I like Johnny's comments, and I think the song plays to a larger scale as well - I think it tells the frustration of the music industry and the generic approach the industry takes to music. The line "It seems to me a change is really needed/
I'm sick of tra-la-las and la-de-das" suggests to me that Elton was sick of the industry pressuring musicians to sound a certain way just to sell records.
"Cause we need what we can get to launch another dozen acts / Are you working" suggests (again, to me) that the industry was riding Elton's success so that they could turn profit and sign more bands, hence putting out more records and making more money. The industry itself made Elton bitter, hence "bitter fingers" and how "bitter fingers never swung on swinging stars" because these stars enjoyed what they were doing for the love of it, not the money or the industry.
Just what I thought after listening to the album. Could be incorrect, but I think this is immensely frustrating today as well.
I like Johnny's comments, and I think the song plays to a larger scale as well - I think it tells the frustration of the music industry and the generic approach the industry takes to music. The line "It seems to me a change is really needed/ I'm sick of tra-la-las and la-de-das" suggests to me that Elton was sick of the industry pressuring musicians to sound a certain way just to sell records.
"Cause we need what we can get to launch another dozen acts / Are you working" suggests (again, to me) that the industry was riding Elton's success so that they could turn profit and sign more bands, hence putting out more records and making more money. The industry itself made Elton bitter, hence "bitter fingers" and how "bitter fingers never swung on swinging stars" because these stars enjoyed what they were doing for the love of it, not the money or the industry.
Just what I thought after listening to the album. Could be incorrect, but I think this is immensely frustrating today as well.