“Bennie and the Jets” (also titled “Benny & the Jets”) is a song written by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin, and performed by John. The song first appeared on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album in 1973. “Bennie and the Jets” has been one of John’s most popular songs and was performed during his appearance at Live Aid. The track was a massive hit in the United States and Canada, released in 1974 as an A-side and spelled ‘Bennie’. In most territories the track was released as the B-side to “Candle in the Wind”, but spelled ‘Benny’. Album artwork (back-cover track listing and center-panel design) consistently lists the song as ‘Bennie’ while either ‘Bennie’ or ‘Benny’ appears on the vinyl album depending on territory. The track was released as an A-side in the UK in 1976, as “Benny and the Jets”. The song tells of “Bennie and the Jets”, a fictional band of whom the song’s narrator is a fan. In interviews, Taupin has said that the song’s lyrics are a satire on the music industry of the 1970s. John rarely plays the studio version of the song, and often makes subtle or even drastic changes. During his live performances, the piano solo near the end of the song has been played in all sorts of variations, from very close to the original to wildly improvised and extended versions, such as the elaborate version during his Central Park concert in 1980 and another memorable take on it during the “Elton and his band” part of the show recorded in Sydney, Australia on 14 December 1986, his last show before his throat surgery in 1987.

Hi, my name is Ryan Van Tuyl, and since 2004 I’ve helped thousands of kids learn piano, singing, guitar, bass, drums, and songwriting in schools all over the world. The programs I’ve created teach kids how to achieve their musical dreams and become better, hardworking individuals through learning to play and perform rock, pop, hip-hop, blues, metal, and jazz music. Graduates of my programs have attended prestigious music colleges and universities. However, these programs have only been able to exist in middle-to-upper-class communities, where parents can afford to fund music education for their children directly.

While all of this has been a fantastic experience, it has left out kids who attend schools in underprivileged, more diverse communities without funding for modern music education. Schools and districts in these areas lack funding for the equipment, teachers, curriculum, and support necessary to facilitate rock-band-style programs like the ones I’ve created.

My mission was to tackle this head-on and bring these exceptional programs to students in economically challenged areas, so I sold my music schools and am launching The Van Tuyl Music Foundation to forever change music education. Our foundation will directly provide the funding for the equipment, instruction, curriculum, and support necessary to facilitate these programs.