Song Lyric Sunday | “Crocodile Rock” – Elton John

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Song Lyric Sunday was created by Helen Vahdati from This Thing Called Life One Word at a Time and author Jim Adams from A Unique Title For Me is our current guest host. For complete rules or to join in the fun, click here.

This week’s theme is  “Animal.”

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Likely inspired by the song Daddy Cool’s Eagle Rock and Neil Sedaka’s Oh! Carol, Elton John’s  Crocodile Rock comments on rock’s evolution over time using metaphors. The lyrics take a nostalgic look at early rock ‘n’ roll, dating and youthful independence of that era.

Elton John actually described this song as “disposable pop,” stating that he didn’t want people to remember him by this song, but rather one with a message to convey. Further, he said in an interview with Rolling Stone:

I wouldn’t like in 15 years’ time to still be playing Crocodile Rock.

But Crocodile Rock became a smash hit and became Elton John’s first U.S. number-one single, reaching the top spot on 3 February 1973, and stayed there for three weeks. In the U.S., it was certified Gold on 5 February 1973 and Platinum on 13 September 1995 by the RIAA.

In 2013, forty years after the success of Crocodile Rock, John had another interview with Rolling Stone Magazine:

“Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player was my first U.K. Number One album. It had Daniel, which was pure pop, but there were also songs like Elderberry Wine and Teacher I Need You. And of course it spawned Crocodile Rock, which was the song that probably changed the critics’ opinion of me. It was a really blatant homage to Speedy Gonzales and all the great Fifties and Sixties records that we used to love, like Danny and the Juniors’ At the Hop. My career wasn’t about Crocodile Rock – it was just a one-off thing – but it became a huge hit record, and in the long run, it became a negative for me, because people said, ‘Oh, fucking Crocodile Rock.’ I’d never started off as a hit writer, and I didn’t know what a hit was, and it’s evidenced on my first four albums. Rolling Stone reviewed it and gave it two stars, and I said, ‘Oh, fuck off.’ It was a great fucking pop record. Shut the fuck up.”

 

FUN FACTS:

  • The song was inspired by John’s discovery of leading Australian band Daddy Cool and their hit single Eagle Rock, which was the most successful Australian single of the early 1970s
  • In a 1974 lawsuit filed in the US District Court of Los Angeles by attorney Donald Barnett on behalf of Speedy Gonzales composer Buddy Kaye, it was alleged that defendants Elton John and Bernie Taupin illegally incorporated chords from Speedy Gonzales which produced a falsetto tone into the Crocodile song co-written by defendants. The parties reached a settlement between them and the case was then dismissed.
  • Bernie Taupin also stated in an interview with a magazine that Crocodile Rock was a funny song in that he didn’t mind creating it, but it wouldn’t be something he’d listen to; it was simply something fun at the time.
  • Elton John has dismissed criticism of the song that it was “derivative”, quoted in the booklet for the 1995 reissue of Don’t Shoot Me … as saying, “I wanted it to be a record about all the things I grew up with. Of course it’s a rip-off, it’s derivative in every sense of the word.”

The video is from a live performance in Madison Square Garden in 2000.

Enjoy!

See my Song Lyric Sunday selection on Nesie’s Place.

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Disclaimer: I have no copyrights to the song and/or video and/or hyperlinks to songs and/or videos and/or gifs above. No copyright infringement intended.

Crocodile Rock

by Elton John
Songwriters: Elton John & Bernie Taupin

[Verse 1]
I remember when rock was young
Me and Susie had so much fun
Holding hands and skimming stones
Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own

But the biggest kick I ever got
Was doing a thing called the Crocodile Rock
While the other kids were rocking round the clock
We were hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock

[Chorus]
Well, Crocodile Rocking is something shocking
When your feet just can’t keep still
I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will
Oh, lawdy mama those Friday nights
When Susie wore her dresses tight
And the Crocodile Rocking was out of sight

[Post-Chorus]
Laa, la-la-la-la-laa
La-la-la-la-laa
La-la-la-la-laa

[Verse 2]
But the years went by and the rock just died
Susie went and left us for some foreign guy
Long nights crying by the record machine
Dreaming of my Chevy and my old blue jeans

But they’ll never kill the thrills we’ve got
Burning up to the Crocodile Rock
Learning fast as the weeks went past
We really thought the Crocodile Rock would last

[Chorus]
Well, Crocodile Rocking is something shocking
When your feet just can’t keep still
I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will
Oh lawdy mama those Friday nights
When Susie wore her dresses tight
And the Crocodile Rocking was out of sight

[Post-Chorus]
Laa, la-la-la-la-laa
La-la-la-la-laa
La-la-la-la-laa

[Verse 1]
I remember when rock was young
Me and Susie had so much fun
Holding hands and skimming stones
Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own

But the biggest kick I ever got
Was doing a thing called the Crocodile Rock
While the other kids were rocking round the clock
We were hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock

[Chorus]
Well, Crocodile Rocking is something shocking
When your feet just can’t keep still
I never knew me a better time and I guess I never will
Oh lawdy mama those Friday nights
When Susie wore her dresses tight
And the Crocodile Rocking was out of sight

[Outro]
Laa, la-la-la-la-laa
La-la-la-la-laa
La-la-la-la-laa
Laa, la-la-la-la-laa
La-la-la-la-laa
La-la-la-la-laa

 

 

9 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday | “Crocodile Rock” – Elton John”

  1. Pingback: Song Lyric Sunday | “Daydream Believer” – The Monkees | Nesie's Place

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