“Someone Saved My Life Tonight” is one of Elton John’s most emotionally raw songs. Though the listener is immediately keyed into how powerful this song is, they may not know exactly what emotions are behind that power.
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Check out the meaning of this John classic, below
Behind the Meaning
Though Bernie Taupin’s lyrics weren’t always linked to John’s personal life, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” certainly was. The song follows a turning point in John’s life–one that was exacerbated by his engagement to Linda Woodrow.
You almost had your hooks in me
Didn’t you dear
You nearly had me roped and tied
Altar bound hypnotized sweet freedom
Whispered in my ear
In the chorus, John sings about his engagement. He likens it to being trapped. You almost had your hooks in me / Didn’t you dear, he sings.
According to John, it was his friends John Baldry and Taupin that gave him the push to break the engagement.
“I was going to get married once when I was younger, and I went out and got drunk with Long John Baldry and Bernie and John said I shouldn’t get married,” John once explained. “I knew he was right but I didn’t know how to get out of it so, I just got drunk and went home and said I’m not getting married.”
But, this wasn’t a case of just marrying the wrong person. In Elton: The Biography, author David Buckley revealed John thought about suicide as a possible way to leave his current situation–which explains the crux of this song.
Never realized the passing hours of evening showers
Slip noose hanging in my darkest dreams
I’m strangled by your haunted social scene
Just a pawn outplayed by a dominating queen
It’s four o’clock in the morning
And someone saved my life tonight
Sugar bear (sugar bear…)
Because it was written by Taupin, this track naturally has a hefty amount of visual language. The songwriter always creates visceral images with his lines.
The visuals in this particular track are made all the more poignant when we consider the fact they refer to John’s real life.
Revisit the song, below
(Photo by Gavin Bond/Courtesy of Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song)
