Someone Saved My Life Tonight

"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is an Elton John song from his album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. John originally wrote and recorded it in A-flat, though after vocal cord surgery in 1987 that resulted in him abstaining from using his falsetto range for a period, he more often performed the song in a lower key of F. It concludes side one in the album's narrative, which chronicles the early history of John and lyricist Bernie Taupin and their struggles to find their place within the music industry. When released as the album's only single in 1975, it was the first album to ever enter at #1 in the history of music on the Billboard Hot 100 and entered the top 25 on the UK Singles Chart. In the U.S., it was certified Gold on 10 September 1975 by the RIAA. 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.^[1]

Taupin's lyric 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 London, hence the opening line "When I think of those East End lights." While having serious doubts about the looming marriage, John contemplated suicide.^[2] He 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. Comparisons can also be drawn to the earlier John/Taupin composition Skyline Pigeon - as both songs contain the metaphor of a creature flying free towards the sky to signify escape from marriage. As a sign of his respect and gratitude for Baldry, Taupin wrote him into the song as the "someone" in the title, and also as "Sugar Bear".^[3] Some radio stations altered the song or refused to play it due to the use of the phrase "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. According to Gambaccini, another member of the production crew, Davey Johnstone, leaned over and told Dudgeon, "You know he's singing about killing himself." Dudgeon was apparently mortified by the revelation and relented.

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.

John has played the song live many times, one of the best known recorded performances coming during the Central Park concert in September 1980.

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Chart (1975)	Peak position
Australia	54
Canada	2
New Zealand ^[4]	13
UK	22
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	4
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	36
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 ^[5]	1

Year-end charts

Chart (1975)	Rank
Australia	122
Canada	31
New Zealand ^[6]	27
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 ^[7]	91
U.S. Cash Box ^[8]	50

Personnel

Elton John – acoustic & Fender Rhodes electric pianos, ARP String Ensemble synthesizer, vocals
Davey Johnstone – Leslie guitars, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Dee Murray – bass, backing vocals
Nigel Olsson – drums, backing vocals
Ray Cooper – tambourine, shaker, cymbal

Popular culture

Walter Jackson recorded a version of the song for his 1976 album Feeling Good.

Kanye West sampled the song for "Good Morning", a song on his 2007 album Graduation.

This song is referenced frequently by Father Callahan in Stephen King's book Wolves of the Calla.

This song is featured in the trailer for the 2002 film Moonlight Mile directed by Brad Silberling, starring Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman and Jake Gyllenhaal. Partially based on Silberling's dealing with the aftermath of the murder of his girlfriend actress Rebecca Schaeffer.

Axl Rose covered parts of the song on his piano as an intro to "November Rain" during the 2009/2010 Chinese Democracy World Tour.

The comedy film Hamlet 2 features the song, sung by a gay men's chorus, within the titular play. The song was covered by The Ralph Sall Experience for the 2008 film.

In the Simpsons episode "I'm with Cupid", which features Elton John playing himself, Apu irritates John by deliberately punning that "Someone saved your life tonight" after his quick response prevents the singer being struck by a crashing plane.

"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. As far as anyone knows, it could well be the album's only recorded outtake. (A Taupin lyric for "Dogs in the Kitchen" was included with the original LP and Deluxe Edition CD issue Lyric booklet, but the song itself was never finished with music and thus never recorded.) "House of Cards," meanwhile, was a long-awaited track on CD, finally surfacing on Rare Masters, though left off the remastered CD re-release of Captain Fantastic in 1995. It was, however, included on the Deluxe Edition re-release as one of the bonus tracks, finally joining the album with which it was originally recorded.

References

↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
↑ Mike DeGagne. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John | Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
↑ Burnett, Richard (20 July 2012), Three Dollar Bill (column), "Sugar Bear" (prior versions of 2007 and 2005 archived at hour.ca). Retrieved 4 November 2014.
↑ "NZ Top 40 Singles Chart | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1975-08-25. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
↑
↑ "Top Selling Singles of 1975 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1975-12-31. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1975/Top 100 Songs of 1975". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
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External links

Elton John songs

1960s and 1970s	"Skyline Pigeon" (1968) "I've Been Loving You" (1968) "Lady Samantha" (1969) "It's Me That You Need" (1969) "Border Song" (1970) "Rock and Roll Madonna" (1970) "From Denver to L.A." (1970) "Take Me to the Pilot" (1970) "Your Song" (1970) "Friends" (1971) "Levon" (1971) "Tiny Dancer" (1972) "Rocket Man" (1972) "Honky Cat" (1972) "I Think I'm Going to Kill Myself" (1972) "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" (1972) "Crocodile Rock" (1972) "Elderberry Wine" (1972) "Daniel" (1972) "Teacher I Need You" (1973) "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" (1973) "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" (1973) "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (1973) "Step into Christmas" (1973) "Candle in the Wind" (1974) "Bennie and the Jets" (1974) "Harmony" (1973) "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (1974) "The Bitch Is Back" (1974) "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (1974) "Philadelphia Freedom" (1975) "I Saw Her Standing There" (1975) "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" (1975) "Island Girl" (1975) "Grow Some Funk of Your Own" (1976) "I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)" (1976) "Pinball Wizard" (1976) "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (1976) "Cage the Songbird" (1976) "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" (1976) "Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance!)" (1977) "Crazy Water" (1977) "The Goaldiggers Song" (1977) "Ego" (1978) "Part-Time Love" (1978) "Song for Guy" (1978) "Are You Ready for Love" (1979) "Mama Can't Buy You Love" (1979) "Johnny B. Goode" (1979)

1980s	"Little Jeannie" (1980) "Sartorial Eloquence (Don't Ya Wanna Play This Game No More?)" (1980) "Dear God" (1980) "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" (1981) "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" (with Kiki Dee, 1981) "Blue Eyes" (1982) "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)" (1982) "Ball and Chain" (1982) "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1982) "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" (1983) "I'm Still Standing" (1983) "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" (1984) "Nikita" (1985) "That's What Friends Are For" (1985) "Wrap Her Up" (1985) "Take Me to the Pilot" (1988) "I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That" (1988) "Town of Plenty" (1988) "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters (Part Two)" (1988) "Healing Hands" (1989) "Sacrifice" (1989)

1990s	"Club at the End of the Street" (1990) "You Gotta Love Someone" (1990) "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (1991) "The One" (1992) "Runaway Train" (1992) "The Last Song" (1992) "Simple Life" (1993) "True Love" (1993) "Shakey Ground" (1994) "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" (1994) "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" (1994) "Circle of Life" (1994) "Believe" (1995) "Made in England" (1995) "When the Money's Gone" (1995) "You Can Make History (Young Again)" (1996) "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" (1997) "Candle in the Wind 1997" (1997) "Written in the Stars" (1999)

2000s	"I Want Love" (2001) "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" (2002) "Original Sin" (2002) "Are You Ready for Love" (2003) "Ghetto Gospel" (2005) "Electricity" (2005) "The Bridge" (2006) "Joseph, Better You than Me" (2008) "Tiny Dancer (Hold Me Closer)" (2009)

Related articles	Albums discography Videography

Book:Elton John Category:Elton John

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