Although the references to the Ray Bradbury story seem feasible, I had always assumed the Elton John song “Rocket Man” was influenced by the Thomas Pynchon novel “Gravity’s Rainbow”. In this novel the main character (uh, one of the main characters), a Tyrone Slothrop, was nicknamed “Rocket Man”. There are a variety of lines in the song which had lead me to this belief. The phrases “…and all the science I don’t understand, it’s just my job 5 days a week…” and “…I’m not the man they think I am back home…” amongst others seemed to correspond nicely to various aspects of the book. Of course, it’s anyone’s guess what had actually influenced John and Taupin but with the popularity (at one time) of Pynchon’s short stories in Great Britain it would seem a viable conclusion to draw.
Speaking of Outer-Space themes in modern pop-music, has anyone but myself ever pondered the connnection and similarities betweeen Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and (the German 80’s pop singer) Peter Schiller’s song “Major Tom”?
Of course it does - it was an homage :->
Craxonius,
See the original mailbag question and answer.
Apparently, there are others who share your fascination. Hope the answer helps.
SDStaffSongbird
I’m ressurecting a 2 decade dead thread to say it’s not an homage. Gravity’s Rainbow was released in 73, Rocketman in 72
Glad you cleared that up, because I’d wondering for close to 24 years now.
So, Pynchon lifted ideas for his novel off the song, then?
And here I was thinking it was gonna be a long, long time.
Bwahahaha! 
The person above who said “Of course it does - it was an homage” was referring to “Major Tom” and “Space Oddity”, not Gravity’s Rainbow and “Rocket Man”.
Shit that’s my bad, I was out of it at the time. Heard Rocketman and immediately started wondering if they were connected
Everyone’s brain farts sometimes. 
Bernie Taupin, who of course writes most of Elton John’s lyrics, has said that he never wrote a song that didn’t mean exactly what it says in the song. He doesn’t have deeper meanings or references, except, I guess, the kinds of unconscious cultural things that are just lying around for everybody. The thing about his lyrics when matched with the music is that they can sound like they mean more, or different things, to different people. It’s a safe bet, though, that when he wrote “Rocket Man”, Taupin was thinking nothing more than, “What would it be like to commute to work by rocket?”
The song was inspired by the short story “The Rocket Man” in The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. Taupin… has acknowledged borrowing from Pearls Before Swine’s 1970 “Rocket Man” written by Tom Rapp, which was also influenced by the Bradbury story.
(from Wkipedia)