Elton John released the single “Crocodile Rock” in the United States on November 20, 1972. Backed with “Elderberry Wine,” it previewed his sixth studio album, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player. British listeners had received the single on October 27, so the November release marked its American arrival. Both sides came from the same album sessions, giving single buyers two songs from the new set before the LP was available.
Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin built the song around a fictional dance craze and memories of early rock ’n’ roll. Taupin’s words even name-checked “Rock Around the Clock.” Beneath the busy piano and high vocal hook, the story looks back at a youth that has slipped away. That gives the record a wistful side: the music keeps the party moving while the narrator remembers something he can’t recover.
The backward glance was deliberate. Elton told Paul Gambaccini in 1973 that he wanted to capture the sound of the rock ’n’ roll records he had grown up with. In the interview, revisited in Elton’s official album history, he identified influences including “Little Darlin’” and “Oh Carol.” The aim was to write a new song that carried the musical details of those older records.
The band recorded it during the June 1972 sessions at Château d’Hérouville in France, returning to the residential studio where they had made Honky Château. Elton played piano and Farfisa organ, with Davey Johnstone on electric guitar, Dee Murray on bass and Nigel Olsson on drums. Producer Gus Dudgeon and engineer Ken Scott worked on the album. The stay ran from June 5 to June 19, with the songs written and rehearsed before recording began on June 10.
Dudgeon’s direction for Murray shows how specifically they pursued that earlier sound. In a 1994 recollection published on Elton’s website, the producer described the bassist trying different tones and elaborate parts. Dudgeon kept pointing him toward the bass playing on “Judy in Disguise.” Murray eventually took that approach. Alongside Elton’s Farfisa line and the band’s handclaps, the bass part helped turn the idea of an old-fashioned dance record into a concrete arrangement.
There was a mismatch between the recording and its American packaging. Early MCA labels incorrectly said the song had been recorded in England. “Crocodile Rock” was Elton’s first single released on MCA, following his records on Uni and Congress.
Taupin’s later assessment was more reserved than the record’s commercial reception might suggest. In an interview published by Esquire in 2012, he said, “I don’t mind having created it, but it’s not something I would listen to.”
American buyers made their choice clear. “Crocodile Rock” became Elton’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 on February 3, 1973, and held the position for three weeks. Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player, released that January, subsequently topped the album charts in both the United States and Britain. The album’s next single, “Daniel,” reached No. 2 in the United States.
