Song · Elton John
“Honky Cat” by Elton John
From the album Honky Château (1972)
“Honky Cat” by Elton John appears on 11 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 2002 and 2025. It was first released in 1972 on the album Honky Château. Its best result is #285 on the KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2002). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #7,818 indie & aaa song of all time.
"Honky Cat" kicks the door open on Honky Château, Elton John's fifth studio album, and it's the sound of the man letting his hair down in 1972: Elton pounding piano and electric piano, Davey Johnstone plucking banjo, and a horn section of Ivan Jullien on trumpet, Jacques Bolognesi on trombone and Jean-Louis Chautemps and Alain Hatot on saxophones goosing the whole thing along. Dee Murray on bass and Nigel Olsson on drums keep it rolling. Bernie Taupin wrote the words, Elton the music, Gus Dudgeon produced and Ken Scott engineered.
Sent out as his thirteenth single, following "Rocket Man", it stalled at 31 in Britain but reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, just as he launched an American tour in September 1972. It has stayed in his shows ever since, turning up live on Here and There in 1976.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 285 | 92.3 KGON | KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2002) | 923 |
| 2004 | 355 | 92.3 KGON | KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2004) | 923 |
| 2014 | 870 | Big 100 | BIG 1000 New Year's Countdown (2014) | 1000 |
| 2020 | 1875 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2020 | 421 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020) | 1025 |
| 2022 | 506 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s | 908 |
| 2022 | 871 | 102.5 KZOK | KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2022) | 1025 |
| 2023 | 292 | 102.5 WDVE | DVE Memorial Day 500 (2023) | 500 |
| 2023 | 914 | 101.5 WPDH | WPDH Top 1015 (2023) | 1015 |
| 2023 | 892 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time | 909 |
| 2025 | 748 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs | 800 |
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