MovieChat Forums > Rocketman (2019) Discussion > Do you like the Elton John song "Rocket ...

Do you like the Elton John song "Rocket Man"?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y12_cVX2exw

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Yes, and no. Generally, yes. But it has one of the worst-written lyrics in it I've ever heard:

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.

What????

I thought the sun rose and set with Elton John back when I was a late teen-early 20's, back when he was top of the world in music. As I matured, so did my musical tastes. Now I'm enduringly fond of the other piano man, Billy Joel. His lyrics are more refined, and his song, "Summer, Highland Falls," is a masterpiece:

"How thoughtlessly we dissipate our energies
Perhaps we don’t fulfill each others fantasies
And as we stand upon the ledges of our lives,
With our respective similarities
It’s either sadness or euphoria."

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YES!

One of the greatest songs of all time.

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Drugs usage was pretty high in the 70's so a lot of songs seemed much deeper than they were.... listen through the haze of a drug induced trip can make lots of songs seem better than they were... Just like alcohol can lead dudes to bang chicks they wouldn't give the time of day in daylight look like a 10 when your drunk.

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" But it has one of the worst-written lyrics in it I've ever heard:"

There's just a lot of science you don't understand.

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yes

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I love the song, of course it was a huge hit. I think it proves how great a singer Elton John is because the lyrics are pretty awful and he makes something so awful into one of the biggest hits of his career.

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Yes.

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A very cool song. Almost seems like a response to Space Oddity. You get the sense these blokes might be stuck out there until they die.

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A response 3 years later???

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Why not? Maybe "response" isn't the right word, but the theme is almost identical, so I imagine Taupin and Elton were aware of SO and wanted to make a variation on the same theme.

Speaking of late responses, you may have hit on a good GD topic. Do you find yourself responding to threads that were posted many years prior? I've started to notice some really old posts that pop up, and I'm tempted to comment then see this was posted like a decade ago.

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Oh man, i posted that "3 years later" comment on the wrong board and thread!

Maybe that's another GD topic, lol.

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Sure. It's pretty good. Kind of kitschy but fun.

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I think 1) he was stoned when he wrote this 2) people realized he was stoned when he wrote this 3) it sounds weird unless you are stoned.

Oh well, he made loads of money and is still alive to tell the tale.

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I do. Try to make me not like it,
Its gonna take "a long, long time."

Loved the film.

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I seems like a ripoff of the Bowie song.

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