Date: Nov 1, 1975
Weeks: 3
This is one of those songs that threatens to make me spend the entire entry wondering why the list of No. 1 songs is never quite the same as the list of all-time classic songs, even for a single artist. "Island Girl" somehow is among Elton John's No. 1 songs, but "Rocket Man" is not. And yet I don't think I've ever heard "Island Girl" before. I guess it just goes to show that popularity, and especially this type of instantaneous snapshot of popularity, is not necessarily an indicator of quality.
I suppose I should start with the lyrics, because they really bugged me. They strike me as racist. The song is about an "island" girl, who is described as "black as coal," from Jamaica. She's working as a prostitute in New York. The song describes a "black boy" who is trying save her and, I presume, take her back to Jamaica. The specific descriptions of race bug me a little, but what really bugs me is the line "what you wanting with the white man's world?" Essentially he's saying that this woman would be happier living someplace less developed because that's where she belongs, for no reason other than the color of her skin. It's a bit clever in its use of "island" to refer to both Jamaica and Manhattan, but I can't really get over the racism of the lyrics.
The music is pretty good, actually. As with other Elton John songs, the rock piano dominates in an appealing. The Caribbean theme is explored by including steel drums and bongos. I particularly like the energy of the verses, and the occasional staccato piano and drum hits in the chorus. As always, Elton John's voice is great and exciting, especially in a fast song like this. The weakest part of the song is the guitar riff intro, which gets repeated. The bridge filled with xylophones and weird high-pitched synthesizer noises is also in the negative column. Both of these parts lose track of the song's energy, and the song actually closes on the guitar riff with xylophones. So the song starts off bad and finishes bad, with a lot of good in between.
My verdict: Like it. The lyrics are bad, and the music has its bad moments. But Elton John is so good at what he does, he brings so much energy during the bulk of the song, that I'm still having fun listening to it, despite my reservations.
Yeah, I like "Rocket Man" better. Although maybe that's just because I can't not think of William Shatner's version and laugh.
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