I’m Going to Be a Teenage Idol

Track 7 on Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player

Produced by

Jan. 26, 19731 viewer

I’m Going to Be a Teenage Idol Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Well, there's slim times when my words won't rhyme
And the hills I face are a long hard climb
I just sit cross-legged with my old guitar
Ooh, it kinda makes me feel like a rock 'n' roll star

[Verse 2]
Well, it makes me laugh, Lord, it makes me cry
And I think, for once, let me just get high
Let me get electric, put a silk suit on
Turn my old guitar into a tommy gun

[Pre-Chorus]
And root-toot-shoot myself to fame
Every kid alive gonna know my name
An overnight phenomenon like there's never been
A motivated supersonic king of the scene

[Chorus]
I'll be a teenage idol, just give me a break
I'm gonna be a teenage idol, no matter how long it takes
You can't imagine what it means to me
I'm going to grab myself a place in history
A teenage idol, ooh
That's what I'm gonna be
(Oh yeah)

[Verse 3]
Well, life is short and the world is rough
And if you're going to boogie, boy, you got to be tough
Nobody knows if I'm dead or alive
I just drink myself to sleep each night

[Verse 4]
And so I pray to the teenage god of rock
If I make it big, let me stay on top
You gotta cut me loose from this one-room dive
Put me on the ladder, keep this boy alive

[Pre-Chorus]
And root-toot-shoot myself to fame
Every kid alive gonna know my name
An overnight phenomenon like there's never been
A motivated supersonic king of the scene

[Chorus]
I'll be a teenage idol, just give me a break
I'm gonna be a teenage idol, no matter how long it takes
You can't imagine what it means to me
I'm going to grab myself a place in history
A teenage idol (Ha, yeah, ooh)
That's what I'm gonna be

About

This song bio is unreviewed

There have been several songs with the phrase “Teenage Idol” in the title. This Elton John/Bernie Taupin composition should more properly be called “I’m Gonna Be A Teenage Idol,” because that verbatim phrase is part of the lyric. Produced by Gus Dudgeon, it was recorded along with the rest of the album at Strawberry Studios, Château D'Hierouville, France in June 1972. For Elton, the song’s title turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophesy in the nicest possible way, because the front page of the March 31 issue of Melody Maker the following year pictured him playing to a sell out crowd of mainly youngsters in London; its headline was NOW ELTON’S A TEEN IDOL!

This song is also a tribute to Marc Bolan of the band T. Rex. “We played it to him and I think he liked it,” Elton said in an interview with Beat Instrumental. “He didn’t hit me anyway.”

Bolan was alive and well when this song was recorded; he died in a car accident in 1977 at age 29.