Better Off Dead
| Better Off Dead | |
|---|---|
| Elton John | |
| publication | May 19, 1975 only album, not single |
| length | 2:37 |
| Genre (s) | pop |
| text | Bernie Taupin |
| music | Elton John |
| album | Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy |
Better Off Dead is a song by the British singer and composer Elton John ; the lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin .
The album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy was realized as a concept album and takes up in chronological order as well as with autobiographical intention John and Taupin's life in London from 1967 to 1970. "Better Off Dead" is the seventh of ten songs. The conceptual plot continues with the title Writing .
background
It's not going well with songwriting for John and Taupin. When Taupin has finished the lyrics for a song, John composes the melody in a few hours. Then they record a demo tape and have to convince their publisher Dick James that this song is worth putting on a record. Even if Dick James doesn't think the time has come for it, they earn some money this way.
When they went to a burger bar late in the evening after several demo recordings to eat something, they saw many people who were apparently even worse off than themselves ("As the whores and the drunks filed in from the street" - "The whores and the drunks come in one after the other from the street"). Through the smeared bar window they watch police officers who take a few arrested figures with them to the police station ("We watched the arrested get taken away") and graffiti can be seen on a fence ("There was a face on the hoarding that someone had." drown on "). Nevertheless, they still find this scene stimulating (“If you ask how I am then I'll say inspired”), but they would rather be dead than live like these people.
occupation
- Elton John - vocals, piano
- Davey Johnstone - guitar, backing vocals
- Dee Murray - bass guitar, backing vocals
- Nigel Olsson - drums, backing vocals
- Ray Cooper - triangle
production
- Gus Dudgeon - producer
Individual evidence
- ↑ Better Off Dead at Songfacts.com, accessed August 24, 2019.