Elton John's Dan Dare recording unearthed

(via the Eagle Times blog): Way back in October 1975, Elton John recorded Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future), written by Bernie Taupin, for the Rock of the Westies album, a song lamenting that he won't be joining Dan on his rocket, but also revealing that he secretly prefers The Mekon to Dan.

27 years after the song's release, it featured as the theme song for the Dan Dare Corporation's Dan Dare Pilot of the Future CGI cartoon series, which was shown in the UK on Channel 5, and is now (partly) available on DVD.

The song is of course just one of many pop culture references to Dan Dare, many detailed on this web site.

Here, via YouTube, is a rare live (audio) recording of the song performed by Elton at the Rainbow Theatre, London on 13 May, 1977.



• While scouring the web for more information on the song, I came across Colonel Dan Dare's MySpace page. Weirdness!