Here is a video of me playing Rocket Man one of my few cover songs. Unless I am getting directly paid to perform a specific song, i.e. weddings etc, I really have to connect with a tune in order for me to bother learning it. This one has of late. I have known the song since I was a kid. And I remember seeing William Shatner do one of his possibly non self-aware ironic versions on one of the many variety shows of the 70s. But recently the words have struck me as particularly meaningful. Online searches indicate that Elton John’s lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote the song as a musing on what the astronaut’s life would be like if/when it became a more or less regular job – possibly like an airline pilot.

I see another possible interpretation, one that speaks to the world we are living in now with equal parts promise and despair at the unfulfilled promises of science and civilization. I see the narrator as not being an astronaut at all, just a guy going off to work at some mundane terrestrial job. However, he is desperately trying to give his occupation and life some meaning, even if it is pure fantasy. He is not living the life he thought he would. There are no flying cars, there is no 20 hour work week, the world is not a kinder place where possibilities know no limits. The character retreats to the world of fantasy, taking off in his car only to return again that evening to start it over again. Anyway, regardless of how Rocket Man is interpreted, it’s just a great song. I hope you enjoy it.

Steve