William Shatner."

It is truly incredible to hear.

incredible...
yeah... that's ohne word for it...
:rolleyes:

i have a CD with all of Shatner's attempts at recording, and Leonard Nimoy's also...it DOES keep things in perspective.
:D
 

graylensman

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Originally posted by Elapid
incredible...
yeah... that's ohne word for it...
:rolleyes:

Especially the part at the end where he enunciates "I'm a ROC - - ET - - MAN!"
 

vjp

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Here's Shatner's brand-spanking-new album, for those of you who can't get enough Shatner, branding, or spanking:

Amazon.com
 

North Star

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Originally posted by hokkyokusei
Pathetic claim to fame:
I have recorded in the same studio as that song was recorded.

Aaaah Black Lace, rivals to the greats of popular music, with such party tracks as;

We're having a G**g B*ng
we're having a ball
we're having a G*** B***
against the wall
So come on and join us
Its lots of fun
A G*** B*** is the thing to do
But it takes more than one.

A colleague was a DJ for many years and this was one of his most requested plays; just shows the dangers of strong drink eh!


:D
 
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