History YMMV / EltonJohn

** Plenty of their other songs were closely analysed too. One interpretation of "Madman Across the Water" is that the madman of the title is UsefulNotes/RichardNixon and that the song is a protest against UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. Several reviewers have noted the parallels; see, for instance, [[http://www.allmusic.com/song/madman-across-the-water-mt0006442178 Allmusic]]. Taupin is apparently aware of this interpretation and has never confirmed or denied it.

* NarmCharm: The music video to "Nikita", as per many 80s videos, is rather cheesy (right down to having [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoment ten soldiers goose-stepping in time to the tune]]). However, the genuine wistfulness of the narrative, including a WhatCouldHaveBeen ImagineSpot with Elton's subject of affection and a brief real interaction which implies she loves him back, compliments the song and gives the whole thing a poignant SadClown vibe.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: "Rocket Man" reduced space exploration, something that had been glamorized in the Western world during the previous decade, into a tedious nine-to-five job. That would end up echoing the decline in interest in space exploration, on all levels, once the United States won the race to the Moon.

** "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding", the first track of ''Music/GoodbyeYellowBrickRoad''. Apparently, according to [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]], it is the kind of music he wants played at his funeral.

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Many Western listeners were/are unaware that "Nikita" is a ''male'' name in Russian, and this wasn't helped by the music video depicting the titular Soviet soldier as a woman. Though the lyrics themselves are basically gender-neutral, WordOfGod confirmed that he always knew it was a man he was singing about.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Besides the Edinburgh 1976 "I want them to ''know'' I'm an alcoholic" quote, any humorous moment Elton had with longtime manager John Reid or personal assistant Bob Halley in ''Tantrums and Tiaras'', since due to various scandals/business disagreements Elton had both men excised from his life/career. Thankfully Elton and David Furnish have stayed together.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: "American Triangle", about the real-life murder of Matthew Shepard, who was beaten and left to die for being gay.
-->'Western skies' don't make it right\\
'Home of the brave' don't make no sense\\
I've seen a scarecrow wrapped in wire\\
Left to die on a high ridge fence\\
It's a cold, cold wind\\
It's a cold, cold wind\\
It's a cold wind blowing, Wyoming

* CrazyAwesome UpToEleven: His increasing flamboyant stage shows of TheSeventies. One show at the Hollywood Bowl in 1973 involved a frilly costume, a long staircase, celebrity impersonators, Linda Lovelace as MC and five differently-colored pianos on stage spelling E-L-T-O-N on their sides. They opened up with doves flying out of each one. Later on, his engineer played organ on "Crocodile Rock" while ''a live crocodile on a leash'' roamed the stage.

* {{Mondegreen}}:
** In "Tiny Dancer," the line "Hold me closer, tiny dancer" is often misheard as "Hold me closer, Creator/TonyDanza."
** In "Bennie and the Jets," many have heard the line "She's got electric boots" as "She's got electric boobs."

** The soundtrack to ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994''.

** The soundtrack to ''Disney/TheLionKing''.

** In "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters", Elton sings, "This Broadway's got/ Its got a lot of songs to sing./ If I knew the tunes I might join in." Since then, Elton has written the music to several Broadway musicals.

** The "I'm Still Standing" music video goes from {{Narm}} to a SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoment when the film ''Film/{{Rocketman}}'' recreated it to show Elton singing triumphantly and gaining his spirit back after checking out of rehab.

** His big hits tend to get the most attention for the obvious reason that Elton is a master of the EarWorm, but he has a rather large amount of albums without a bad cut on them. Thus key album cuts like "Come Down in Time", "My Father's Gun", "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters", "Sixty Years On", and "Ticking" are well worth listing here as well. The period from 1970's ''Elton John'' to at least 1975's ''Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy'' seems to have been a period where Elton was constitutionally incapable of writing a bad song, and it's worth noting how prolific he was during this period - a staggering nine [=LPs=]' worth of studio material (or about six and a half hours of music without even counting non-album tracks and outtakes, which are also often well worth the price of admission). Some fans would throw ''Rock of the Westies'' (also from 1975) and ''Blue Moves'' (1976) into this list as well, which would bring him up to 12 [=LPs=] of almost consistently brilliant material in slightly over six years. That's a staggering accomplishment.

* EarWorm: The chorus of "Levon":
-->He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas Day, when the New York Times said, "God Is Dead", and the war's begun, Alvin Tostig has a son today
** "Rocket Man", "Your Song", "Philadelphia Freedom", "Bennie and the Jets", "Crocodile Rock", "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "I'm Still Standing"...he is a master of the ear worm.
** His cover-version of the already ear worm-ish "[[Music/{{Tommy}} Pinball Wizard]]". It still is the ''only'' cover of a [[Music/TheWho Who]] song to be a Top Ten hit.

** He and Bernie Taupin mocked the trope in the ''Caribou'' cut, "Solar Prestige a Gammon". Naturally, [[SpringtimeForHitler that song was also over-analyzed]], a la "[[Music/MagicalMysteryTour I Am the Walrus]]".

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: He had a name picked out for his son, but added "Levon" to it, after his son was born on Christmas Day.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "I'm Still Standing" from 1983 is similar musically to his earlier song "All The Girls Love Alice".