So I've been thinking about Elton John a lot tonight. You see, someone we all know was involved with a princess who nearly had him roped and tied, hypnotized. She had her hooks in him for sure. And I, with my curtain drawn in my little room, worried about him on East End muggy nights.

She was a real Prima Donna with a slip noose and an electric chair, and she wasn’t afraid to use them. He had turned to one more beer and one more beer, and I thought maybe he’d gone crazy and would start rolling around in basements. Or maybe I would. You sure hate to see your friends unhappy in a bad relationship.

Truly, he was strangled by her haunted social scene, out-played by a dominating queen. And he, just a little pawn.

I was worried he might walk into the deep end of the river, clinging to her stocks and bonds. But I just found out that he’s sleeping with himself tonight, and they’re coming in the morning with a truck to take him home. I guess she’ll have to save her strength to run the field she’ll play alone.

And now I wonder if Elton John, little sugar bear that he is, saved my friend’s life tonight. I wonder if he whispered sweet freedom in that ear. I wonder if Elton told him he is a butterfly and butterflies are free, free to fly, fly way, high away. Bye-Bye.

As I stand in the CD section at Target, turning over in my hands the latest Elton John compilation fresh off the press for holiday shoppers, I think, “How, in a culture that can’t remember what Tiffany looks like or who Molly Ringwald was, can a pudgy, unattractive, overdressed Brit maintain such a prominent place in the American music scene for three decades, no less?” (The date span on the CD is 1970-2002.)

Well, I think I have the answer. Elton John’s music (with Bernie Taupin’s lyrics, of course) helps us through the crises in our lives. We may drive around in our SUVs blithely mouthing the words to an Elton tune, either giving little thought to their meaning or failing to understand their convolutions and stream-of-consciousness style. When suddenly, we experience the very crisis the song addresses and BAM the lyrics are clear as rain and the music soothes our very souls.

I happen to know my friend is an avid Elton John fan, and I know he knows the lyrics to “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.” But I don’t know if he knows that “someone” might just be Elton himself. At any rate, he was saved in time, and I for one thank God that Elton’s music is still alive.

December 2002