I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That (1988) – Elton John

I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That is a lively dance-rock number from that “Reg” guy, who features quite prominently here. What I like most about the song is the bouncy and audacious piano playing, and that’s probably what tipped it over the line for me to include it in the music project. There are some great bursts of piano throughout, which I still enjoy, even if the overall sound is a bit tinny and carries that very 1980s synthetic quality.

Around this time, post Too Low for Zero, listeners were starting to grow a bit lukewarm toward Elton’s output. In terms of quality, it was a noticeable dip from his magnificent early ’70s run. This song may well have been seen as modest in comparison to his earlier classics, and that’s probably fair. Also, that glossy 80s synth production – complete with its familiar popping textures – was never going to age as gracefully as his earlier work.

It might come as a surprise, then, that I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That became Elton John’s highest-charting US hit of the 1980s, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard. The song and Sacrifice, which came a year later, marked a clear late-80s resurgence for him.

Released on the 1988 album Reg Strikes Back, the song deals with the singer’s frustration on realising his partner doesn’t want a committed, monogamous relationship:

And I don’t wanna go on with you like that
Don’t wanna be a feather in your cap

It’s a statement of self-respect – refusing to settle for being just another option. There’s something bold and defiant in that stance. Even in the music video, with Elton strutting around with a kind of upright confidence, you get the sense of someone drawing a line. In that sense, it really does feel like “Reg striking back.”

Wikipedia: Elton played it in his tours during the album tour, Sleeping with the Past Tour and the rest of 1990s before he retired it in 2000 as the One Night Only concert in Madison Square Garden remains the most recent performance of it.

[Verse 1]
I’ve always said that one’s enough to love
Now I hear you’re braggin’ one is not enough
Well, somethin’ tells me you’re not satisfied
You got plans to make me one of four or five

[Verse 2]
I guess this kind of thing’s just in your blood
But you won’t catch me carvin’ up my love
I ain’t no puzzle piece that needs to fit
If it takes more than me, let’s a-call it quits

[Chorus]
‘Cause I don’t wanna go on with you like that
Don’t wanna be a feather in your cap
I just wanna tell you, honey, I ain’t mad
But I don’t wanna go on with you like that

[Post-Chorus]
Oh-oh-oh
Whoa-oh
Whoa-oh
Oh yeah

[Verse 3]
It gets so hard sometimes to understand
This vicious circle’s gettin’ outta hand
Don’t need an extra eye to see
That the fire spreads a-faster in a breeze

[Chorus]
And I don’t wanna go on with you like that
Don’t wanna be a feather in your cap
I just wanna tell you, honey, I ain’t mad
But I don’t wanna go on with you like that
No, I don’t wanna go on with you like that
One more set of boots on your welcome mat
You’ll just a-have to quit ’em if you want me back
‘Cause I don’t wanna go on with you like that

[Post-Chorus]
Oh-oh-oh
Whoa-oh
Whoa-oh
Oh yeah

[Bridge]
Oh, if you wanna spread it around, sister, that’s just fine
But I don’t want no second hand a-feedin’ me lines
If you wanna hold someone in the middle of the night
Call out the guards, turn out the light

[Chorus]

References:
1. I Don’t Wanna Go On with You Like That – Wikipedia