![]() ![]() Besides the immediate satisfaction of owning the record, that song also served as a sonic gateway into glam and the blaring music of the makeup-wearing young dudes Kiss, Queen, Alice Cooper, Marc Bolan and David Bowie, that guided me through the seventies. After pestering Mom for a few days, she finally brought home the seven-inch single, which was the first rock record added to my then-growing vinyl collection. The more I heard “BATJ” on the radio, the more I wanted to be able to play it whenever I felt like it. ![]() Hearing the song every morning, I began imagining that cool girl named Bennie who wore “electric boots and a mohair suit,” leading her band toward electric music and solid walls of sound. “BATJ” was first featured on John’s double-disc album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and was released as a single in February 1974. ![]() WABC morning jock Harry Harrison played the Top-40 jams by Chicago, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, and countless others that nudged me toward a pop appreciation that later became an obsession. A dark wooden box with scratches on top, it was a gift from my stepfather, Carlos, who more than likely bought it hot in the barber shop where he cut hair. The radio was a few feet away on an end table in the living room. Catherine of Genoa school uniform: white shirt, blue tie, and dark slacks. At eleven years old, I sat in the corner chair in the kitchen dressed in my St. “Not another one,” I sighed, reaching into my jeans pocket to retrieve my phone.Ĭhecking the news reports, I scrolled through the entertainment headlines as my mind drifted back to those 1974 WABC mornings when “Bennie and the Jets” was served daily alongside my sugary cereal or toasted waffles. With so many of my musical idols-Cynthia Robinson, David Bowie, Prince, George Michael, Maurice White-dying in the last few years, it was possible that seventy-year-old Sir Elton would be the next star strutting through the pearly gates of Pop Star Heaven. Back in April, it was reported that Elton was canceling tour dates because of a “harmful and unusual bacterial infection” he’d caught in South America. Mark’s Place recently, a car drove past blasting Elton John’s 1974 single “Bennie and the Jets.” Stopping at the red light, the middle-aged driver sang loudly and pretended that the steering wheel was a piano as I wondered if my used-to-be-favorite singer was dead. But I guess all music is up to anyone's interpretation.Walking down St. I think the word "closet" makes people jump right to gay. Unless he is just emphasizing the worthlessness of these people. The only line that makes me think of homosexuality is that "Jesus don't say the guys in the tower of Babel". "When we cried" there were no shoulders of these people there. ![]() It paints a picture of these sniveling creatures crawling around pretending to be your friend and care about you. But at the end of the day, they only care about you because you're famous. Its about how at parties you have booze, coke, and bitches and everyone loves you. It seems to me that this song is about the music industry. This points more towards drugs, stress, partying, etc that might occur in this house of sin. They mention a dealer in the basement dealing bad things. It seems more like it is painting a picture of a house of general sin, not just sins from being gay. I find it hard to believe the gay thing because 1. I have a different opinion of what this song is about than the comments above. Or was it just the scalpel blade that lied Junk, angel, this closet's always stacked It's party time for the guys in the tower of Babel But where were all your shoulders when we cried ![]()
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