I would hear the song on the radio occasionally as a kid, particularly late in the evening. I liked the pattern John played with his left hand on piano. As a budding keyboardist myself, I liked anything that was booming and dramatic like that. I also liked the gate reverb on Nigel Olsson's drums, which sounded like they were being played in a big stairwell.
Funny how you don't really pay much attention to the meaning of lyrics as a kid. (Or at least I never did.) It wasn't until about 5 years ago, when I was reading an article online about John and his work in the 70s, that I found out the song was autobiographical: it's about John contemplating suicide early in his career. He was engaged to be married and was going to give up his music career, which had been struggling to take flight. He felt like he was giving up anything that mattered, so he thought about ending it. His friend, actor and musician Long John Baldry (the "someone" in Bernie Taupin's lyric), prevented him from doing the unthinkable, talked him out of abandoning his music career for marriage, and also helped him come to terms with his homosexuality.
With that bit of knowledge, it is really difficult making it to that anthemic Someone saved, someone saved, someone saved my life tonight... refrain at the end of the song without having a lump in your throat.
Heavy stuff for a song that managed to make it to #4 on the US Billboard charts in 1975.
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