Original handwritten lyrics of Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets"

Original handwritten lyrics of Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets"
TAUPIN, BERNIE. Autograph Manuscript Initialed ("BJT"), 3 pp, 4to, [Chateau D'Hérouville, France], January 5, 1973, written in red felt-tip marker on typing paper, very mild toning, lower right corner of page 2 creased. With "Bennie and the Jets" sheet music.
Provenance: Collection of Maxine Taupin.

"Bennie and the Jets" was the third single from the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album, one that Elton John was reluctant to release because he feared it was too strange for the airways. A bit of a satire of the rock and roll industry, the song is written in the voice of a fan of the make-believe glam rock band, Bennie and the Jets. In a Rolling Stone interview, Taupin said, "I saw Bennie and the Jets as a sort of proto-sci-fi punk band, fronted by an androgynous woman, who looks like something out of a Helmut Newton photograph." This draft includes a second stanza about Candy and Ronnee thumbing a ride to the show that did not make it into the final song.

I wish to now if you can shake it loose

Bennie and the Jets

Hey kids, shake it loose together
the spotlights hitting something
thats been nown to change the weather
and we'll kill the fatted calf tonight so everbody you should stick around
Your going to hear electric music
Solid walls of sound.

And there so wierd, Benny and the Jets
music mutations

Say Candy and Ronee have you seen them yet
Wow but there so spaced out Benny and the Jets

And there so weird and wonderful
oh Bennie she's really keen
She got electric boots and a mohair suit
I know it; I read it in a magazine

Dee da da

Candy and Ronnee both thumbed down a Cadillac
inquired if the driver could take them aways Mary
he was happy to help them but felt from there presence
there was something incredibly wrong
and inside his head he heard a voice speak

Why not try to tune in the family faithless
they'll never turn a blind eye some day
they won't be blinded

Hey kids, plug into the faithless
maybe there blinded
but Bennie can make you seem ageless
And music mutations, we shall survive
lets bring take ourselves along
play for the people under you
Where we fight our parents out in the streets
to prove whose right and whos wrong