Songfacts®:

• There is no mystery about the identity of the honky cat in question; Elton's first and most endearing lyricist, Bernie Taupin, was born on a farm in Lincolnshire, and like several of their early collaborations, including "Tell Me When The Whistle Blows," it leaves the listener in no uncertain terms as to where he would rather be, unlike city kid Elton, who was born at Pinner and served his apprenticeship in the capital under his birth name (Reginald Dwight), playing piano, among other things.
• In spite of its distinctly American flavour, "Honky Cat" was recorded along with the rest of the Honky Château album at Château d'Hérouville, Hérouville, France, in January 1972. At the time, the studio was known as "Strawberry Studios," but after Elton dubbed it the "Honky Chateau" and named his album after it, that became its new moniker.
  
  The Château d'Hérouville lies northwest of Paris and is where Frédéric Chopin was believed to have conducted his affair with the novelist George Sand. In 1962 the composer Michel Magne bought it and converted it into a studio, which became a popular location doing the 1970s and '80s. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2
• Befitting the title, Elton played a honky-tonk style piano on this one, giving it the feel of a roadhouse or old-time saloon. The song starts with just this piano but builds to include a horn section and a banjo played by Elton's guitarist, Davey Johnstone.
• "Honky Cat" followed "Rocket Man" as the second of two singles from Honky Chateau, Elton's fifth album. Both songs were solid hits but not nearly as popular as "Crocodile Rock," the first single from his next album, Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player. That song was his first #1 hit in America and ramped him up to a new level of stardom.
• "Honky Cat" was released July 31, 1972, backed by "Slave," a song written from the perspective of a slave in the American Civil War. The radio edit was chopped down to 4:07 from the album version, which runs 5:13.