Elton's highest-charting US hit of the '80s, "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" finds him lambasting a straying lover. The lyric is one of the more straightforward written by Elton's songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. Of note is that Elton sings it from the perspective of a man being cheated on by a woman: "If you wanna spread it around sister that's just fine." When he recorded this song, Elton was still married to a woman (Renate Blauel), and had not come out as gay.
The song has a lot of significance for Elton not so much for its subject matter, but for where it fits on his timeline. He was doing copious amounts of cocaine at the time, and in his words, "headed for the abyss." As his current hit, he performed the song at many concerts; Elton says that he always left his personal life behind when he faced an audience, but had to deal with his demons as soon as he left the stage.
Like many of Elton's videos, the clip for this one was directed by Russell Mulcahy, and did very well on MTV. Elton performed the song at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards.
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