“Benny and the Jets” (sometimes rendered “Bennie and the Jets”) is one of Elton John and Bernie Taupin‘s biggest hits and most enduring songs. Originally recorded for John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album in 1973, he initially didn’t think the song had legs. As reported by Ultimate Classic Rock, John considered the song to be kind of odd, and was reluctant to release it as a single. It wasn’t until an influential Black radio station in Detroit started playing the song nonstop that it was released, the first step to becoming one of the most recognizable songs in history.

And one reason the song is so recognizable is that oddness. From that first, off-time chord that jumps out of the speakers at exactly the wrong moment to the stomping, robotic rhythm of the piece, the weird off-beat clapping and Elton John‘s incredibly high falsetto (Society of Rock informs us this was John’s best Frankie Valli impersonation), the song is just strange — and as a result, unforgettable.

Despite its fame, many fans don’t know what the song is really about. Like all Elton John songs from the first phase of his career, the lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin first, and John added the music and arrangement later, and each brought a subtly different interpretation to the piece. Here’s the true meaning behind Elton John’s “Benny and the Jets.”

It's a satire of the music industry

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It's about a futuristic all-girl punk band

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It's engineered to sound live for a reason

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Many people think that “Benny and the Jets” is a live track, but it’s a studio recording. As Rolling Stone reports, the audience sounds were layered on top of the recording by producer Gus Dudgeon, taken from a live show John had played at The Royal Festival Hall a few years later.

The live effects were part of the song’s narrative. As Dudgeon explained on Elton John’s website, that famous, weird first chord, coming in one bar before the song actually starts, caught his ear and made him think of a live band signaling the crowd that the show was about to start — which is perfect for a song about a futuristic band. So Dudgeon spoke with his sound engineers and decided it would work to “fake-live” the song.

According to Ultimate Classic Rock, when it came time to add in the audience claps, Dudgeon made sure they occurred on the “on” beat instead of the “off” beat, despite the fact that this drives him (and performers) crazy because it can throw the band off time. But that was how English audiences always did it in concert, and he wanted to remain true to life.