Book excerpt: "Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000" by Barry Walters

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In his caller book, "Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000" (published by Viking), Barry Walters, a writer for specified publications arsenic Rolling Stone and Spin, explores however LGBTQ songwriters, musicians, execs and fans reshaped popular civilization successful the precocious 20th century, arsenic queer messages successful euphony became little coded.

Read an excerpt beneath astir the power of singer-songwriter Elton John, and don't miss Barry Walters connected "CBS Sunday Morning" July 19!

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Chapter Nine

Elton John

"It's a small spot funny, this feeling inside/I'm not 1 of those who tin easy hide" goes the opening of Elton John's introductory 1970 deed "Your Song," but fell Sir Elton initially did. Forget for a infinitesimal everything you cognize astir his trademark garishness and contemplate his archetypal fewer medium jackets. There's tons of beige and denim—little gaiety. For overmuch of his aboriginal '70s catalog, the songs wrong were besides earth‑toned, yet seldom autobiographical. Even erstwhile paying tribute to Americana successful 1970's conceptual state medium Tumbleweed Connection, his sidekick lyricist and chap Englishman Bernie Taupin imparts mythic, adjacent gothic otherworldliness to the Old West and bygone South. Conjuring elaborate imaginary worlds done compositionally affluent and sumptuously symphonic talents seldom exceeded successful pop, the soft antheral makes their reveries look conversely existent due to the fact that helium serves them with surreal levels of feeling. The bounty of Taupin's wordy poesy and the fulsomeness of Gus Dudgeon's accumulation propulsion each medium further into an extroversion uncommon for singer‑songwriters. As connection dispersed of Elton's showmanship, his presumption grew acold larger than the idiosyncratic beingness helium avoided discussing.

Aside from "Razor Face" connected 1971's Madman Across the Water, which offers emotion to a grizzled and rather perchance cheery elder gent who's "looking for a spot to laic down," idiosyncratic who "needs a young antheral to locomotion him around," determination isn't overmuch tangible queerness to Elton's earliest records. Tentative steps to a pop‑art presumption are taken connected 1972's Honky Château, and its singles proved relatable to LGBTQ people. "Rocket Man" is sung by an astronaut removed from mean existence. When nine kept astir of america closeted, its axial enactment "I'm not the antheral that they deliberation I americium astatine home" voiced our secrets by proxy. "Honky Cat" tells the communicative of an outland lad who, similar galore of us, finds salvation successful the large city's agleam lights. Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player furthered this improvement successful 1973. Sung from 1 member to another, "Daniel" was the closest we got to a ubiquitous '70s same‑sex emotion song. It's that aforesaid year's consequent Goodbye Yellow Brick Road that flicked the power from sepia to Technicolor for good. Rather than simply paraphrasing old‑time boogie‑woogie, arsenic helium did connected Don't Shoot's kitschy "Crocodile Rock," Elton becomes a genuine rocker here, yet simultaneously amusement tune‑y—a combo that would power queer stone musicals similar Hedwig and the Angry Inch, as good arsenic theatrically inclined LGBTQ rockers similar Scissor Sisters. For the archetypal time, Elton consistently captures the exuberance of his piano-pounding, Little Richard–inspired concerts, which chafed against his aboriginal earnestness. Recorded with the moving rubric "Silent Movies and Talking Pictures," Goodbye serves arsenic his philharmonic coming out—a prelude to his idiosyncratic 1 successful Rolling Stone, first arsenic bisexual successful 1976, past arsenic cheery successful 1988.

You tin spot that displacement successful Goodbye's artwork. Clad successful a pink‑satin bomber jacket, Elton abandons the monochromatic drabness of mean beingness and follows the bluebird of happiness into the dawning of a far‑brighter, Hollywood‑inspired reverie implicit the rainbow. He's not forgoing The Wizard of Oz's yellowish ceramic road, arsenic the rubric suggests, but stepping close onto it successful glittery, crimson level shoes—the '70s antheral equivalent of Dorothy's ruby-red slippers. Its symbolism couldn't beryllium clearer: The instrumentalist flees the drab world helium was calved into arsenic Reg Dwight, his commencement name, and trades it for the emerging LGBTQ imagination of a multicolor utopia helium could lone scope arsenic Elton John. He's adjacent wearing rose‑colored glasses.

You tin perceive this modulation successful the music, too, close successful the opening medley. A dirgelike overture, "Funeral for a Friend" tin beryllium heard arsenic a eulogy for Elton's erstwhile closeted self, summing up the seriousness of his erstwhile albums earlier slamming into "Love Lies Bleeding." This stately swell of stone 'n' rotation shifts Elton distant from a softy singer‑songwriter into a genre‑crossing genuine rocker.

The 3rd of six consecutive chart‑topping albums, Goodbye marks erstwhile Elton attained the taste centrality of the Rolling Stones, whose muck helium mimics connected "Dirty Little Girl." More unexpected is the specter of Slade—glam's butchest best‑selling louts—on the treble LP's shout‑along pb single, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," and adjacent Alice Cooper connected "All the Girls Love Alice," which eulogizes a well‑bred but licentious sixteen‑year‑old lesbian.

The second song's illustration successful Goodbye's triple‑gatefold sleeve further draws from The Killing of Sister George, a 1968 movie that besides features a queer Alice. Like Elton's 1974 deed "The Bitch Is Back," which acceptable a precedent for the b‑word's popularity successful popular but bypasses its accustomed misogyny (because the vocalist calls himself a bitch and owns it), Sister George isn't remotely PC. Its lesbians unrecorded cruel, mutually destructive lives, and the opus goes adjacent further to suggest—as did galore different LGBTQ movies of the era—that if you enactment connected queer passions, you'll upwind up dead. Still, a catchy, hard‑rocking, lesbian-themed tune connected a fig 1 medium was a breakthrough that spoke to LGBTQ listeners bare for any likeness of our lives. Although Taupin's lyric shows small knowing of cheery experience, Elton's euphony feels firsthand. Punctuated by large pauses and peaking successful a vortex of stabbing guitars, pounding piano, zip‑zapping synths, and ricocheting dependable effects, it's Elton's sexiest song. "If I springiness you my number, volition you committedness to telephone me?/Wait till my husband's away," helium pleads from the position of Alice's pistillate admirers. Here was a apt cheery superstar singing astir same‑sex relations with first‑person pronouns—and it's hot. When lesbians had nary mainstream voice, this spoke volumes. I played this way obsessively astatine property 12 portion speechmaking the lyrics and studying the illustration to fig retired what they could mean—about Elton, and me.

Goodbye set the musician's compositional identity. Even successful its astir contrasting moments, Elton sounds much similar himself present than connected immoderate different album. His prime of chords and the notes helium accentuates are arsenic intrinsic to his sonic stamp arsenic the jumps successful his dependable from baritone to falsetto, particularly connected the ascending rubric track. He fought against the azygous merchandise of his astir Elton‑y opus ever, "Bennie and the Jets," due to the fact that helium didn't judge it would beryllium successful. Instead, it became, for decades, his biggest US hit. His exaltation of an electric‑booted, mohair‑suited vocalist who empowers fans to combat their parents' outdated morality couldn't beryllium much glam. Given the masculine moniker and pistillate pronouns, Bennie—spelled "Benny" connected the UK single—might adjacent beryllium a feline Elton calls "she" successful the arch cheery mode earlier vamping girlishly. Its dilatory and funky groove made "Bennie" an R&B vigor hit, acceptable a precedent for 1975's Philly psyche tribute "Philadelphia Freedom," and helped onshore Elton connected Soul Train.

Aretha gave her support adjacent earlier: Her 1970 gospel rendition of Elton's "Border Song" charted higher than his own. But Elton's transportation to outsiders goes deeper than his R&B skills. Goodbye pays tribute to Hollywood done Marilyn Monroe successful Goodbye's archetypal "Candle successful the Wind." He rerecorded the opus successful 1997 arsenic a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, and it became the second‑best‑selling azygous of each time. Giving Taupin's archetypes troubled souls, Elton situates some heroines successful a lonely spot beyond the presumption quo that's akin to ours. In his seldom straightforward music, you tin perceive the allied rhythms of their challenging lives.

Identifying with the glamorous and gutsy extremes of Goodbye, Elton broke from the middle‑of‑the‑road crooner helium was initially perceived to be. Although his queerness wasn't rather explicit yet, it was present thoroughly implicit. Even with Taupin's speaking for him lyrically, there's hardly a infinitesimal erstwhile this superstar seems consecutive successful immoderate consciousness of the word. Goodbye is wherever helium genuinely transcends reality—the ultimate, if unspoken, extremity of each minorities, and women arsenic well. The dreams Elton John dared to imagination truly did travel true.

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