Solar Prestige A Gammon is a song written by famous singer-songwriter Elton John. After different controversies popped up around some of Elton’s songs and their meanings, he became fed up with the idea that every song just had to have a meaning to it. He went to his lyric writer, Bernie Taupin, and requested a song written fully in English but meant absolutely nothing. Inspired by the ending of “Abbey Road” by The Beatles, Elton decided to sing the song with a strong Italian accent. The end result was a weirdly coherent sound, at least sound wise, and a masterpiece in pettiness.
“Solar Prestige A Gammon” starts off with a very old Italian theme, with a harpsichord and this operatic “Italian voice”. This is in quotations, of course, due to the rather comedic sound of this accent, as it isn’t authentic enough to sell you on it. This entire first section continues like this until the drums and piano start to kick in, giving the song a generally bouncy feeling, a stark contrast to the very dramatic beginning. As this happens, Elton slips back into his regular voice and all of a sudden the listener feels like they’re just listening to any old Elton John song, instead of some odd Italian comedy opera. While this is the case for the rest of the song, elements of this Italian theme stick around as the harpsichord and an accordion continue to make an appearance through the chorus.