Political assassination has a long history in human affairs. Bernie Taupin wrote the lyric in 1969, the year after the MLK and RFK murders (John always wrote to Taupin’s lyrics, often paring them down from the original). The political climate obviously put to mind Shakespeare’s “MacBeth” and “Julius Caesar.” It was the closing track on Elton’s eponymous 1970 album, his second but the first to appear in the U.S.
