Remarks:
In 1972 this song went to #5 across the Anglosphere (except for Australia where it did not seem to chart). I always thought the song was somehow about drugs. In 2017 it was given a much deeper, more human meaning when Majid Adin and Stephen McNally made a video for it based on Adin’s experience as a refugee. In the video the Earth is played by Iran and Mars is played by a futuristic London, “cold as hell”. Brilliant. The song, after all, can be read as being about the loneliness of a man who leaves his family to go to a faraway, alien world to make a living.
See also:
Lyrics:
She packed my bags last night, preflight
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
‘Til touchdown brings me ’round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Ah, no, no, no
I’m a rocket man
Rocket man
Burnin’ out his fuse
Up here alone
And I think it’s gonna be a long, long, time
‘Til touchdown brings me ’round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Ah, no, no, no
I’m a rocket man
Rocket man
Burnin’ 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
Rocket Man
And I think it’s gonna be a long, long, time
‘Til touchdown brings me ’round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Ah, no no no
I’m a rocket man
Rocket man
Burnin’ out his fuse
Up here alone
She packed my bag last night, preflight
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
‘Til touchdown brings me ’round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Ah, no no no
I’m a rocket man
Rocket man
Burnin’ 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
Rocket Man
And I think it’s gonna be a long, long, time
‘Til touchdown brings me ’round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Ah, no no no
I’m a rocket man
Rocket man
Burnin’ out his fuse
Up here alone
And I think it’s gonna be a long, long, time
Source: letras.mus.br.
I think when I heard the song (my mom was a big fan of Elton John) I didn’t think so much of the meaning of the song so much as the nice delivery of Elton John’s vocals,
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I love of Sir Elton John’s songs. I am a big Elton John fan.
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@Mary Burrell: Hi, yeah my mom has all his albums (she grew up in the 60s and went to several of his concerts). I fell in love with the song “Tiny Dancer” as she used to play it for me all the time.
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“Rocket Man” is probably my favorite Elton John song, and this video just makes it even better.
I had sort of thought the song was metaphorically about being gay in a straight, homophobic world. He’s leaving a woman behind to enter a world of loneliness, disconnected from the rest of society. He will have to wait a long time for people to be able to understand who he really is. It’s hard for him to have children or understand the science behind his differences. It’s just a condition he has randomly found himself in. The world feels cold to him. Will he die alone?
Many of those ideas could also apply to being a foreigner in a new land, though.
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“Rocket Man” is probably my favorite Elton John song, and this video just makes it even better.
I had sort of thought the song was metaphorically about being gay in a straight, homophobic world. He’s leaving a woman behind to enter a world of loneliness, disconnected from the rest of society. It’s something people have struggled with throughout many eras. He will have to wait a long time for people to be able to understand who he really is. It’s hard for him to have children or understand the science behind his differences. It’s just a condition he has randomly found himself in. The world feels cold to him. Will he die alone?
Many of those ideas could also apply to being a foreigner in a new land, though.
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Oops, I didn’t realize that people had already liked the first version of my comment. Thanks!
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Reblogged this on re-presentation.
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Both brilliant. Song and video. I was 21 when Rocket Man was released.
How the years fly!
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@Paige: Paige that is a brilliant interpretation of “Rocket Man” and it makes sense that Elton most probably struggled with those feelings.
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I thought it was about drugs but then 5 days a week? Never gave it too much thought. Goodbye yellow brick road and saturday night’s all right (for fighting)!
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