Madman Across the Water (song)

"Madman Across the Water" is a song by English singer/songwriter Elton John from his 1971 aibum of the same name. Since its release in 1971, it has been considered as one of John's best songs.

"Madman Across the Water"
Song by Elton John
from the album Madman Across the Water
Released	5 November 1971
Genre	Pop
Length	5:57
Label	Uni DJM
Songwriter(s)	Elton John Bernie Taupin
Producer(s)	Gus Dudgeon
Music video
"Madman Across the Water (BBC Sounds for Saturday 1971)" on YouTube

Background

"Madman Across the Water" was recorded in four days, it was going to be five according to John in his memoir Me, at which he stated: "we lost a day because of Paul Buckmaster. He stayed up the night before the sessions began to finish the arrangements — I suspect with a certain amount of chemical assistance — then managed to knock a bottle of ink all over the only score, ruining it. I was furious. It was an expensive mistake to make, and we stopped working together for decades afterwards. But I was also quietly impressed when he wrote the whole score again, in twenty-four hours. Even when Paul screwed up, he screwed up in a way that reminded you he was a genius."^[1]

Composition and lyrics

"Madman Across the Water" tells the story of a man who is supposedly in a mental institution located on a shore who doesn't know if he belongs there or not. Everyone from critics to fans have attempted to figure out who the song is talking about, critics and fans have believed the song is talking about either the thirty-seventh president of the United States of America Richard Nixon or German dictator Adolf Hitler.^[2] Although most people believe that it is about Nixon, Bernie Taupin denied it, stating "Back in the seventies, when people were saying that "Madman Across the Water" was about Richard Nixon, I thought, That is genius. I could never have thought of that."^[3]

Release and reception

"Madman Across the Water" was released as the closing track of side one on the album of the same name, and has since been considered to be one of John's best songs. Vulture critic Shana Naomi Krochmal ranked it number four in her ranking of all 388 of John's songs in 2023 for Vulture, believing that it is "Both a seeming reflection of criticism of John’s focus on American tours and audiences over his fans at home — and in some ways a premeditated manifestation of a backlash for those choices"^[4] Rolling Stone critic Will Hermes ranked it number 9 in his ranking of John's 50 best songs for Rolling Stone, praising the song's "tasty acoustic-guitar harmonics of Davey Johnstone" and called the song Madman Across the Water's "musical tour de force".^[5] When ranking John's 50 best songs for the Guardian, Dave Simpson ranked it number 26, stating that John "describes this musically complex album title track as "one of Bernie Taupin's eeriest lyrics" – it’s certainly odd, written from the mindset of a lad gone insane."^[6] American Songwriter critic Jim Beviglia placed it at number 1 when ranking the 5 five best songs on Madman Across the Water, stating that it is "undoubtedly one of the finest achievements of John’s recording career" and praised it by saying "His ability to bring this character to life in almost harrowing fashion shouldn’t be underestimated." while noting it "evokes a man on the run from his demons in startlingly efficient fashion."^[7]

Live performances

John played the song during his Madison Square Garden performance on 16 March 2011, it was the fourth song he played during the concert.^[8] According to the New York Times, he didn't rush the performance, improvising for about five minutes.^[9]

Personnel

Personnel are adapted from the liner notes of Madman Across the Water.^[10]

• Elton John – vocals, piano^[11]
• Davey Johnstone – acoustic guitar^[5]
• Chris Spedding – electric guitar
• Diana Lewis – ARP synthesizer
• Rick Wakeman – organ
• Paul Buckmaster – orchestra^[1]
• Herbie Flowers – bass
• Terry Cox – drums
• Ray Cooper – percussion