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coco's avatar

elton fan here, i like what you had to say! but one thing: the yacht was fully a gift from elton,bought by elton, for john’s 25th birthday and it became a big thing in the press at the time (highlighting elton’s insane generosity and possibly pointing out a more than platonic manager-artist relationship) and i feel like the name “madman” was just a silly little pun because the yacht goes “across the water” lmao.

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Joanne's avatar

also if it was john reid's 25th birthday then elton bought it for him in 1974 so 3 years after the album came out so i'm guessing it was named madman AFTER the album. you can see a clip of it here: https://youtu.be/oMMR1W6y4Hw and it clearly has the same sleeve art font.

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coco's avatar

oh yeah it was definitely named after the album, i wasn’t trying to say otherwise! but i don’t think it was a swipe at elton or anything, i always thought about it as more of a tribute/appreciation for him if anything

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Joanne's avatar

yeah sorry i wasn't correcting, just agreeing that it probably wasn't john naming it after the song as some sort of spiteful gesture towards elton (as originally suggested in the article). I think it's an interesting take on the album though. good read.

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coco's avatar

omg sorry lol ngl i thought you were the author replying. that’s why i was confused. yes so i agree completely but it’s still an interesting take nonetheless

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