I think you are reading way too much into the lyrics, even misquoting them in the case of Philadelphia Freedom and interpreting them based on Elton being a homosexual. “Knee high to a man” is not a phrase the Elton John or Bernie Taupin invented, I’d heard it said long before the song Philadelphia Freedom was recorded, and it is only about a homosexual sex act in your dirty mind.
Many songs are written from a female or a male POV or even some from a “gay” POV and some are obvious, although not the songs you mention, but many more song lyrics are rather ambiguous, meaning they could easily be performed or interpreted by being from a man’s or a woman’s POV, straight or homosexual. What you “hear” in the lyrics is what you want to “hear” in them or what the imagery the lyrics invokes for you and you alone, or a memory of a certain person or a place in time. And that is the great thing about most music; at least the great songs and I consider “Your Song” a great pop song of that era.
When I hear the Elton John song “Your Song” I don’t hear a “gay” anthem and even back then, long before Elton officially “came out” there were the rumors about him being “light in the loafers”, it wasn’t exactly a “secret” just like most people were not shocked about Freddy Mercury although Rob Halford of Judas Priest was a bit more of a shock to me.
But I do think back to the mid ‘70’s when Your Song was popular and as a 14 year girl, I had my first big crush on a 16 year old boy, Adam who lived up the street from me and who was our paperboy. I used to get up very early every Saturday morning, put on what make up I was allowed to wear, do my hair and dress up in my best outfit, just so I could be sure to be the one to open the door and give Adam our weekly paper bill money. When “Your Song” came on the AM radio, I imagined myself singing this song to Adam and him instantly falling in love with me forever and asking me to marry him and us living happily ever after.
But my love was in vein because Adam never seemed to notice me then or ever. He broke my heart and probably never even knew it. Oh, well, his loss : ),
“Your Song” is not even necessarily a romantic or a sexual song; it can be interpreted to be about for love of family and friends as some have done and the lyrics fit that interpretation too.
She dedicated this cover of Your Song to her family and friends, nothing sexual about it.
Christina Grimmie (Your Song by Elton John)
She dedicated this cover of the song to her little brother.
Rion Paige Sings "Your Song" - THE X FACTOR USA 2013
The lyrics to Your Song and Nikita were written by Bernie Taupin, a straight man currently married to his 4th wife, Heather Lynn Hodgins Kidd with whom he has two daughters, Charley Indiana and Georgey Devon. I guess he likes giving girls “boys” names but then again one of my best friends growing up was a girl named Michael, her nick name was Mickey and FWIW, there was nothing “butch” about her.
Nikita is a male name in Russian but it is also often used as a girl’s name in some countries, especially in France. There was a movie called, La Femme Nikita. Nikita is a popular name for girls in India FWIW.
Whether Taupin wrote the song Nikita about a male or female Russian soldier or whether when Elton sung it, what ran through his mind as to the imagery of the song, what it meant to him, the “official” video for the song is about a guy longing for a girl, a female Russian soldier across the Iron Curtain. I assume that the name Nikita sounded more Russian and more mysterious and was easier to rhyme than Ludmila or Svetlana. LOL!
Elton John - Nikita (Album Version) HD 16:9
One of my favorite songs by Elton John (and yes, I am a fan of his music especially his older stuff) is “Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters”. I like this cover by Heart which being sung by a woman, gives it a slightly different perspective.
Heart - Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters (live in Seattle, 2002)
I guess we could next have a thread dissecting the overtly “gay” lyrics of the homosexual song writer, Cole Porter?
Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) by Ella Fitzgerald
Cole Porter´s Day and Night by Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers (from the movie The GAY Divorcee)
If you looked at the lyrics to 1977's "Raw Deal" it would not have been a shock.
One of my favorite songs by Elton John (and yes, I am a fan of his music especially his older stuff) is “Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters”. I like this cover by Heart which being sung by a woman, gives it a slightly different perspective.
Heart - Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters (live in Seattle, 2002)
Thank you for this gift.
I had never heard this version of what is also one of my favorite (there are so many, Indian Sunset, Ballad of Danny Bailey, Funeral for a friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Madman Across the Water, etc.)EJ songs.
My day has been brightened to hear Ann’s beautiful voice take it for a spin.
Speaking of Ann Wilson, did you know she is the only performer who has gotten the “thumbs up” from Robert Plant, and Jimmy Page for a covered version of “Stairway to Heaven”?
I still can’t figure out who I had a bigger crush on, Ann, or Pat Benetar. Coin toss?