The track Elton John called “my theme song”
Rocketman is a musical film depicting Elton John‘s life up until he kicked drugs and lived clean. The movie starts with him kicking through the doors of a rehab facility, planting himself in a group therapy session fully adorned in his stage outfit and reeling off his long list of addictions. Afterwards, he turns to the camera and starts singing, “I was justified when I was five…”
The song feels like the perfect way to start the movie, but it is even more perfectly placed when you learn that Elton John considers the 1974 hit ‘The Bitch Is Back’, to be “kind of my theme song”. Also, in a film that shows the singer at his highest and lowest, it seems fitting that the track, which is so upbeat and fun, was born during one of his infamous tantrums.
One day, when John was in a bad mood, he was looking for things merely so he could complain about them. In the vicinity was Maxine, Bernie Taupin’s wife, who saw the musician and picked up on his mood before slyly commenting to her husband, “Uh-oh, the bitch is back.”
After hearing the term, as Elton John’s lyricist, Bernie Taupin latched on to it and wrote out the track. After John had calmed down, Bernie showed him the song, which he then put music to. He was well aware that he was the bitch referenced in the song, so he loved performing it in a twisted ironic way.
The song was a hit, but that came with some controversy, given there weren’t loads of tracks in the ‘70s charts that used the word bitch so freely. The Rolling Stones had a song called ‘Bitch’ on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers, but it was never issued as a single. Rod Stewart also had a small hit with ‘Ain’t Love a Bitch’, but nothing was given the attention that the Elton John track was given.
Initially, a lot of radio stations simply refused to play it, but when the song became one of the most popular in the country, there was no other option other than to give it air time. Some still pushed back by censoring the word, but given “bitch” is said a grand total of 42 times throughout the song, any of these attempts at censorship sounded ridiculous.
The track remains a favourite amongst Elton John fans, who believe the song is the perfect representation of the singer, notorious for his temper and who could be difficult to work with. Despite Elton being a bit easier to handle now, it’s still an incredibly fun song to listen to and honours the struggles that Elton went through whilst simultaneously poking some fun at them. This seems appropriate, given Elton has always been willing to laugh at himself and, despite the serious nature behind a lot of his songs, not take himself too seriously.
