I thought I knew/
But now I know that rose trees never grow/
In New York City.
Elton John wrote almost all of his songs with lyricist Bernie Taupin. “Mona Lisa’s and Mad Hatters” is about the disillusionment Taupin felt while in the big city. How do you feel when reality doesn’t match your high expectations? In this world everyone appears to be super-busy, too busy to know if it is day or night.
They might be busy because they are out partying all night or out working and making a lot of money, but their life is defined by its speed. In this world people “run you through”. However, there are special people you can meet in the city, and he is thankful for those people and the small amount of joy he has been able to carve out for himself in this world.
Elton’s voice sounds great here. The difference in this song- compared to other works by John- is that the piano is not solely featured. There are times when a mandolin is the primary instrument. Overall, the arrangement is sparse and gets the feel of Spanish Harlem with its combination of instruments.
Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters Lyrics
And now I know
Spanish Harlem are not just pretty words to say
I thought I knew
But now I know that rose trees never grow
In New York City
Until you’ve seen this trash can dream come true
You stand at the edge while people run you through
And I thank the Lord
There’s people out there like you
I thank the Lord there’s people out there like you
While Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Sons of bankers, sons of lawyers
Turn around and say good morning to the night
For unless they see the sky
But they can’t and that is why
They know not if it’s dark outside or light
This Broadway’s got
It’s got a lot of songs to sing
If I knew the tunes I might join in
I’ll go my way alone
Grow my own, my own seeds shall be sown, in New York City
Subway’s no way for a good man to go down
Rich man can ride and the hobo he can drown
And I thank the Lord for the people I have found
I thank the Lord for the people I have found
While Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Sons of bankers, sons of lawyers
Turn around and say good morning to the night
For unless they see the sky
But they can’t and that is why
They know not if it’s dark outside or light
And now I know
Spanish Harlem are not just pretty words to say
I thought I knew
But now I know that rose trees never grow
In New York City
Subway’s no way for a good man to go down
Rich man can ride and the hobo he can drown
And I thank the Lord for the people I have found
I thank the Lord for the people I have found
While Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Sons of bankers, sons of lawyers
Turn around and say good morning to the night
For unless they see the sky
But they can’t and that is why
They know not if it’s dark outside or light
They know not if it’s dark outside or light
Songwriters: Bernie Taupin / Elton John
I partially disagree. This song is about the disproportionate wealth allocation in the city. How the rich are blind to the working class and the poor. At the time this was written, Spanish Harlem was impoverished and crime ridden, hence “not just pretty words to say”. “Sons of bankers, sons of lawyers turn around and say good morning to the night” is a double entendre. In one way it refers, as you mentioned, to partying all night. But in a way that more aligns with the consistent referencing of “rich man” and “hobo”, it conveys they live in the “dark” or in ignorance.Their view of their surroundings is gilded by their families’ prestige and wealth. Their ignorance is shielded by the “night” (darkness), because without it they would see walks of life they’re incapable of fathoming. But as you mentioned, there is someone who is neither rich, nor poor. Someone who understands the demographics of the inequitable city. Someone who does “know if it’s dark outside or light”. I would imagine this was inspired by someone who spent their time advocating for change.
I think it means the rich and lawyers were up all night doing cocaine and partying and they didn’t know if it was day or night. And dying on a subway was no way to go. Most the cocaine came out of Spanish Harlem and to find out they were more than just pretty words. That’s where they had to get it from.
It’s a song all about the fast paced life of partying and life of NYC for the rich in NYC…
Don’t agree.. I feel that Bernie was reflecting on the superficiality of NYC.. that people are so distracted by the pace that they miss actually LIVING!
I remember a song recorded by Benny King about “there’s a ROSE in Spanish Harlem ” and how he was going there to pick it. Lots of people for various reasons seem to beleive. Now figure this, your culture is so different you too are a songwriter, but when you actually reach Spanish Harlem, no rose,never had one because rosetrees never grew in Spanish Harlem. A songwriter’s imagination.
The rest is just a really brilliant song, using all the other real stuff, by two of the greatest Taupin & John.
I agree with both previous comments. You both put great insight into the words and mood of the song. This song has always fascinated be because I was just a child when I heard it repeatedly out of my dads old turntable with huge floor speakers. The thing that hit me as a kid was “Mona-Lisa’s and Madhatters themselves, because I knew both of those things by 7 or 8. Today I see it as Mona Lisa’s being those who don’t really have any feeling one way or the other. They just slog through their day, even the most fortunate amongst them. Then there are the Madhatters who don’t give straight answers and dress fashionably even with no real place to go. They have gone mad due to their profession’s dangers, in this case the lack of empathy or context. Just my two cents.
AC , I love your description of this song. Thank you
I’ve lived in a blue collar neighborhood in Queens for 10 years and while I will be moving out in two months, this song has somehow arrived on my headphones with perfect timing. Maybe he wrote it after a brief stay in the city’s outskirts, but it feels like he is describing the sentiment of getting to know strangers while looking for love, never finding a real partner in that sense, but encountering an extreme gratefulness for the bystanders you meet along the way. They are all here by some fate in each and every moment and may be gone in the next. This has been my experience here in this city and I believe much of it is unique to this place.
I think people are reading way too much into the song and over-analyzing it. The title basically explains everything.
Yes, Mad Hatters refer to the crazy character from Lewis Caroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” and all his craziness represented .
However, there’s a flip side to Manhattan . Most importantly, NYC encompasses 4 other huge boroughs but honestly, NO ONE involved in the Arts or Finance or Medicine cares about them . Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.
When someone sings about NYC, they mean SPECIFICALLY MANHTATAN and NOT Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, or Staten Island which look like a thousand other boring Metros in the U.S.
Mona Lisas refer to the very best our world has produced by people like DaVinci, a true genius for any age or time. Despite the Mad Hatters, “NYC” also produces some of the best and brightest the city has to offer. The TOP doctors, the top lawyers, the top scientists, the most successful designers and publishers and musicians and on and on. So it’s about the very worst, and the very best living under one umbrella. And people who work from sun-up to sundown so hard indoors, and who party so hard indoors, they don’t even know if it’s morning or night.
That’s my slightly different take on the song as who lives in NY and a 30 min ride away from Manhattan which I have been to countless times .
Nice!
All great comments. The song leaves enough for imagination and for everyone to interpret it the way they feel, which is the sign of a great song. For me the song is a simple matter of city life versus living out of the city. I live in the mountains and for me the subway’s no way for a good man to go down. But I’d love to go camping with Bernie to talk about it (it would be nice if Steven Stills was there as well). I’ll want this song to be played at my memorial service because I thank the lord there’s people out there like you. My attending friends will understand.
This is an elaboration on Sean’s post. To me this song has always held a powerful message.
The beginning of the song is a reference to Ben E. King’s song “Spanish Harlem” written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector. The lyrics state that a beautiful red rose grows in Spanish harlem that the singer wants to plant in his own garden to watch it bloom. The truth of Spanish Harlem in 1960 was that of a life of unremitting struggle and abject poverty. No rose there–“Spanish Harlem are not just pretty words to say. I thought I knew But now I know that rose trees never grow In New York City”
This false optimism is a “trash can dream” which you have to be asleep to believe. What you get instead is people pushed to the precipice in there lives and then “run through” as a coup de grâce. This instead of help or hope.
On the other hand, those who are the small fortunate ones to have received the largesse of life, and have all they need or want, are often incapable, or worse, unwilling to have empathy for those who have less, or who have nothing — “Subway’s no way for a good man to go down. Rich man can ride and the hobo he can drown.”
The Mona Lisas smile and bask in their good fortune, blind to the 90% who can’t share in it. The “mad-hatters” exploit the world, nature, and everything around them for their own financial gain, blind to the heavy price for their actions. “They cannot see the sky” or their connection to all of nature and their fellow man. They cannot see the harmful consequences of their actions and therefore erroneously see light in all the darkness they are creating.
But it is not all grim. He has found a few very aware and thoughtful people to be his comrades, and who can mitigate the arduousness of this life, those with awareness because they say good morning to the “light”, not the night.
There is also the beauty of art, and he will partake of it rather than get bogged down in this reality-“This Broadway’s got, it’s got a lot of songs to sing. If I knew the tunes I might join in”
If one cannot change life, one can change themselves. He’ll create his own reality, an enclave, where he and his friends can live a livable life, and realize their own goals–“I’ll go my way alone. Grow my own, my own seeds shall be sown, in New York City”
This a very beautiful and soulful song.
There are so many insightful , fantastic, replies here, including yours, George. Wonderful!