Talk:Island Girl

Lyrics and Culture of the Time

A Citation is needed for the statement that the song is about a male prostitute or it should just be removed now. Elton John may sing the song but Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics and he is heterosexual. Elton John rarely changed any of Taupin's lyrics, so an attempt to tie in a male prostitute just because singer Elton John is homosexual is pure speculation. Bbigjohnson (talk) 16:45, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

I agree with your citation tag. The articles related to Elton John's "classic period" of 1971–76 are on my "to do" list, because considering they were both incredibly successful commercially worldwide and also culturally significant, the albums and singles articles are mostly in poor shape. However, I need to get hold of a bit more background reading first: it's frustratingly difficult to find any sources where Taupin has talked about his lyrics. Richard3120 (talk) 17:01, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

I ran into the same problem, All I found was a Rolling Stone Magazine article but it was about another album. Here it is maybe it will help you. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/elton-john-and-bernie-taupin-look-back-at-goodbye-yellow-brick-road-20140314

I was a little upset that someone would make that claim without anything to back it up other than the sexual orientation of the person singing it and some of the atmosphere of New York at that time. Furthermore, since when to lyrics have to equal reality? For all we know Taupin wrote, "she standing six foot three," so that it would rhyme with, "...in the big city," a line or two later. Or at least Elton John sings it so it does. Maybe she was only 5'9" but then wore 6" heels. Bbigjohnson (talk) 03:50, 20 September 2015 (UTC)

@Bbigjohnson: Thanks for that – I doubt I will be able to get round to any serious revision of these articles any time soon, but in the meantime I will be collecting bits of information to help in their expansion. I agree, we know that the Captain Fantastic album is essentially Bernie and Elton's autobiography before they were famous, and that "Tiny Dancer" is about Taupin's first wife, but most of his lyrics remain unexplained, and it's clear that like many lyricists, he uses characters to tell stories that haven't necessarily occurred in real life: I think we can be fairly certain, for example, that Elton has never danced the Crocodile Rock, that he has never enjoyed a good punch-up on a Saturday night, and that he has never had a second career as an astronaut being launched into space at zero hour, 9 a.m. Richard3120 (talk) 15:57, 20 September 2015 (UTC)

Oh, come on. It's clearly about a transwoman prostitute. "One more John who made the mistake"? "Stands six foot three"? Don't be naive. - Lisa (talk - contribs) 14:26, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

@Lisa: it's nothing to do with being naive... it's to do with having a reputable source that states this explicitly, in order to be able to add it to the article. Richard3120 (talk) 17:19, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

I had a girlfriend who was six feet two inches, and my first impression of the "one more john who made the mistake" was simply a comment on the use of a prostitute for the first time by a rookie customer. Also, the lyrics repeatedly use the gender identifier of "she", so that is a consideration regardless of the assumed sex of the prostitute. So the lyrics, as are most, are open to all kinds of interpretations, but an information source such as wikipedia should only cite facts from a reputable source. In this case, the lyricist or his approved or appointed representatives. Interpretations are for forums and personal discussions. 96.27.13.46 (talk) 16:42, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

To be clear, the "she" gender could apply to any identified (or non-identified) sex, not just trans-male. Confirmation is required. 96.27.13.46 (talk) 16:45, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

You don't know the prostitute identifies as a transwoman. 2603:6080:EF05:973B:3594:1986:2D18:16B7 (talk) 23:14, 12 November 2022 (UTC)

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