IF YOU NEED ME, I’ll be going back to the howling old owl in the wood, hunting the horny back toad.

It was late 1972. We had been married just a few months. We saved every coin we could find and somehow managed to buy two tickets to see Elton John at the Civic Assembly Center in Tulsa. I would like to think I remember him playing “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” there but it wasn’t released until almost a year later.

Anyway, this post is not really about that concert, or the set list. It has more to do with the song’s lyrics written by Bernie Taupin. I’ve pondered these words many times over the years. I think it’s about lost innocence or maybe something even uglier and more sinister. I know this: I was rooting for that young mongrel. Cheering for his escape, for his enlightenment, for a flood of grace for him, hoping he would find that toad.

[if you’re wondering about the lyrics, I’ve included them below.]

Have I ever been able to relate to the song; like, did it ever resonate with my soul? Not so much. Until lately. When it comes to this genre of music/lyrics/poetry of soul-searching, the one that I probably felt most close to was the U2 song with these lyrics:

I believe in the Kingdom come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes, I'm still running
You broke the bonds and you loosened chains
carried the cross of my shame,
of my shame
You know I believe it

But I still haven't found What I'm looking for
But I still haven't found What I'm looking for

Until lately, I don’t know that I’ve ever felt “the victim”. And it would be a mockery of the idea for me to even suggest that now I do. I don’t. Now though, there is something about Bernie’s words that have struck a strange chord with me—a courage or maybe just an escapism that sounds really appealing.

Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny back toad
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road

What’s beyond the yellow brick road? I don’t know. What is the yellow brick road? Is this the same yellow brick road that Dorothy and her three friends wandered down only to get to the end and find out that already had what they were looking for?

I’m still not sure what I’m looking for: home, courage, a heart, a brain? I know this for sure, I’ve finally decided my future lies beyond 2020 with its politics, hatred, pandemic and all. Maybe:

I should have stayed on the farm
I should have listened to my old man

Thanks Elton John for the great music. Thank you Bernie for these haunting lyrics. MOST OF ALL, thank you Sara Bareilles for the amazing interpretation of the song.

PLEASE PUT ON A GOOD SET OF HEADPHONES, THEN CLICK THIS LINK AND LISTEN TO SARA.

GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD
Music by Elton John. Lyrics by Bernie Taupin.

When are you gonna come down?
When are you going to land?
I should have stayed on the farm
I should have listened to my old man

You know you can't hold me forever
I didn't sign up with you
I'm not a present for your friends to open
This boy's too young to be singing, the blues

So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough
Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny back toad
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road

What do you think you'll do then?
I bet that'll shoot down your plane
It'll take you a couple of vodka and tonics
To set you on your feet again

Maybe you'll get a replacement
There's plenty like me to be found
Mongrels who ain't got a penny
Sniffing for tidbits like you on the ground

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THE HORNY BACK TOAD

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