One critic’s view: “The reggae elements aren’t inherently offensive. When combined with Taupin’s glaringly racist lyrics, however, they become much harder to stomach.” – Sam Kemp @ Far Out, “The Creepy Elton John Song That Has Aged Very Badly”
The public’s view: 3.04 / 5.00, in the bottom third of #1 hits of 1975
It’s hard to choose which “bad” chart-topper epitomizes 1975. It was a year with critically panned hit singles by the likes of the Carpenters, the Captain & Tennille, and John Denver, but none of those anger our ears as much as the four bad #1s that I covered for 1974. If we go simply by the Rate Your Music scores, we’ll be stuck with Tony Orlando & Dawn’s “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You)” as the worst of the year. I’ve already dissected a more memorable Tony Orlando tune, however, and five paragraphs about “He Don’t Love You” would bore everyone to tears. After considering all the options, I think Elton John’s “Island Girl” best sums up the spirit of this project. It’s an outdated and slightly offensive song that is rarely heard anymore and is now largely ignored by its creator. Rolling Stone notes that Elton has not performed it in concert since 1990.
Let’s consider where Elton John’s career was in late 1975. In five years he had gone from a nobody to one of the biggest concert draws on the planet. He was collaborating with people like John Lennon. He had earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and his eyewear collection could probably have received its own star too if it had asked. Elton could be forgiven if he started to show some hubris.
Perhaps one sign of hubris was the Neil Sedaka comeback that Elton helped engineer through the label he started, Rocket Records. Sedaka’s big comeback hit, “Bad Blood”, featured Elton on backing vocals. Its chorus also contained a very un-Sedaka-like word: “bitch”. Nice Guy Neil was unfamiliar with how to use the epithet properly, and thus we were given the line: “The bitch is in her smile.” With awkward lyrics like this, it’s little wonder that Sedaka was never able to transition to a career in hip-hop.
“Bad Blood” might have earned an entry on this blog if not for Elton’s own hit that knocked it out of #1. In “Island Girl”, he regales us with the story of a Jamaican prostitute working the streets of New York. Bernie Taupin’s lyrics for this song are often decried as “racist,” an accusation that I consider to be way over-the-top. “Island Girl” is definitely racial, but is a far cry from being racist. This is not to say that the song is a happy little nest of flowers and puppy dogs. The six-foot-three Island Girl comes across like a serial killer, and I imagine that the Prostitutes’ Guild wasn’t very pleased with this portrayal.
Worse still, the “Island Girl” lyric sheet in Elton’s Greatest Hits Volume II LP is adorned by a grotesque caricature that resembles a dark-skinned female version of the Michelin Man. This drawing may actually cross the boundary that the lyrics didn’t. It also raises some concerning questions that have nothing to do with Elton John. Why is the Michelin Man white, anyway? Isn’t he supposed to be made of tires? Is there an ointment he can use to restore his natural skin tone?
Musically, “Island Girl” sounds like Elton John wanted to incorporate elements of reggae but wasn’t interested in learning much about the genre first. This isn’t entirely a bad thing, as the resulting pastiche has more personality than, say, an Eric Clapton remake of Bob Marley. I wouldn’t put it up there with “Rocket Man” or “Crocodile Rock” or even “Philadelphia Freedom” as one of Elton’s most enduring melodies of the era, but it’s just catchy enough that it deserved its moment in the sun.
The trajectory of “Island Girl” from #1 hit to persona non grata is instructive of how political correctness works. A song like “Brown Sugar” or “Sweet Home Alabama” can overcome all objections and become an immortal classic just by having a great riff. But if the music is only average or barely above, mildly insensitive lyrics are enough to completely doom a record in the long term. And so we have yet another lesson in unfairness, courtesy of the Bad #1 Hits blog.
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