Someone Saved My Life Tonight
| "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "House of Cards" |
"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is an Elton John song from his album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. It is written in the key of A flat, though after having vocal cord surgery in 1987 that resulted in the loss of his falsetto range, John began performing the song in the key of F. It concludes side one in the album’s telling of the history of John’s and lyricist Bernie Taupin’s struggles to find careers within the music industry. When released as the album's only single in 1975, it reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and entered the top 25 on the UK Singles Chart.
Taupin’s lyric refers to a time in 1969, before John was a popular musician, when John was considering marriage to his girlfriend, Linda Woodrow. John and Woodrow were sharing a flat with Taupin on Furlong Road in the East End of London, hence the opening line "When I think of those East End lights." While having serious doubts about the looming marriage, John contemplated suicide. 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. As a sign of his respect and gratitude for Baldry, Taupin wrote him into the song as the "someone" in the title,[1] and as the "Sugar Bear" mentioned in the lyrics.
In an October 2005 installment of Inside the Actor's Studio, John demonstrated how the song's piano-based introduction and structure was emotionally strengthened by adding an unusual root bass note to the left-hand chords. The final bars of the song are echoed in the chorus of Billy Joel’s "My Life".
Walter Jackson recorded a version of the song for his 1976 album Feeling Good.
Kanye West sampled the song for "Good Morning", a song on his his 2007 album Graduation.