The 1970s File Feature
Grow Some Funk Of Your Own/I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)
Grow Some Funk Of Your Own / I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford) — Elton John's 1976 Double Declaration Elton at the Height of His Powers Consid…
01 The Story
Grow Some Funk Of Your Own / I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford) — Elton John's 1976 Double Declaration
Elton at the Height of His Powers
Consider the audacity of Elton John's commercial position in the mid-seventies. Between 1972 and 1975, he had released album after album that reached number one in multiple countries, generated hit after hit, and sold in volumes that left competitors speechless. Seven consecutive number-one albums in the United States. A sold-out Dodger Stadium residency that became the stuff of rock legend. By early 1976, when this double-sided single was climbing the charts, Elton John was operating at a level of commercial dominance that very few artists in popular music history have matched.
The double A-side format suited his ambition. Rather than selecting a single representative track to carry the commercial weight, the pairing of "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" with "I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)" presented two distinct emotional and musical experiences simultaneously, trusting that radio could find its own way into the material. Both tracks were drawn from the album Rock of the Westies, released in October 1975 and immediately reaching number one in the United States. The album represented the first major recordings Elton made with a changed band configuration following the departure of several original members.
Two Songs, Two Modes
"Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" operates in a loose, energetic mode, built around a Caribbean-inflected groove that gave Elton and his collaborators an opportunity to swing in a lighter, more playful direction than the grandiose rock he had been making. Bernie Taupin's lyric for the track sketches a scene of romantic confrontation with a sardonic edge, the storytelling precise and quick-footed in the way Taupin could manage when he was writing closer to narrative comedy than emotional confession.
"I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)" is a different proposition entirely. Taupin's lyric draws on the historical figure of Robert Ford, who shot Jesse James in the back, using that image to explore the emotional experience of a relationship ending: the narrator feels like the betrayer even when the relationship's failure was not solely his responsibility. The track's musical character is correspondingly heavier and more introspective, providing a strong emotional contrast to the lighter A-side. The pairing demonstrated the range that the Elton John/Bernie Taupin partnership could command within a single release.
Eleven Weeks and a Top-Fifteen Peak
The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 24, 1976, entering at position 55. Its chart progress through the winter was consistent: from 55 to 31 the following week, then 22, 17, 15, before settling into its highest positions. The single peaked at number 14 on the Hot 100 during the week of February 28, 1976, spending eleven weeks on the chart in total. That peak position was solid rather than spectacular by Elton John's own elevated standards, placing it among his strong performers without reaching the very top tier of his chart successes.
The chart context of early 1976 was competitive, with a wide range of genres and acts competing for Hot 100 placement. Elton's established commercial infrastructure gave the double A-side a strong launch, and the radio-friendly qualities of "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" in particular supported the extended chart run.
The Band Transition
The lineup changes that produced Rock of the Westies gave the recordings a somewhat different character from Elton's preceding work. The new configuration brought players including guitarist Davey Johnstone, who remained a constant, alongside newer additions who brought their own energy to the sessions. Some critics noted a rawer, less polished quality to the recordings compared to the precision of the earlier peak albums; others found this quality refreshing after the grandeur of works like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The double A-side sits within that contested period, carrying both the strengths and the particular character of the transitional lineup.
Elton's Mid-Decade Moment
By the time this single peaked in February 1976, Elton John's commercial dominance was beginning a slow transition. The extraordinary run of number-one albums would continue a while longer, but the absolute consistency of the earlier peak period was giving way to a more varied commercial picture. "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" / "I Feel Like A Bullet" represents a recording from the cusp of that transition, capturing an artist who was still operating at the very top of the commercial game while beginning to navigate the changing landscape that would define the late seventies. Press play on either side and hear one of the most commercially successful rock artists of his era working in full confidence.
"Grow Some Funk Of Your Own/I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)" — Elton John's singular moment on the 1970s charts.
02 Song Meaning
Funk, Guilt, and the Betrayer's Heart: The Meaning Behind Elton John's 1976 Double A-Side
Two Emotional Registers, One Release
The pairing of "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" with "I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)" as a double A-side was, among other things, a statement about emotional range. The two tracks inhabit almost opposite tonal territories: one playful and groove-driven, the other heavy with guilt and self-examination. Together they demonstrate the breadth that the Elton John and Bernie Taupin songwriting partnership had developed by 1976, the ability to move between light entertainment and genuine psychological weight within the same release cycle. That range was always one of their most underappreciated qualities.
The Guilt at the Center of "I Feel Like A Bullet"
The Robert Ford reference that anchors the second track's title deserves attention. Robert Ford was the man who shot Jesse James from behind in 1882, entering American cultural memory as a byword for betrayal. Taupin's use of this historical figure as a metaphor for the emotional experience of ending a relationship, or of being complicit in its end, gives the lyric an unusual historical and moral weight. The narrator identifies not with the wronged party but with the betrayer, acknowledging a kind of culpability that romantic pop songs rarely inhabit so honestly.
The emotional complexity of that position, feeling guilty even when the relationship's collapse was not entirely one's fault, reflects a psychological honesty that Taupin's lyric writing could achieve at its best. The mid-seventies produced a significant body of singer-songwriter material examining the inner life of romantic relationships with this kind of unflinching candor, and "I Feel Like A Bullet" belongs to that cultural moment. Elton's vocal delivery gives the lyric the weight it requires, finding the genuine distress beneath the historical metaphor.
The Funk Side's Lighter Pleasures
"Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" operates in a different mode entirely, with Taupin's lyric sketching a confrontation scene that functions more as character comedy than emotional confession. The Caribbean rhythmic influence in the production was a departure from Elton's more typical rock frameworks, and the lighter touch suited the lyrical subject matter well. The track offered radio programmers a more immediately accessible entry point than the emotionally complex B-side, which likely accounted for which track received the most airplay in most markets.
The song's playfulness was a genuine part of Elton John's artistic personality that could get lost in retrospective accounts focused on the grandeur of his peak albums. The mid-period work contained considerable humor and lightness alongside the emotional weight, and "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" is a clean example of that quality.
The Taupin-John Partnership at a Crossroads
The mid-seventies were a complicated period for the Taupin-John creative partnership. The extraordinary commercial run was straining under its own weight, and the personal distance between the two collaborators, with Taupin spending considerable time in California while John remained based in England, was affecting the creative relationship. The double A-side's tonal inconsistency, the jarring contrast between its two halves, might be read as a symptom of that strain. Two brilliant pieces of writing in different modes, not quite unified by a single artistic vision, but each effective on its own terms.
That reading should not diminish what the recording achieves. The Taupin-John partnership at any point in the mid-seventies was operating at a level that few songwriting teams in popular music history have reached, and these two tracks, for all their tonal distance from each other, carry the signatures of that achievement: melodic invention, lyrical precision, and performance conviction that makes each song feel necessary rather than incidental.
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