“Crocodile Rock” by Elton John

"Crocodile Rock" was cut in the summer of 1972 at the Château d'Hérouville in France, the same place Elton John and his crew had made Honky Château, and it went out that autumn as the advance single from Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player. It's a gleeful sock-hop pastiche: Bernie Taupin's words gaze back fondly at early rock 'n' roll, dating and the freedom of being young, and Elton drives it with a cheesy, irresistible Farfisa riff. Davey Johnstone, Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson keep it bouncing, Elton sings every part, falsetto backing vocals included, and Gus Dudgeon produced with Ken Scott engineering.

It gave him his first American number one, three weeks on top in early 1973, and it was the first single ever issued on the newly created MCA label.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.