Oftentimes when singers are going through a rough period, their music will depict that journey. But, they do not always come right out and say
exactly what it is; the lyrics have a hidden meaning. In Elton John's "Rocket Man," there are different parts of the song that allude to a hidden drug
addiction, and it shows that the mindset of a drug abuser is different than a sober person's mindset. They do not have their priorities straight, and
they are, in a sense, controlled by the drugs and what the drugs do for them. The first allusion to a drug addiction is "Zero hour, nine A.M./ And I'm
gonna be high/ As a kite by then" ("Rocket Man Lyrics"). "High as a kite" is a commonly used drug reference to signify the intensity of the high. The
line also shows how early he starts using drugs. He is already high at nine o'clock in the morning, which shows that he does not have control over when
he uses the drugs. The first thing he wants to do when he wakes up is get high because he wants to escape from reality as soon as possible. It is similar
to how drinking in the morning hours is a sign of alcoholism. The next line that signifies drug use is "It's lonely out in space/ On such a timeless flight"
("Rocket Man Lyrics").This conveys that he does not know when or if he will overcome his addiction or when the love of being high will ever wear off.
He feels like it is a never-ending battle within himself. He uses the word "lonely," signifying that the drugs have isolated him from how things used to
be. The next important lines are "And I think it's gonna be a long, long time/ Till touch down brings me round again/ I'm not the man they think I am at
home" ("Rocket Man Lyrics"). The first two lines mean somewhat of the same thing as before. He is saying that he thinks it will be a long time before
his addiction will be over and that he will not be around for awhile. "I'm not the man they think I am at home" is proof that he is suffering from this
drug addiction while hiding it from his loved ones. They do not think anything is wrong, so he is saying that they do not have any clue of who the
real Elton John is. He is a completely different person than they think they know; a person who only cares about when his next hit will be. The
last specific drug related line is "Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids" ("Rocket Man Lyrics"). This is saying that a person cannot adequately
care for children or the well-being of a family when they are constantly getting high. The drugs will always be his number one priority, so his children
would be left to care for themselves. They would have a dead-beat father. At the end of "Rocket Man," the number of times he says "I think it's gonna
be a long, long time" is his last way to prove to the listeners that once you get addicted to drugs, there is no way of knowing when it will be over. He
says it over and over again to reiterate to himself that his addiction is not going away any time soon and that life the way he knew it is now over. Music
is commonly used as a way to express a life event without blatantly saying it; it adds to the beauty of the song when there is a deep hidden meaning
behind the lyrics.