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971 FM the Drive

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presents the Behind the

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Song podcast. Taking you

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deeper into classic rock's

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most timeless tunes. Here's

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your host, Janda. One of

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the great things about rock

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and roll is that there's

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room to be weird. And sometimes

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it's the odd stuff about a

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song that makes it a hit.

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That's true for Elton John's second

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number one single, Benny and the

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Jets, released in 1973 on the

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Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album. With

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lyrics by Bernie Toffen about a

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fictional animatronic all-girl band inspired by

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comic books, Fritz Lang's sci-fi classic

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metropolis, and a pinch of David

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Bowie. It became a hit that

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Elton John didn't see coming at

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all. especially for a song that

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was recorded to sound fake live

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and starts with an accidental piano

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chord. Let's get into it in

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this episode of the Behind Song

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podcast. And if you like it,

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give it a thumbs up and

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hit subscribe and let us know

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in the comments. Goodbye Yellow Brick

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Road was the second of two

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albums released by Elton John in

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1973. It came out in October,

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while the first Don't Shoot Me,

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I'm only the piano player, was

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released in January. That one yielded

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his first number one single in

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the US, crocodile rock. This practice

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of releasing multiple albums in a

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year was not that uncommon back

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then. Bowie did it, Credence Clearwater

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Revival did it, and Elton himself

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had done it in 1970 with

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his self-titled album and Tumbleweed Connection.

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When they set out to record Goodbye

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Yellow Brick Road, they thought it would

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be a single album, not the double

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that it became. Producer Gus Dudgeon

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was brought back to guide the project.

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A key Elton John collaborator throughout the

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early to mid 70s. By this point

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a trusted partner, which may explain why

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the bright idea to create Benny and

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the Jets to sound live as a

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studio recording got a pass to begin

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with. Elton Bernie. Dudgeon and the

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band first headed to Kingston, Jamaica

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to record the songs on the

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advice of the Rolling Stones, who

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had just recorded Goat's Head Soup

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there. But they found the studio

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workers on strike, the equipment gone,

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and generally weren't feeling the vibe.

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So they packed up and headed

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to France and set up once

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again at the Chateau de Haroville,

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where they had recorded a honky

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Chateau and the Don't Shoot Me

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albums. Goodbye Yellowbrick Road was recorded

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there in about two weeks and

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became a double album in the

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process in part because Elton and

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Bernie said they were continually inspired

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by the location. Built in the

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1700s near Paris with over 30

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rooms, a swimming pool, a tennis

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court, and a recording studio on

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extensive grounds. The former home of

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the composer Frederick Chopin and with

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Vincent Van Go buried nearby. What's

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not to like? The Chateau not

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only inspired Elton John and Bernie

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Toppin, but also the Grateful Dead,

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T. Rex, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac,

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David Bowie, and many others who

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spent time there and recorded there

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over the 70s and the 80s.

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So in this familiar setting, Elton

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John and the crew got to

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work. The recording of Benny and

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the Jets has a couple of

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notable distinctions. One, that live sound,

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which came about totally by accident.

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After they started recording a take,

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Elton John mistakenly hit the opening

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piano chord of the song, one

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bar before the band was ready

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to start in. Listening to it

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in playback, Dudgeen realized that it

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sounded the way a band might

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open a concert to feed the

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crowd's anticipation of the live performance.

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Kind of a here we go

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moment that happens from the stage.

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That single accidental chord made Dudgeen

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think that the whole song should

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sound like a live concert. So

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he convinced Elton John to let

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him add all the live sounds.

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Clabs, the crowd noise, all of

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it, after the fact. Coming off

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the number one album that Dudgeon

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had... just produced, everybody said okay.

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To get the live effect, Dudgeon

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mixed in sounds from a Jimmy

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Hendrix concert on the Isle of

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Wight that he had recorded in

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1970 and a performance from Elton

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John at the Royal Festival Hall

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in 1972. He threw in the

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loud whistles from a concert in

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Vancouver and the hand claps in

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the shouts were added in the

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studio. This all worked perfectly for

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a song with lyrics top and

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conjured up to be kind of

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an homage to the glam rock

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craze at the time, written from

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the perspective of a fan at

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a concert. The second thing about

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this recording that's interesting is that

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Elton John decided to stutter the

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lyrics. And it became the first

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rock song to use a stutter

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to go to number one on

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the Billboard singles chart. It beat

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out BTO's stutter famous tune, you

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ain't seen nothing yet. which also

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went to number one several months

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later. The Who's 1965 hit My

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Generation, which of course famously employs

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a stutter, only made it to number

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two. Elton John's choice to use a

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stutter worked with the idea of the

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robotic all-girl band that he was singing

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about. He and Bernie Top and have

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since said that if you picture the

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video for Robert Palmer's addicted to love,

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with the girls in the band all

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dressed the same in those tight black

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dresses, You'd have the closest idea of

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what the fictional band in Benny and

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the Jets looked like. The lyrics go

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like this. Hey kid, shake it loose

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together. The spotlight's hitting something that's

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been known to change the

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weather. We'll kill the fatted calf

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tonight, so stick around. You're

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gonna hear electric music,

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solid walls of sound. Candy and

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Ronnie, have you seen them yet?

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Oh, but they're so spaced out. Benny

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and the Jets. But they're weird

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and wonderful. And Benny, she's

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really keen. She's got electric

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boots, a mohair suit. You know,

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I read it in a magazine. Candy

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and Ronnie are the... fan narrator's friends

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at the concert, taking in the

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spectacle of Benny and the Jets

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on stage, the fatted calf in

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the spotlight in a mohair suit

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as Toppen so vividly described them.

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And these next lines give us

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an essential part of the song,

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the lines about upsetting one's parents,

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a rite of passage that will

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probably never go out of style.

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Hey kid, plug into the Faithless.

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Maybe they're blinded. Benny makes them

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ageless. We shall survive. Let us

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take ourselves along. Where we fight

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our parents out in the streets

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to find out who's right and

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who's wrong. If the song was

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an answer to the glam rock

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craze sweeping the world at the

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time, the idea that a fictional

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band like Benny and the Jets

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could provide a sort of spiritual

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home for rebellion against the status

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quo. is rooted in the response

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to the artists who were leading

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the pack in the genre at

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that time. David Bowie and Gary

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Glitter, the stars that sparkled so

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brightly for fans, just looking for

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something cool to really devour and

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make their own, at least for

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a while. Benny and the Jets

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was so odd that Elton John

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didn't think it would have a

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life as a single, until radio

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stations in Detroit started playing it.

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CKW, with a signal tower that

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actually is in Ontario, Canada that

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serves the Detroit Metro, played it

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in heavy rotation. Another station in

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Detroit, WGLB, a predominantly urban station,

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also played it, and it caught

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on with fans of soul music.

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The airplay coming out of Detroit

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caused a chain reaction with other

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radio stations in the US and

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Canada. And eventually, it went to

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number one on the Billboard Hot

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Soul Singles chart. Because of its

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success on the soul charts Elton

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John performed Benny and the Jets

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on soul train in 1975 the

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first white artist to perform on

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the show The song went gold

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in April of 1974 and since

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Since then, it has gone double

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platinum. In 2024, it was ranked

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number 371 on Rolling Stones List

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of the 500 Greatest Songs of

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All Time. Elton John performed at

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Live Aid in 85, and it

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appeared in nearly every concert set

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list throughout his touring career from

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that point on. It all goes

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to show you. Sometimes doing things

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a little differently. Like singing a

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song with a stutter or faking

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live sounds into a song recorded

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in a studio in a French

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chateau can be exactly the right things

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to do when it comes to rock

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and roll. So what other songs can

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you think of that seemed weird at

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first but turned out to be monster

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hits? Something to think about. Until next

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time. I'm Janda and this has been

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behind the song. If you like this

8:47

episode give it a like and subscribe

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to the channel. Special thanks as always

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to Christian Lane for the music you

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hear on these podcast episodes. You can

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find me on the air at 97.1

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FM the Drive in Chicago and at

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WDRV.com. And on the way, much more

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classic rock and roll.