This song deals with a time in Elton's life when he was going to get married to a woman named Linda Woodrow, which would have been a big mistake. In the 1991 Two Rooms tribute project, Elton explained: "I was going to get married once when I was younger, and I went out and got drunk with Long John Baldry and Bernie and John said I shouldn't get married. I knew he was right but I didn't know how to get out of it so, I just got drunk and went home and said I'm not getting married."
"Sugar Bear" in the lyrics refers to Long John Baldry, who recalls, "Apparently, I gave Elton some very good advice when he was in a pickle, and he wrote a song about it. But I still can't figure out what the song is about."
According to Linda Woodrow, it was the summer of 1970 when Elton suddenly broke off their engagement, leaving her devastated. She, Elton and Bernie Taupin were sharing an apartment in London at the time. When she heard these lines in the song, she was not pleased: You nearly had me roped and tied Altar-bound, hypnotized Woodrow ended up moving to America and having three children. She harbors no ill-feelings toward Elton John, but is a little tweaked about Taupin's lyric.
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