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What in the hell does the song mean? The lyrics make absolutely no sense to me.
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Is it true that it was never recorded in a studio, and the version heard most on the radio was recorded at a concert?
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What exactly is mo-hair? I know it’s a material of some type, but was it a synthetic fiber of the 70’s, or is it used today?
Mohair comes from an Angora goat. I think it was popular in the 70’s but it’s still used today. Do a Google image search for “mohair” and you’ll see plenty of examples or what it looks like.
A rock band starts off singing - “You’re gonna hear electric music, solid walls of sound” then some teenybopper fans (Candy and Ronnie are being to talked to) are discussing Bennie - “She’s got electric boots and a mohair suit, you know I read it in a magazine.”
Here is a link to the lyrics to Bennie and the Jets.
I appreciate the attempt, Dolores, but that doesn’t help. Up until today, I didn’t realize that Bennie was a woman, but I assume she’s the lead singer of the Jets, correct?
Some of us were more intrigued when we thought she had electric boobs.
The single was a studio recording, with pre-recorded crowd noises dubbed in. The lyrics are a pretty straightforward send-up of glam rock and music industry hype.
…and the generational conflict associated with rock in those days (see also Wild in the Streets, “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” etc.).
Sorry. Just couldn’t resist. 
I said I was sorry. Just shoot me, already.
hmm. Maybe I’ll looking too hard for something. What does “we’ll kill the fatted calf tonight.” refer to?
“Kill the fatted calf” is a metaphor for pull out all the stops and have a massive celebration, from the parable of the prodigal son.
If you really wanted to stretch the metaphor you might say it identifies Bennie as a formerly rebellious figure who is being enthusiastically welcomed into the establishment; i.e., a sell-out. Actually, that’s not bad.
Actually the opposite is true. The version most heard on the radio is the studio version. It was just recoreded to sound like it was done live.
Can’t you be banned for doing that?! :dubious:
For doing what?
Or did I just get whooshed?
And a mohawk too!
I don’t know. I would, of course, leave it up to a moderator to let me know if I am stepping over any lines and I would humbly accept a warning without argument. I presume, however, that a little bit of humor is tolerated. Particularly since it’s in Cafe Society and the question was answered.
But, again, I will leave it up to one of the Dope’s moderators to inform me if I have transgressed.
WAG: For “wishing death” on a Doper. (Yourself.)
Alternately, for posting a really really bad pun…
I thought it was a about a gang, like the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story.
Ah well ignorance fought.
It was for posting a really bad pun and I was kidding. 
Part of that could be it was spelled “Benny” on many albums. I recall on my album (and a quick Google search of old vinyl albums verifies this) that it was spelled Benny on the record and Bennie on the record jacket. On singles you can also see it spelled both ways, depending on the issue. Thought Elton John’s site cofirms it’s “Bennie”
Oh, phew. I was staring at that photo trying to figure out if that bottle Moe was holding had poison in it or something. The “dubious” smilie threw me off.
I love threads like this when they discuss a song I’ve known most of my life and have never had a problem understanding! I’m always amazed at how other people hear the same things I do and get confused by a poetic turn of phrase or an awkward wording to make the rhythm and rhyme fit. Or how people search for deeper meaning when it’s just something simple they’ve never come across before.
A message board I used to frequent for one of my favorite folk singers spent THREE DAYS discussing the significance of his use of the word Fist instead of Hand and what cosmic references could be gleaned from that usage…and all the time I’m screaming (in my head, because I couldn’t post to the thread) "It’s because “fist” rhymes better with “this”!!!