Roy Rogers

Nostalgia and appreciation for the simple creature comforts of life are the foundation of "Roy Rogers", and it manages to simultaneously celebrate not only old Hollywood, specifically the Cowboy movies starring not only the titular star but Tom Mix and John Wayne (among many others), but also the act of enjoyment of same via lyrics like these:

You draw to the curtain and one thing's for certain
You're cozy in your little room
The carpet's all paid for, God bless the TV
Let's go shoot a hole in the moon

And of course, the chorus:

And Roy Rogers is riding tonight
Returning to our silver screens
Comic book characters never grow old
Evergreen heroes whose stories were told
Oh the great sequin cowboy who sings of the plains
Of roundups and rustlers and home on the range
Turn on the T.V., shut out the lights
Roy Rogers is riding tonight

To the Brown Dirt Cowboy, I'm sure that such films were a definite refuge from the realities of his younger days, as well as the pressures of his later life. It's a nicely written tribute/reminisce, and shows that he can be likable when he wants to be.

Elton helps make it work by casting it in a leisurely tempo, with (unsurprisingly) country-ish accompaniment (with the requisite sobbing steel guitar, by Davey Johnstone- interesting that no studio musicians such as Madman's B.J. Cole were called upon, signs of how comfortable John was with his band by this point) straight outta Tumbleweed Connection. Del Newman turns in another evocative orchestral arrangement.

Producer Gus Dudgeon chips in at the very end, adding hoofbeats fading off into the distance as the faint beginnings of the banjo intro of the next cut "Social Disease" begin. I'll get to that one at some point in the future. It's a nice segue.