Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Meaning
Song Released: 1973
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Lyrics
When are you going to land
I should have stayed on the farm
I should have listened to my old man
You know you can't hold me forever
I didn't sign up with you
I'm not a present for your friends to open
This...
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“When are you going to come down,
When are you going to land
I should have stayed at the farm…”
The first two lines have multiple ways of being read. There is no mention of a plane at the start of the song. So while you could interpret it as a plane landing, you could also interpret it in other ways. You can ‘Come down’ from upper society/your high horse/wealth
You can be ‘going to land’ as in, going to farmland, to the earth, to shore. A way of returning to the earth, become grounded, leaving soaring fantasies or your vain voyage behind.
Following the idea of ‘land’ and ‘coming down’, you could read the two together as being ‘down-to-earth’, which ties in nicely with a lot of people’s interpretations of the song.
A lot of lines in the song are like this, have a few layers or allusions.
‘You can’t plant me in your penthouse’ almost seems like a biblical allusion, to the parable of seeds falling on concrete, amongst weeds, and in good soil. He’s like a seed, and he can’t grow morally in a penthouse. He wants to go back to the earth, the good soil, the plough. He wants to lead an honest working life. -
The United States finally abandoned the gold standard in 1973, the same year this song came out. Probably a coincidence... But an interesting one.
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I got this one, here it is folks:
GARDEN = FEMALE
PLOUGH = MALE
Everybody capish now?
I got it didn't I?
Whupeeeeeeeee! -
If he can go back to his farm then he's a rich man already with his own YBR (Yellow Brick Road).
If he'd been a poor man he would have had nowhere better to wish he could go, he'd stay on someone else's YBR because he'd have no choice.
(There's a supply of "horny toads" he can be the leader of in his own microcosm.)
Those are my 2 cents. -
Yeah, quite profound lyrics wrote by Bernie Taupin..I do think that the Munchkins & Glinda represent some sort of deep tete-a-tete between Elton & Bernie about homosexuality & alchoholism which was a tad tabboo in the 70's...I personally think Elton had more of a problem with his drink & coke addictions as opposed to coming out of the closet.. Hence my interpretation of the line.. " when are you gonna come down "... I really think that Bernie had the barbituates at the ready & helped to save he's life... Thats only my humble oppinion... But hey , how fucking good is that song ?
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Meaning life is not what it seems.
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Way off...as the last person said, Bernie taurpin wrote the lyrics, a country boy from owmby by spital near market Rasen in Lincolnshire...I cycled the yellow brick road this morning..it's the road between a village called spridlington & fauldingworth on the way to market Rasen, it's concrete with a yellow tinge..I would have been a road often travelled by Bernie on his way to school or in later years to the pubs in market Rasen, the Aston arms in market Rasen was the inspiration for Saturday's alright for fighting... Yellow brick road is a song about country boy Bernie, living & writing with Elton in London & longing to be back home on the farm... Very similar to "tell me when the whistle blows" about waiting on kings cross station waiting to go home, to the apron strings! From one lincs lad to another, Bernie you are a star...
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Elton did not write the lyrics, Bernie Taupon did. Elton wrote the music. That's their arrangement for all their songs. So all of the above are misguided. Bernie eventually bought a plantation, so he's obviously talking about himself in the song.
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I think it means you can't have the life of happiness for a while so you have to come back to reality once and a while.
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Exactly, BillB--and the lyrics are VERY bitter about that toxic relationship. My favorite is "mongrels who ain't got a penny, searching for tidbits like you on the ground." Also--"It'll take you a couple of Vodka And tonics to get you on your feet again." I've always thought this could be a great punk rock song.
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Sorry but none of the above are correct. It has to do with Linda Woodward, whom Elton was engaged to before he made it big- she said in an interview this song and 'Someone saved my life tonight" (that someone was 'Long John Baldry') really hurt her when they came out. The mentions of society are what she wanted Elton and she to be in, top society. (Now if she had not demanded so much look where she would be today!)
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I think it's about falling in love in the city. it's in vain to keep being a dreamer who's looking for true love. So, walking on the clouds is no longer rational so he starts soliloquizing about the necessity of 'going to calm down/land', that is,going back to reality. He's considering the fact that choosing such a 'yellow brick road' of life in such a city is a total disappointment as people in general and his mate in particular judge things by appearances, and as money and property are everything for them; that's why he addresses his mate 'You can't plant me in your penthouse' The contrast between the city and the countryside is really shocking.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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