Taupin’s astronaut is traveling to Mars as part of a scientific mission. Thematically, like Space Oddity, John’s Rocket Man is told from the perspective of the astronaut. And musically, Space Oddity and John’s Rocket Man both utilize the spacey sort of sounds of the slide guitar and synthesizer. All three space songs, Space Oddity, Pearls Before Swine’s Rocket Man, and Elton John’s Rocket Man share the same subject, an astronaut traveling in space, and share some of the same themes: isolation, dedication, self-reliance, ambivalence, regret, and mortality. In several interviews, Taupin has revealed that the Pearls Before Swine version of Rocket Man was the inspiration for his version. ![]() At some point, the father perishes: “One day they told us the sun had flared and taken him inside.” The song ends with the pain that the mother and son feel when they look up at the sky and are reminded of their loss: “My mother and I / Never went out / Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out / Or to escape the pain / We only went out when it rained.” Rapp’s song tells a similar story about regret and loss: a young boy talks about his father who is an astronaut and how he and his mother worry about his father’s safety (“My father was a rocket man / He often went to Jupiter or Mercury, to Venus or to Mars / My mother and I would watch the sky / And wonder if a falling star / Was a ship becoming ashes with a rocket man inside.” The father was torn between visiting distant planets and the stars and spending time with his family. As any father would, he warns his son about his profession - don’t become a rocket man you’ll never be happy - if you’re home, you yearn for space if you are in space, you will yearn for home it is a vicious circle. The father is sad that his relationship to his wife has deteriorated. For the past ten years, the father has visited his wife and son for a short stay (three days) in between three-month long space trips. Working in the same milieu as Bowie, songwriter Tom Rapp found his inspiration in the short story “The Rocket Man” in the collection of short stories titled The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury published in 1951. The story is told from the perspective of a young boy who, naturally, wants to be an astronaut like his father. It got the song flowing.” The song, featured on the album David Bowie (1969), was about an astronaut, Major Tom, who travels into space, loses communication with ground control, and is stranded in space “floating ’round my tin can/far above the moon… And there is nothing I can do.” Presumably, he runs out of oxygen and perishes.Ī year later, the psychedelic folk band, Pearls Before Swine, released the album The Use of Ashes in 1970. I was out of my gourd anyway, I was very stoned when I went to see it, several times, and it was really a revelation to me. ![]() In an interview, Bowie explained, “ was written because of going to see the film 2001, which I found amazing. One of the impressionable people sitting in a darkened theatre watching Kubrick’s film was a young man named David Bowie. Moreover, in one film, Kubrick redefined the cinematic experience, raising special effects and brilliant story-telling to new heights. Clarke and Kubrick collaborated on the screenplay and the novel (based on the screenplay) that was released after the movie’s premiere. Its depiction of space travel and thought-provoking scientific and philosophical themes mesmerized audiences around the globe. The screenplay was based on a short story, “The Sentinel,” written by Arthur C. One year before man stepped foot on the moon, Americans had already been to the moon - via Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey - a film that continues to inspire filmmakers today. There were two songs, in particular, that made an impact on Taupin. The second influence was the emergence of music from emerging artists that was redefining the sound of rock with innovative instrumentation and lyrics that explored man’s exploration of space, the final frontier. ![]() In the span of a less than a decade, the concept of space travel made the giant leap from science fiction to reality. First, the successful Apollo missions, particularly Apollo 11 that landed men on the moon in 1969, captured the imagination of the nation every kid in America wanted to be an astronaut. There were two key influences that helped to shape the song in Taupin’s imagination. and number 2 in the UK. The lyrics of Rocket Man were written by lyricist and poet Bernie Taupin, John’s talented collaborator since 1967. ![]() Rocket Man, released in 1972, is one of Elton John’s signature songs and certainly one of his most successful songs, which climbed the singles charts to number 6 in the U.S.
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