"Bennie and the Jets" is a song composed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. The song is written in the key of G major and first appeared on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Roadalbum in 1973. "Bennie and the Jets" has been one of John's most popular songs.

The song tells of "Bennie and the Jets", a fictional band of whom Elton John is a supposed fan. In interviews, Taupin has said that the song's lyrics are a satire on the music industry of the 1970s. The greed and glitz of the early '70s music scene is portrayed by Taupin's words:

Taupin also goes on to describe the flashy wardrobe of "Bennie", the leader of the band:

Elton John was set against releasing "Bennie and the Jets" on side one of the Goodbye Yellow Brick Roadalbum, and was against releasing it as a single, believing it would fail. The song peaked at number one on the singles charts in 1974." Bennie and the Jets" was also John's first Top 40 hit on the R&B charts.

Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses has stated that he was listening to "Bennie and the Jets" and that inspired him to become a singer.

The song was recorded in France at Château d'Hérouville's Strawberry Studios, where John and Taupin had recorded their previous two albums, Honky Chateauand Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player.

After recording the song in the studio, John and the band worried that it was too plain and unoriginal. According to guitarist Davey Johnstone, "'Bennie and the Jets' was one of the oddest songs we ever recorded. We just sat back and said, 'This is really odd'." Gus Dudgeon, who produced Goodbye Yellow Brick Roadas well as most of John's albums up to that point, added the "live from Playhouse Theatre" sound to the track. Dudgeon added applause and audience sounds from John's previous concerts, plus whistles.

While John rarely plays the same song the same way, and often makes subtle or even drastic changes, 'Bennie' is a slight exception. During live renditions, the solo in the middle of the song is played exactly the same way live as it was recorded. An exception to this can be heard on the 1976 live release, "Here and There", where John significantly changes the solo in the bridge. The ending is almost always improvised in a variety of styles (and, at times, for a number of minutes) including classical, swing and, perhaps most notably, boogie-woogie.

Discography