Elton John: 10 Best Classic Rock Songs
4. Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting
For all the talk of fisticuffs and razor blades, it’s hard to take Elton John seriously as a tough guy. The song may have been inspired by Bernie Taupin’s own teenage years but it still feels about as dangerous as a high school performance of West Side Story. A review in Billboard at the time went to far as to suggest the song was a parody of The Rolling Stones’ Street Fighting Man.
Nonetheless, Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting is a rollicking barroom stomp. You know you’ve written a pretty good rock song if The Who decide to cover it, as they did in 1991.
This adrenalised, up-tempo romp is one of the hardest rocking tracks John has ever recorded and simultaneously one of the catchiest.