Sir Elton John surprised after learning inspiration behind his Rocket Man hit

22 March 2023 , 08:29

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Sir Elton John shocked after learning the inspiration behind his iconic Rocket Man song (Image: Getty Images)

Sir Elton John was surprised to learn the true inspiration behind his iconic Rocket Man song.

Rocket Man was written by the 75-year-old and songwriter Bernie Taupin. It was released in 1972.

The singer sat down with Bernie, 72, to discuss the hit song and it turns out Sir Elton never knew the story behind it.

Sir Elton and Bernie met in 1967 when they both said yes to an advertisement for songwriting.

"Rocket Man was our first-ever number-one record I think. And it was on the Honky Chateau record," the Tiny Dancer singer said.

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"It was a pretty easy song to write a melody to because it's a song about space so it's quite a spacious song."

Sir Elton was shocked to find out about the inspiration (Instagram)

Rocket Man came out in 1972 (Instagram)

Bernie went on to discuss the inspiration behind the song.

"It was actually a song inspired by Ray Bradbury from his book of science-fiction short stories called The Illustrated Man," he said.

"In that book, there was a story called The Rocket Man, which was about how astronauts in the future would become sort of an everyday job so I kinda took that idea and ran with it."

Sir Elton had no idea and replied: "Do you know, I never knew that..."

Rocket Man became Double Platinum and was even listed in Rolling Stone's greatest 500 songs of all time.

Meanwhile, the musician has been raking in a ridiculous amount of cash thanks to his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.

Elton John has earned hundreds of millions thanks to his tour (Getty Images)

He became the biggest earner ever after taking home a staggering $817.9million (£663.44m) with his latest Oceania leg of the tour.

With at least 50 European dates to come in 2023, including 10 nights at London’s O2 Arena and a headline set Glastonbury Festival, his estimated earnings are as much as $1billion.

Elton’s epic tour began in North America and included 42 performances in 2018, then 111 more in 2019 and another 25 in 2020 before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic halted the tour.

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He completed 93 concerts in 2022, capping a blockbuster year on the road with three sold-out shows at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in November.

The star has beaten pal Ed Sheeran, who held the record with his Divide tour for four years with $775.6m (£629.13m). Other acts in the top 10 include U2, The Rolling Stones and Coldplay.

Zara Woodcock