Elton John - Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters (live, Royal Festival Hall, London 1972 + studio track + Bernie Taupin comments)

[highplainsdem]

From a 2018 Q interview republished by Canada's CBC:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/thursday-april-19-2018-bernie-taupin-brad-peyton-and-more-1.4625092/elton-john-s-co-writer-bernie-taupin-on-50-years-of-hits-and-what-their-perfect-song-is-1.4625132

[Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters] is about our first impressions of New York City in 1970, and if anybody was around in that that period of time they'll realize that New York wasn't quite as magical as it was probably presented to the rest of the world. It was a tough place to get along in and we didn't have a lot of money back then, obviously, when we first visited, so we were staying in really sort of cheap hotels, and eating with very little money in our pockets, playing gigs and getting out. But it had a profound effect on me. I remember New York as being always cold when we were there and I don't know again if that was because we weren't very flush with money. But I mean, I found refuge in museums and art galleries and any place I could get in that didn't cost any money that would give me some sort of inspiration. But it was a tough place and all the magical things you hear about it sort of were contradicted by other things that were happening on the street.

[Docreed2003]

1. Probably my favorite Elton song

Thanks highplainsdem!