Your Song, Rocketman and me

I remember vividly the day Elton John came to my little town.  It was like a breath of life from another planet.   For, let's face it, in Market Rasen, it was akin to a hundred big events in one, but with unprecedented glitter.  Indeed, in the 19th century, Charles Dickens said that you could fire a cannon down the main street at 10 pm on a Saturday evening and you wouldn't hit anyone.   Not much has changed, even now.   Sadly Elton didn't stop to say hello to the little kid I was.  He still left an impact though, just as his songs were an integral part of the soundtrack of my youth.  For Elton was in Rasen for a wedding of Bernie Taupin, his close friend and lyricist.  Bernie was, in part, 'one of us' - born a Lincolnshire 'yella belly', spending part of his own upbringing locally, and attending Market Rasen Secondary Modern School. Some of Bernie's lyrics reflect this, including the song 'Saturday NIght's Alright for Fighting' (partly an anthem to the experience of the Aston Arms and other places of Market Rasen  'entertainment').  Linking up with Elton was Bernie's way out, and maybe, somewhere in my consciousness, their story was a promise of an alternative pathway for myself and my childhood friends.   Was stepping on 'the Yellow Brick Road' possible for us too?   The concluding tour of Elton's career, and the release of the film Rocketman brings this back.  There's much I owe to this influence - particularly in learning, so slowly and painfully, to sing 'Your Song' as my own song...

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