Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
by Bernie Taupin (Music by Elton John)

 

When are you gonna come down? - from where? penthouse? You?

When are you going to land? - note repetition; on a high?

I should have stayed on the farm, - change of focus; disillusionment

I should have listened to my old man. - note tone of regret; casual diction

- rhyme scheme abcb; piece works as monologue--explore relationship

- quatrains of mixed feet: trimeter (three accented beats per line), some tetrameter variation


You know you can’t hold me forever, - relationship is oblique--exploitive

I didn’t sign up with you. - what’s relationship? sign up? record biz?

I’m not a present for your friends to open, - boy toy? "present" metaphor

'This boy’s too young to be singin’ the blues. ' - man/boy? blues=dead metaph

- note use of near rhyme: land/man, you/blues, howl/plough (next stanza)


So goodbye yellow brick road, - alludes to Wizard of Oz--ironic

Where the dogs of society howl. - ironic; dark metaphor; angry

You can’t plant me in your penthouse, - plant metaphor; "p" alliteration

I’m going back to my plough. - symbol of plough, reinforcing plant

- note the "ow" assonance--sonic reinforcement of pain


Back to the howling old owl in the woods, - owl symbol; internal rhyme

Huntin’ the horny back toad. - hunting irony--reversal of roles; h allit.

Oh, I’ve finally decided, my future lies

Beyond the yellow brick road. - explore complexity of YBR


What do you think you’ll do then? - rhetorical effect of question

I bet that’ll shoot down your plane. - vengeance: you’re gonna miss me

It’ll take you a couple of vodka and tonics - image/metaphor; trivial. pain

To set you on your feet again. - expanding image/metaphor


Maybe you’ll get a replacement, - another boy-toy? another talent?

There’s plenty like me to be found: - low self-esteem

Mongrels who ain’t got a penny - extend dog metaphor; penny-synechdoche

Sniffin’ for tidbits like you on the ground. - note anger, desire to hurt back

- ironic reversal of hunter/prey

- tone gets more bitter here--self deprecatory and vengeful.
 

So goodbye, yellow brick road, - refrain

Where the dogs of society howl. - note extended dog metaphor

You can’t plant me in your penthouse. - note vertical imagery: up/down

I’m goin’ back to my plough. - back to roots--grounded


Back to the howling old owl in the woods, - again reversal of hunter/prey

Huntin’ the horny back toad. - note dogs and owls both howl

Oh, I’ve finally decided my future lies

Beyond the yellow brick road.


Analysis: This song is a clever play on the Oz story where Dorothy travels the heralded Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City only to find it a sham. On the way she learns to know and trust herself and during her subsequent quest realizes her personal strength. In this song a country boy follows the Yellow Brick Road to the big city (perhaps London) and gets into an exploitive relationship with a wealthy person or an entity like a recording company. Eventually he decides to return home. Like Dorothy’s Wizard, the person/entity in the penthouse proves to be a sham, but this painful awareness yields only a rueful street savvy: this is a cruel town and, like Dorothy, the boy learns that "there’s no place like home." Both return to the farm, but rather than with Dorothy’s wisdom and self-esteem, the boy returns to a world where the owls still prey on the lower life forms. Darkly, he knows others like him will meet the same cold reality on their quests following the Yellow Brick Road. Bitterly and cynically, he projects a reversal of roles from being a present for this person’s friends to open to being the owl hunting the toad and envisions the next mongrel sniffing the person/entity out like a tidbit. He recognizes the other’s pain, but trivializes it as something easily cured by a vodka and tonic and a new mongrel. As he bids goodbye to his Oz, the boy yearns for a simpler life "beyond the yellow brick road."