The song Rocket Man. What's it about?

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2892

:)

Xx

Space exploration was big in 1972, and that's what inspired Bernie Taupin's lyrics.

It came out around the time of the Apollo 16 mission, which sent men to the moon for the 5th time.

This was produced by Gus Dudgeon, who worked with David Bowie on his 1969 song "Space Oddity."

Both songs have similar subject matter, and lots of people accused Elton of ripping off Bowie.

The opening lyrics came to Taupin while he was driving near his parents' house. He ran in and asked everyone not to talk to him until he wrote them down.

Apparently, this is about a man who is sent to live in space as part of a scientific experiment. However, according to some, it is a symbol of how Rock Stars are isolated from their friends, family and from the real world by those with power in the music industry.

This was used in commercials for AT&T. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada, for above 2)

Some lyric analysis as part of the Rock Star isolation theory:

"I'm burning out his fuse up here alone" - Rocketing through space on stage.

"Higher than a kite" - Feeling outside the box called normal.

"Mars" - "The place he is when he's high; don't need to be raising children when you're an addict. It's a "cold" place, being an addict and larger than life when you want to be "Normal" and a "Rocketman" at the same time.

There was another song called "Rocket Man" that Bernie and Elton knew about when they wrote this.

It was released by a group called Pearls Before Swine and came out in 1970.

When Elton played the Soviet Union in 1979, this was listed on the program as "Cosmonaut."

Kate Bush covered this in 1991 for an Elton John tribute album called Two Rooms (a reference to John and Taupin writing separately). Her version hit #12 in the UK.

Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens' nickname is "The Rocket." As a result, lots of highlight videos have been made of him with this playing in the background. He earned the nickname because he throws hard.

On an episode of the television show Family Guy, Stewie does a spoken version of this song.

William Shatner performed a spoken-word version of this song at the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards, for which he was the host. Bernie Taupin did the introduction.

I think he's just talking about being a rock star. He has to be away from the real world (earth) and he really misses it. He's lonely being away and touring all the time (it's lonely out in space) And you always hear rock stars talking about how they're different people when they're on stage than they are any other time (I'm not the man they think I am at home) Or maybe it's what he felt before he came out of the closet.

He's singing about loneliness and being away from family.

Drug use. "Rocket man" is a junkie.

it's about a rocket man..... duh...