B-side "Flinstone Boy" Recorded March 10, 1978 Length 4:00 | Released March 21, 1978 Genre Glam rock, rock Label MCA (US)
Rocket (UK) | |
"Ego" is a song by Elton John with lyrics by Bernie Taupin.
Contents
Original release
It was released as a single in early 1978, and did not appear on the album released in the same year, A Single Man.
The single did poorly on the charts, reaching #34 in both the UK and the U.S..
Music video
A music video was made, and was the most expensive of its kind in its day. The video featured John Emberton who played Elton John as a small boy in the video acting out a scene from Romeo & Juliet. John Emberton's sister Penny played a member of the audience. The song in the video was slightly sped up compared to the actual recording.
Later releases
The song was not available on CD until 1990 and the release of "To Be Continued...". Later, in remastered form, it was added to the reissue of "A Single Man" along with four other b-sides from the era.
Musical structure
The song starts with a rollicking piano accompanied by a train whistle, making it sound like there's a train rolling down a track. The song then goes into a steady 4/4 beat, then breaks down and goes to the chorus. Later in the song it goes in half tempo and then up again. A music video was made to accompany the song. It features synthesizers, and even carnival-esque organs, unusual for its time.
The same style of singing was also used on another Taupin-song from this time, "I Cry at Night".
Lyrical meaning
It was originally written during the sessions for his 1976 album Blue Moves, but was left out. Elton said of the song by the time of its release:
"Ego was just something I had lying around, and I wanted to release it for a long time. Unfortunately, the time wasn't right. It's been disappointing. I really had hoped it would do well because I really liked it. I wrote the song jointly with Bernie Taupin, and we never thought of it as an autobiography until it came out. It's about the silliness of rock 'n' roll stars, and the video film was supposed to show just how stupid rock 'n' roll can be. It's the grotesque side of rock 'n' roll. And it's turned out to be one of the most sincere songs we've ever written."
The song is, as said, about rock stars and their fame which tend to get to their heads.
Live performances
Elton played this song live from 1978 up until 1980.