Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a ballad preformed by Elton John and written by Bernie Taupin. This song expresses how Elton no longer felt held back and required to be a huge face of the fame he was earning while also stating his desires to go back to the simpler times in his life while still at the peak of his fame. Taupin had said “There was a period when I was going through that whole ‘got to get back to my roots’ thing, which spawned a lot of like-minded songs in the early days, this being one of them. I don’t believe I was ever turning my back on success or saying I didn’t want it. I just don’t believe I was ever that naive. I think I was just hoping that maybe there was a happy medium way to exist successfully in a more tranquil setting” proving that it was not only John that had felt that way. This song has so much artist merit because they were in ,what they believed to be, the prime or peak of their fame and without a doubt this will forever be one of Elton’s largest known songs. In lyrics such as “you can’t plant me in your penthouse, I’m going back to my plough” and “I’ve finally decided my future lies beyond the yellow brick road” it shows that Elton and Bernie had no longer felt held back by the fame but since they no longer felt held back they just wanted to finally go back to simpler and easier times to feel fulfilled after tasting what such a high is like. However other lyrics such as “what do you think you’ll do then? I bet they’ll shoot down the plane” shows that now that Elton had finally felt free and saw the opportunity to leave the fame, he saw the vision of what he had wanted being destroyed by people such as the press (media) or managers or their studio. One reason why I value this song is because it really shows how just by looking at someone or without truly talking and listening to someone you can’t really know what’s going on with them or what’s happening in their life. Elton and Bernie seemed to be at the peaks of their lives, basking in the glow of fame when in reality all they truly wanted was to go back to when life was simpler and easier, back when they could really live and breathe how they wanted and not constantly conforming themselves to what others want from them.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/genius.com/amp/Elton-john-goodbye-yellow-brick-road-lyrics
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Yellow_Brick_Road_(song)