Pride in pop: the first time Elton John released a song from the gay perspective
The 1970s and 1980s were strangely paradoxical eras when it came to expression and queer identity. Although the landscape, particularly in the ’80s, widely celebrated androgyny and presenting outside of heteronormative expectations, identifying as anything other than straight was still mostly met with external hostility. Elton John emerged as a major forerunner in the music scene at the time, despite not openly singing about his sexuality until much later.
A taste of this came in 1973 with the song ‘All The Girls Love Alice’, which glimpsed into the gay lifestyle through words penned by Bernie Taupin. It tells the tragic tale of a young lesbian called Alice, who struggles to fit into what society deems normal and acceptable. “It’s like acting in a movie when you got the wrong part,” John sings, voicing the disparities between who you are and who you feel you should be.
While ‘All The Girls Love Alice’ marked the first time John sang openly about a gay character in his pieces, the first time he sang from the perspective of a gay man was ‘Elton’s Song’ from the 1981 album The Fox. Written by John and Tom Robinson, also a gay man, the track depicts unrequited love between a boy and an older man in what John considers “the first gay song that I actually recorded as a homosexual song.”
Lyrically, the song begins with a sweet and delicate account of the boy’s fixation with the man as he describes his appearance and his “razor-blade smile.” However, as we go along, the loneliness that the boy feels both in his sexuality and his romanticism becomes clear. “I would give my life for a single night beside you,” John sings, depicting the frustration of pining for someone else.
Although John had been honest about his sexuality in a 1976 issue of Rolling Stone, where he came out as bisexual and described his life as “a Disney film”, he wouldn’t come out as gay until the early 1990s. All respect and consideration of sexual fluidity aside, the music video to ‘Elton’s Song’ was particularly progressive in the early 1980s as it overtly depicted a boy pining for another classmate.
Granted, this wasn’t exactly John’s own personal account, but it provided a deeply personal insight into John’s own world as he navigated sexuality and constant media scrutiny.
Although the singer likened the music video to the 1968 movie If…., it sparked controversy not only because of its daring content but because it didn’t include John himself. This wasn’t as popular a formulaic choice as it is now, making it appear at the time outside of the realm of what was expected of stars.
Nonetheless, it became a crowd favourite, which is completely understandable considering the way it sounds. It’s a quintessentially Elton John piece, with its poignant piano-playing and subtle employment of classical inclinations. As always with John’s music, the track takes you on a journey through various emotional contemplations, ultimately creating a sound that reflects the anguish of the narrator as he digests both love and isolation.
