Philadelphia Freedom (song) honour Billie Jean King, and so asked Taupin to write a song called "Philadelphia Freedom" as a homage to her tennis team, the Philadelphia Freedoms. In "His Song: The Musical History of Elton John", Elizabeth Rosenthal recounts that Taupin said, "I can't write a song about tennis," and did not. Taupin maintains that the lyrics bear no relation to tennis, Philly Soul, or even flag-waving patriotism. Nonetheless, the lyrics have been interpreted as patriotic and uplifting, and even though it was released in 1975, the song's sentiment, intentionally or not, meshed perfectly with an American music audience gearing up for
Billie Jean with this kind of effect, this eternalness, this perfection." The song has featured in the film "Charlie's Angels" and the 2002 video game "". When re-released as part of the "" campaign in 2006, "Billie Jean" charted at No. 11 in the UK. It remained in the top 200 for over 40 weeks and was the most successful reissue by some distance. To date, "Billie Jean" is still in heavy rotation; it receives more than 250,000 spins per week in clubs around the world. !scope="row"|United States (RIAA) !scope="row"|United States (RIAA) !scope="row"|United States (RIAA) Footnotes Bibliography Billie Jean "Billie Jean" is