Elton John: “Honky Cat” (1972)
The tale of a town mouse who went into the big city and never came back.
Kronomyth 6.2: Honk if you love cats.
Rarely have five minutes passed more pleasantly than while listening to Honky Cat. The “rock” single from Honky Château (versus the ballad, “Rocket Man”), it has a contagious groove between the piano, guitars, horns and lyrics that’s irresistible. It’s all so delicious that DJM didn’t dare trim a second of it when offering it up to the radio jocks. For the flip side, there were two different paths to follow, with the UK and Portugal receiving two tracks on the flip side, Lady Samantha and It’s Me That You Need. Both tracks are from Elton John‘s first album, Empty Sky, and were released as singles, making the 7-inch extended single something of a threefer. In the US, Slave was selected as the B side. Taupin’s ongoing fascination with American history is in full force here as he imagines a slave rising up against “the colonel,” a theme he visited earlier on “Burn Down the Mission.” I wonder if these songs will still make sense to future generations after they rewrite the history books.
Original 7-inch single version
A1. Honky Cat (Elton John/Bernie Taupin) (5:12)
B1. Slave (Elton John/Bernie Taupin) (4:20)
Original 7-inch EP single version
A1. Honky Cat (Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
B1. Lady Samantha (Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
B2. It’s Me That You Need (Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
The Players
A1 production and brass arrangement by Gus Dudgeon.
The Plastic
Released on 7-inch single on July 31, 1972 in the US (Uni, 55343), the Netherlands (DJM, 6102 315) and Portugal (DJM, 8E 006 93 860 F) and on 7-inch EP single on August 25, 1972 in the UK (DJM, DJS.269) with regional picture sleeve. Reached #31 on the UK charts and #8 on the US charts.
- Re-issued on 7-inch single in the US (MCA, MCA-60166) [tan label].
- Re-released on 7-inch single in the US (MCA, MCA-60166) [rainbow label].
