Grrr, link doesn't work. Read below:
"This is about the time in Elton's life when he almost got married. In 1968, he was going to marry a woman, but was very conflicted. Bernie Taupin, his songwriting partner, and some of Elton's other friends talked him out of it and helped him through a difficult time. Years later, Elton admitted he was gay. In the line, "Paying your H.P. demands forever," the H.P. stands for "hire-purchase" payments, i.e., buying things on an installment plan. Elton is referring to the payments he would have to make if he were to have married a woman and spent his life disguising his identity as a gay man. "Sugar Bear" in the lyrics is British blues singer Long John Baldry. He's the man who convinced Elton that he was making a mistake by getting married."