Top of the Charts

It took only ten weeks to finish all ten songs for the new album, Honky Chateau, named for the chateau in which the songs were recorded. One of the songs stood out more than the others, even while it was being recorded. The song was “Rocket Man.”

The song's concept was not a completely original idea—David Bowie's 1969 “Space-Oddity” had also been about a lonely astronaut. Regardless, the song still contained that unexplainable “thing” that makes a fantastic piece of music. In fact, when released in 1972, the song was the single Elton had been hoping for in the U.K. It quickly went to number two in Britain and number six in America. Amazingly, the song also sparked a second burst of Elton John mania all over the world.

“Rocket Man” also helped Honky Chateau do exceptionally well on the charts. Though the rest of the songs had more of a country-western feel, the album made it to number two on every single British chart and number one on every American one. It also went platinum in 1995, because it had sold a million copies. Honky Chateau was the first of Elton's seven consecutive number-one albums.