When I saw the theme this week, so many songs came to mind, but so many of them were ones I thought others might choose, so I went to lyrics.com and put all three search terms in. There were a plethora of new tunes I came across that were good as I built a list of possibilities. When I saw this one, I knew it was the one. I loved listening to it again as it had deep impact on me during the days of its radio play. Elton John was one I could count on to get me in the feels. I remember when his, “Candle in the Wind” played to Marilyn Monroe, and then later, when John Lennon was murdered. The song I chose today had significance for the teenager me as I struggled through horrifically dysfunctional family, school, and street lives. I wonder how many teenagers clung to it back then?
As I learned more about how the song came about, the brilliance of how Bernie shaped it into sacred poetry astounds me. How Elton fashioned his piano around the words is as astounding. Listening to it again today, it is startling in its power and its sincerity. I need to quit now as tears are blurring my vision.
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight” is a song with music by British musician Elton John and lyrics by Bernie Taupin, from John’s 1975 album, “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.” It was released as a single on June 20, 1975, the only single released from the album. Like the rest of the album, the song is autobiographical, and addresses an attempted suicide by John. The song concludes side one of the album’s narrative, chronicling the early history of John and Bernie Taupin and their struggles to find their place within the music industry.
Mike DeGagne from Allmusic said it was, “the only song from the album to make the charts [as it was the only single released from it.] The single only made it to the twenty-two spot in his homeland, but the album itself made it to number two. In the US it became the first album to make its debut at number one, resting there for seven consecutive weeks. Even though John made his mark with earlier ballads like ‘Levon,‘‘Rocket Man,‘ and ‘Daniel,‘ it was the overall desperation of ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight‘ that struck a chord with his fans, and a blatant cry for help from John himself.“
At six minutes and forty-five seconds, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” was twice as long as a typical single, but owing to the highly personal nature of the lyrics, John refused to let it be edited down to a more suitable length for radio airplay. Despite the length, the song peaked on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. four and in Canada on the RPM Top Singles chart at No. two. It would be John’s last single for eight years to feature the original Elton John Band.
Taupin’s lyric refers to a time in 1968, before John was popular as a musician, when John was engaged to be married to girlfriend Linda Woodrow. John and Woodrow were sharing a flat with Taupin in Furlong Road in Highbury, London, hence the opening line ‘When I think of those East End lights.’ John did not love his girlfriend, and felt trapped by the relationship. Feeling desperate, John contemplated suicide, and even made a half-hearted attempt at asphyxiating himself with a gas oven in his home. He took refuge in his friends, especially Long John Baldry, who convinced John to abandon his plans to marry, in order to salvage and maintain his musical career. His parents arrived the next day, in a van, to take him home. As a sign of respect and gratitude to Baldry, Taupin wrote him into the song as the “someone” in the title, and also as, ‘Sugar Bear.’
The lyric “And butterflies are free to fly” is a reference to a famous quote from Dickens’ Bleak House:
I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies.
The song has been covered by:
Walter Jackson
Mumford & Sons
Men’s Gay Choir in the film, Hamlet 2
Personnel:
Elton John – acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes piano, ARP String Ensemble synthesizer, vocals
Davey Johnston — Leslied electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Dee Murray — bass, backing vocals
Nigel Olsson — drums, backing vocals
Ray Cooper — tambourine, shaker, cymbal
Here’s a re-mastered version from 2016:
Here’s a lovely live performance at the Playhouse Theater, London 1976 :
BONUS
Sugar Bear
In my search for more info on the song, I came across a very interesting article about “Sugar Bear,” aka Long John Baldry, in Three Dollar Bill, a journal that is described as being written “by award-winning journalist Richard “Bugs” Burnett [and] is the only syndicated LGBTQ column in Canadian publishing history.” Dated July 20, 2012, it is a re-post of an original first published in 2007.
“SUGAR BEAR” – ROD AND ELTON REMEMBER MENTOR,
GAY BLUES ICON LONG JOHN BALDRY
In the article, a book is mentioned, _It Ain’t Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of British Blues_, written by Paul Myers [brother of Mike Myers.] In it they talk about Baldry’s support and/or mentorship of a lot of very well-known names:
Baldry was the man who brought Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon to Britain. He earned the respect of John Lee Hooker and B.B. King. And even John Mayall admits that, before The Bluesbreakers, Baldry was already the father of the British blues. Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts all flourished under Baldry’s tutelage, and he was a hero to Pete Townshend of The Who and Ray and Dave Davies (with whom Baldry also made out) of The Kinks.
Further in the article, the song is mentioned specifically:
When Elton – then named Reginald Dwight – left Baldry’s band in May 1968, he renamed himself after Baldry’s saxophonist Elton Dean, and got “John” after Long John himself. When Elton tried to commit suicide in 1968 because he was supposed to marry a woman he did not love, Baldry told him it was okay to be gay, a moment immortalized in Elton’s 1975 hit Someone Saved My Life Tonight. The lyrics “Sugar Bear” refer to Baldry.
“That song is about John Baldry at the Bag O’ Nails [nightclub] saying, ‘You’ve got to call the wedding off,’” Elton recounts in Myers’ book. “Without that it could have been an entirely different story. He really did change the course of my life, bless his heart.”
One of the best known Long John Baldry songs in the US, as I know it got radio play here:
Sources:
wikipedia
Allmusic
Three Dollar Bill
Jim Adams is the host of Song Lyric Sunday. This week, Jim wants us to find a song that mentions candy, honey, sugar or sweet.
Tao-Talk 
This is such a wonderful song and your write up is a beautiful tribute. Thanks for sharing the story regarding the advice Baltry gave to John when facing an unwanted marriage. So well done, Lisa.
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Nancy, it all fell together into an important narrative. I think many have forgotten just how many iconic tunes this duo wrote, and the idea it could have been lost by fear… Thanks much for your kind comment. Happy to share their story.
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Very welcome, Lisa.
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Love Elton and love this album. I liked him before I really understood that I liked music a whole lot. He’s always been there for me. And my local big town has a giant mural of him because he owns the football club.
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Steve, happy to hear this info. As the AM radio was on wherever I went as a teenager, he seemed to be a bodhisattva of sorts in helping with those hormone-engined feels that needed to be navigated. I love him. How need to feel his presence in a mural as you go about your day. Are you a football fan?
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I’m not. I’m totally agnostic about football but I do see what he did for Watford as a good thing.
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This is a fantastic song, but after reading your write up and in-depth background on the song, I appreciate it even more. Great job.
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Fandango, thank you <3 As the pieces of the narrative presented themselves, I felt compelled to share it.
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Wonderful choices Lisa I have always loved this track by Elton John but wasn’t aware of the backstory to it which makes me appreciate it even more now. And I loved your bonus track Long John Baldry had a fabulous deep voice made for the blues and rock I wasn’t aware of how influential he had been – I am only really familiar with his hit – ‘ Let the Heartaches Begin’ so I really enjoyed this track made me smile – great post 🩷
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Ange, thanks so much. Happy to share the narrative. Of course I had to go out and find that song. Just want to make a note about the guy who introduces the song. He looks like a hairy teletubby! lmao. Now Long John Baldry however looks so dashing and debonair and yes, love his voice.
Hope you are enjoying your Sunday, Ange!
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The guy doing the introduction is Dave Lee Travis, a DJ here, who was later convicted of indecent assault!
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:(
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Thanks Lisa good to hear that again – the DJ introducing him is Dave Lee Travis –
As I recall he was nicknamed The Hairy Monster he was on Radio 1 and Top of the Pops – although I never liked him – and about 10 years ago he was convicted of indecent assault but only got a suspended sentence !
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Having that Hairy Monster sexually assault someone would be being doubly traumatized. Too often perps aren’t held accountable. Since each perp often has multiple victims, the trauma in society is compounded exponentially.
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Exactly!
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A great choice and write up, and the inclusion of Long John Baldry was very welcome. As Ange has said, he had a big hit here – a #1 – which is all most people know of him.
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Thanks much, Clive. There is a live version of the Baldry song where he goes into much more description before getting into the song and it has a kickass piano player on it. OK I’m just going to find it and link it here:
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Thank you for sharing that – it’s a great performance.
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You’re welcome and totally agree. Adding it to TMBL (time machine bucket list.)
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This Elton John song takes me back- the first of three friends I had that died in jr/high school died when this song was at its peak Susan Schneider. RIP
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V, I can totally connect with the memoir and will leave it at that. RIP for your friends <3
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I hung on every word of your write up. Such care & consideration in how you present this Li. You have a gift. This is indeed the epitome of sweet tenderness. 🎶 Sugar Bear …🎶
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J, your comment warms my heart. I am humbled <3
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Nice selections, Lisa. Elton John was feeling hopeless about his future and stalled music career, so he attempted suicide by putting his head in a gas oven, though the attempt failed because a window was left open.
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Thanks, Jim. I think it was a cry for help more than anything. If he hadn’t walked out and had stayed with a person he didn’t love, there is no telling what would have happened. I think Sugar Bear was an angel in disguise at that moment.
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Always love Elton! Great choice, Lisa 🤎
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Paula, he is one of the best. Thanks <3
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It’s a pretty complicated piano figure for a monster hit, one of my favourite Elton songs.
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Graham, I would love to be able to play piano so well and so effortlessly. It’s also one of my favorites, but I have so many Elton/Taupin favorites!
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Well, here is a song I’d never heard from Elton John. I like lots of his songs though. Interesting information about his life that I didn’t know. I like the song, and am glad he was able to continue his music career. :)
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Barbara, happy to introduce you to this one and the story around it. Glad you like it :)
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Wonderful song! Elton couldn’t do a thing wrong in this period. He was dominating like very few have before. He was everywhere back then. I was watching “One Day At A Time” the other day with Valerie Bertinelli and she did an Elton John skit on there… he transcended music during the mid to early seventies.
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Wonderful comment, Max.
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Lisa, to be sure John and Taupin were/are an all-time team. Their music dominated during the 70s, and it seemed Elton always had a new song on the radio as Max pointed out. The backstory on this particular song is fascinating!
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Agreed on all, Bruce. I never even thought about someone being a real person. BTW the song is now stuck in my head!
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The research you’ve done here, threading Elton’s crisis directly to Baldry’s intervention, then connecting that moment to the music itself, shows why this song resonates beyond melody. Bernie Taupin immortalizing Baldry as “Sugar Bear” was an act of gratitude disguised as poetry. And the fact that Elton refused to shorten it despite its unusual length says everything: some truths demand their full weight. A reminder that mentorship can literally save lives.
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<3 <3 <3
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