Someone Saved My Life Tonight
When I think of those East End lights, muggy nights
The curtains drawn in the little room downstairs
Prima Donna lord you really should have been there
Sitting like a princess perched in her electric chair
And it's one more beer and I don't hear you anymore
We've all gone crazy lately
My friends out there rolling round the basement floor
And someone saved my life tonight sugar bear
You almost had your hooks in me didn't you dear
You nearly had me roped and tied
Altar-bound, hypnotized
Sweet freedom whispered in my ear
You're a butterfly
And butterflies are free to fly
Fly away, high away, bye bye
I never realized the passing hours of evening showers
A slip noose hanging in my darkest dreams
I'm strangled by your haunted social scene
Just a pawn out-played by a dominating queen
It's four o'clock in the morning
Damn it listen to me good
I'm sleeping with myself tonight
Saved in time, thank God my music's still alive
And someone saved my life tonight sugar bear
You almost had your hooks in me didn't you dear
You nearly had me roped and tied
Altar-bound, hypnotized
Sweet freedom whispered in my ear
You're a butterfly
And butterflies are free to fly
Fly away, high away, bye bye
And I would have walked head on into the deep end of the river
Clinging to your stocks and bonds
Paying your H.P. demands forever
They're coming in the morning with a truck to take me home
Someone saved my life tonight, someone saved my life tonight
Someone saved my life tonight, someone saved my life tonight
Someone saved my life tonight
So save your strength and run the field you play alone....
And someone saved my life tonight sugar bear
You almost had your hooks in me didn't you dear
You nearly had me roped and tied
Altar-bound, hypnotized
Sweet freedom whispered in my ear
You're a butterfly
And butterflies are free to fly
Fly away, high away, bye bye
- "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is an Elton John song from his album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. When released as the album's only single in 1975, it reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and entered the top 25 on the UK Singles Chart.In the U.S. it was certified Gold on 9/10/1975 by the R.I.A.A. In Canada, the single narrowly missed being his ninth number one there, hitting #2 on the RPM 100 national Top Singles chart on August 30.
- Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy tells the story of Elton John and Bernie Taupin's early years together as friends and writing partners - the songs are in chronological order. The album entered the US chart at #1. Elton was very hot at the time, and advance orders for the album were well over a million.
- The lyrics on this album were co-written by Bernie Taupin. "Someone Saved My Life" refers to a time in 1969, before John was a popular musician, when John was engaged to be married to his girlfriend, Linda Woodrow.
- John and Woodrow were sharing a flat with Taupin in Furlong Road in the East End of London, hence the opening line "When I think of those East End lights." While having serious doubts about the looming marriage, John contemplated suicide.
- Sir Elton took refuge in his friends, especially Long John Baldry, who convinced John to abandon his plans to marry in order to salvage and maintain his musical career.
- As a sign of his respect and gratitude for Baldry, Taupin wrote him into the song as the "someone" in the title. "Sugar Bear" refers to Bernie Taupin.
- Some radio stations banned or altered the song, due to the use of the words "damn it" in the second verse.
- In the liner notes to the Deluxe Edition of Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy, writer Paul Gambaccini related a recollection from producer Gus Dudgeon. During the recording of the song's lead vocal, Dudgeon said he was pushing Elton for more in terms of his delivery of the vocal, not paying attention to the lyric. Also in the control room, Davey Johnstone, according to Gambaccini, leaned over and told Dudgeon, "You know he's singing about killing himself." Dudgeon was apparently mortified by the revelation and relented.
- Elton John has allegedly tried to commit suicide twice.
- Despite it's cutting harshness, the song maintains optimism and beauty. The line about the woman being a "slip noose in his darkest dreams" portrays dark imagery, for a pop song especially, and conveys John's feelings perfectly.
- The song, which at 6:45 was one of Elton's longest singles, was supposed to be edited to a shorter version for radio consumption. However, John refused to let MCA Records pare it down, saying that it was to be released as a whole, and the record company acquiesced.
- "Clinging to your stocks and bonds" refers to his fiancé's inherited investment portfolio. "Paying your H.P. demands forever" refers to his fiancé's penchant for the more luxurious things in life that they would not be able to sustain with said portfolio but would require Hire Purchase (H.P.) packets to satisfy. Hire Purchase Packets use the same concept as an Installment Loan, with the exception being an H.P. is drawn directly from your pay check directly by your employer.
- Someone Saved My Life Tonight was also well-known among die-hard Elton John fans for its flip-side, House of Cards, a track recorded along with the album's other songs, but left off the final edit of the album.
- John has referred to this incident as his Woody Allen attempt at suicide. He did in fact put his head between two pillows while the gas poured out of the stove in his kitchen, but the windows in his flat were left open. Bernie Taupin did "save" him, but both acknowledged later it was probably a cry for help more than a failed suicide attempt.
- In the 1991 Two Rooms tribute project, Elton explained: "I was going to get married once when I was younger, and I went out and got drunk with Long John Baldry and Bernie and John said I shouldn't get married. I knew he was right but I didn't know how to get out of it so, I just got drunk and went home and said I'm not getting married." He did not mention the widely reported attempt at suicide.
Available at Amazon.com
Of similar interest: Friday Flashback 1975
Previous In This Series:
- Misunderstood Lyrics: The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite by R.E.M.
- Misunderstood Lyrics: I Am The Walrus by The Beatles
- Misunderstood Lyrics: #9 Dream by John Lennon
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Show Me The Way by Peter Frampton
- Misunderstood Lyrics: All Those Years Ago by George Harrison
- Misunderstood Lyrics: One Night In Bangkok by Murray Head
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today) by The Temptations
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Killer Queen by Queen
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Hide In Your Shell by Supertramp
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Stayin' Alive by The Bee Gees
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Miracles by Jefferson Starship
- Misunderstood Lyrics: It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by R.E.M.
- Misunderstood Lyrics: Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress by The Hollies
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