Elton John might be best known for his seventh album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” which came out in 1973. The record sold millions of copies and launched John into superstar status. Donning a cheesecake hat, big feather shoulder pads, and a white metallic suit, he debuted some of those songs during his first Hollywood Bowl performance that year.
The album, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, is where John expressed his then-hidden gay identity on many of the songs, according to Louis Niebur, a professor of musicology at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Starting with its illustrated cover, Niebur says the album is “epic in every way.” It shows the singer wearing rhinestone platform shoes and walking onto the Yellow Brick Road from a random street.
Niebur says John tapped into the ethos of glam rock — an escape from the dull reality of everyday life, especially for men.
“Can you imagine what this was like for men, particularly straight men, who had to conform every day of their lives? And then all of a sudden, this guy comes along, with David Bowie and Marc Bolan, and says, ‘You don't have to just wear a boring suit. You can wear platform shoes if you want. You can put glitter on your face. You can explore Oz just like Dorothy had.”
With this imagery, John offered straight men an alternative from the usual macho version of masculinity. Niebur points out that John embraced a different look, unlike other gay men at the time who were sporting short hair, mustaches, white t-shirts, and jeans.
John’s longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics to the album’s title track, and Niebur says while the melodies are beautiful and the orchestration is rich, the song’s message is dark.
“Gay people in general have always learned to read between the lines, especially in the early 70s. … Almost immediately, queer people heard this song and thought, ‘Is this song about … some kind of male prostitute who's being kept by a sugar daddy?’ … A lot of people just heard the song as maybe wanting to go back home or returning home. But to me … the line where he says something about ‘you can always find another one, there's plenty of other boys out there looking for someone to take care of them, essentially.’ I mean that's pretty dark.”
He adds, “The wonderful thing about Elton John is that the gayest lyrics come from the straightest man — Bernie Taupin. … The referencing of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ to begin with, its famous ‘come out, come out wherever you are’ lyrics, by 1973, definitely had significance. Elton John gave Taupin the freedom to explore these different kinds of things.”
Niebur points to another song of John’s, “Candle in Wind,” as also containing queer iconography. “You don't reference Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe on the same record without intending for those kinds of things to be noticed. … When I hear it, I hear him being a little gay boy, thinking about Marilyn Monroe in ‘Some Like It Hot’ or ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ and just loving the glamor of her personality.”
A central theme throughout the album is nostalgia and songs that are moving and emotional, Niebur points out.
“It all just adds to the kitchen sink mood of the whole album, and yet, to me, it's the quintessential glam rock album. It has big orchestration. It can then go down into quiet little moments of intimacy. … He does make that overt reference to Marilyn Monroe, where he says that line about, ‘I would have liked to have known you, but I was just a kid.’ So he's already remembering back to a figure who's gone.”