European theme song: Madman Across the Water (1971) by Elton John

It’s quite peculiar in a funny sort of way
They think it’s very funny everything I say
Get a load of him, he’s so insane…
But is it in your conscience that you’re after
Another glimpse of a madman across the water
Madman Across the Water, Elton John and Bernie Taupin

Critics and fans have believed the song is talking about either the thirty-seventh president of the United States of America Richard Nixon or German dictator Adolf Hitler. Although most people believe that it is about Nixon, Bernie Taupin denied it, stating “Back in the seventies, when people were saying that ‘Madman Across the Water’ was about Richard Nixon, I thought, ‘that is genius’. I could never have thought of that.”

We can believe Bernie Taupin, lyricist for so many Elton John hits. But these days, more than fifty years later, the song again resonates. Do we think that Europeans looking across the Atlantic Ocean see a “madman across the water”? Do we think that Americans here see a “madman on this side of the water”?

A great song. And if the song fits…