Elton John - American Triangle

Matthew Wayne Shepard was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He was taken by rescuers to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he died from severe head injuries six days later.

“The first song that we actually wrote for the album and when Bernie gave me this lyric I knew that I had to write a great song because it's uh about the murder of Matthew Shepard which happened two years ago in Laramie, Wyoming in America and he was a 21-year-old gay student who was uh beaten up and left to die and um affected me incredibly I went to Laramie and I did a concert uh for four anti-hate groups and I met Matthew's parents and uh since then I've I've always wanted to write a song about this uh this event and this is the song called American Triangle.” Elton John.

This performance was recorded from Top Of The Pops 2 shown on 26th September 2001, originally recorded at Top Of The Pops in September 2001.

Elton John - American Triangle Lyrics

Seen him playing in his backyard
Young boy just starting out
So much history in this landscape
So much confusion, so much doubt

Been there drinking on that front porch
Angry kids, mean and dumb
Looks like a painting, that blue skyline
God hates fags where we come from

'Western skies' don't make it right
'Home of the brave' don't make no sense
I've seen a scarecrow wrapped in wire
Left to die on a high ridge fence

It's a cold, cold wind
It's a cold, cold wind
It's a cold wind blowing, Wyoming

See two coyotes run down a deer
Hate what we don't understand
You pioneers give us your children
But it's your blood that stains their hands

Somewhere that road forks up ahead
To ignorance and innocence
Three lives drift on different winds
Two lives ruined, one life spent