There’s no way around the fact that some of the most popular and critically acclaimed songwriters in rock history have borrowed quite liberally from musicians who went before them. Sometimes, a hit song that sounds a bit too much like an already existing tune can end up leading to a lawsuit…other times, the original artist takes being “stolen” from as a sort of complement and keeps the lawyers out of it.
When former teen idol Pat Boone encountered Elton John, the scene could have unfolded either way. That’s because Boone took the opportunity to confront the Grammy winner about the similarities between his 1972 hit “Crocodile Rock” and Boone’s 1962 song “Speedy Gonzales” (particularly the “la-la-la” part).
“I said, ‘Sir Elton, I have a little bone to pick with you,’” Boone told Fox News in 2023.
“And he looked at me with a guilty grin, and I said, ‘You know, I did a song called ‘Speedy Gonzales.’ And you used it,'” Boone continued, adding, “And he said, ‘Yes, I used it in ‘Crocodile Rock,’ and I thought you were going to sue me.’”
Luckily for Sir Elton, Boone had the opposite reaction.
“I said, ‘Sue you?’ You know, we performers, we’re thrilled when somebody does something that we did. I was honored,'” Boone recalled. “He said, ‘I had all your records. I had ‘Love letters in the Sand’ and ‘April Love’ and all those songs. But when I heard ‘Speedy Gonzales,’ I knew I was going to have to use that ‘La la la la la la la la la.” And he used it in ‘Crocodile Rock.’ So we celebrated that together.”
As it turns out, Boone’s version of “Speedy Gonzales” was a cover anyway. The song was written by Buddy Kaye, Ethel Lee and David Hess, otherwise known as David Dante, who was the first to record the track.
‘Crocodile Rock’ was Elton John’s first U.S. number one single
Not only was “Crocodile Rock” John’s first single to hit #1 in the U.S., but it also went gold in 1973 and was certified platinum by 1995.
In 2013, the singer opened up about being inspired by “Speedy Gonzales” in Rolling Stone.
“It was a really blatant homage to Speedy Gonzales and all the great ‘Fifties and Sixties ’50s and ’60s records that we used to love, like Danny and the Juniors’ ‘At the Hop,'” he explained.
“My career wasn’t about ‘Crocodile Rock’ — it was just a one-off thing — but it became a huge hit record, and in the long run, it became a negative for me, because people said, Oh, f—king ‘Crocodile Rock.'”
“I’d never started off as a hit writer, and I didn’t know what a hit was, and it’s evidenced on my first four albums,” Sir Elton continued, adding, “Rolling Stone reviewed it and gave it two stars, and I said, ‘Oh, f—k off.’ It was a great f—king pop record. Shut the f—k up.”
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