"Bennie and the Jets" is a song composed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. The song first appeared on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album in 1973. "Bennie and the Jets" has been one of John's most popular songs and was performed during his appearance at Live Aid. The track was a massive hit in America and Canada, released in 1974 as an A-side and spelt 'Bennie'. In most territories the track was released as the B-side to "Candle in the Wind", but spelt 'Benny'. Album artwork consistently lists the song as 'Bennie' while either 'Bennie' or 'Benny' appear on the vinyl album depending on territory. The track was released as an A-side in the UK in 1976, as "Benny and the Jets".
Single release
"Bennie and the Jets" or "Benny and the Jets" was the closing track on side one of the album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and John was set against releasing it as a single, believing it would fail. CKLW in Windsor, Ontario, began heavy airplay of the song and it became the #1 song in the Detroit market. This attention caused other American and Canadian Top 40 stations to add it to their playlists as well and as a result, the song peaked at #1 on the US singles chart in 1974. In the US, it was certified Gold on 8 April 1974 and Platinum on 13 September 1995 by the RIAA, and had sold 2.8 million copies by August 1976. "Bennie and the Jets" was also John's first Top 40 hit on what at the time was called the BillboardHot Soul Singles chart, where it peaked at #15, the highest position out of the three of his singles which reached that chart. The acceptance of "Bennie" on R&B radio helped land John, a huge soul music fan, a guest appearance on the edition of 17 May 1975 of Soul Train, where he played "Bennie and the Jets" and "Philadelphia Freedom". In Canada, it held the #1 spot on the RPM national singles chart for two weeks, becoming his first #1 single of 1974 and his fourth overall.
Song composition
The song tells of "Bennie and the Jets", a fictional band of whom the song's narrator is a fan. In interviews, Taupin has said that the song's lyrics are a satire on the music industry of the 1970s. The greed and glitz of the early 1970s music scene is portrayed by Taupin's words: Taupin also goes on to describe the flashy wardrobe of "Bennie", the leader of the band: Produced by Gus Dudgeon, the song was recorded during the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road sessions in France at Château d'Hérouville's Strawberry Studios, where John and Taupin had recorded their previous two albums, Honky Château and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player. John rarely plays the studio version of the song, and often makes subtle or even drastic changes. Live, the piano solo in the middle of the song has been played in all sorts of variations, from very close to the original to wildly improvised and extended versions, such as the elaborate version during a Central Park concert in 1980 and another memorable take on it during the "Elton and his band" part of the show recorded for what would become Live in Australia in December 1986. He has also been known to end the song in a wide range of styles, including classical, swing, boogie-woogie and even using the signature five-note phrase from John Williams' score for Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
In May 2017, an official music video for "Bennie and the Jets" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival as a winner of Elton John: The Cut, a competition organized in partnership with AKQA, Pulse Films, and YouTube in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of his songwriting relationship with Bernie Taupin. The competition called upon independent filmmakers to submit treatments for music videos for one of three Elton John songs from the 1970s, with each song falling within a specific concept category. "Bennie and the Jets" was designated for the choreography category, and was directed by Jack Whiteley and Laura Brownhill. The video was influenced by early cinema and the work of Busby Berkeley, portraying characters as participants on a talent show auditioning for Bennie.
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Chart
Peak position
UK Singles Chart
37
Year-end charts
All-time charts
Certifications
Covers
Mary J. Blige song "Deep Inside" features Elton John, who plays elements of his song "Bennie and the Jets" on the piano, which it samples. He does not provide additional vocals. The video for the single features Blige and her dancers performing to "Sincerity", which appears on the deluxe edition of the Mary album in the United States and the United Kingdom single of "Deep Inside."
The Beastie Boys released a cover of this song on their ' album in 1999. The song, titled "Benny and the Jets", was sung by frequent Beastie Boys collaborator Biz Markie, who often mumbles the words while singing. This recording was first released in 1995 as a flexi disc inside of issue two of the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal magazine.
Cher performed the song in a duet on The Cher Show with Elton John on piano in 1975.
Indie Pop artist BØRNS performs his own cover of "Bennie and The Jets" during live shows. At times he adds a verse from Frank Ocean's "Super Rich Kids" towards the end, as "Super Rich Kids" has samples of "Bennie and The Jets" within it.
A Tribe Called Quest sampled part of this song in their song 'Solid Wall of Sound' from the album We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service. Elton John features in this song as well.
Pink and Logic covered the song alongside John on the 2018 tribute album '.
In 2020, The Fearless Flyers made an instrumental cover of the song and named it Kenni and the Jets. It will appear on their album Tailwinds, that will be released later this year.
Mondegreens in the song
The song contains the line "She's got electric boots, a mohair suit", which is often misheard as "She's got electric boobs, and mohair shoes". A scene in the film 27 Dresses shows that this is but one of many mondegreens that listeners have invented for this song.
