Rocket Man

Artist Statement

Man’s first walk on the moon opened the exciting possibility of visiting other planets in the future.

Elton John’s “Rocket Man” dreams of a day when flying past the moon to work on Mars is just a routine business trip. Our hero is an ordinary man of the 1960s in blue jeans and a tie-dyed T-shirt who carries a leather briefcase. He’s thrilled to be blasting off into space again, yet he misses his wife and longs to go home to Earth. But it’s going to be a long, long time. The song shows the tension between scientific advances and their possible effect on human relationships, a cycle of loneliness and love.

My quilting lines symbolize round trips to space and back again, a regular occurrence in Rocket Man’s life. In addition, I’ve added some key lyrics. As a musician, I made sure that the number of quilted words falls within the legal copyright limit. All credit goes to genius Elton John.

Materials

Cotton fabrics including denim and jersey, plastic produce bag, faux leather, star sequins, cotton, polyester, rayon, and syntet threads.