Elton John - Your Song | A Classical Musician’s FIRST Listen and Reaction

Comments · 169

• VI

  @viceroyzh · 6 months ago

  This song bought him a big house.

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• SW

  @sweetieguy · 6 months ago

  The song was written in 1967, when Bernie Taupin was 17 (&quot;hence the extraordinarily virginal sentiments,&quot; he has said). Elton has said that this song is not about anyone in particular, so Taupin has refused to reveal the identity of the person - if such person exists - who inspired this song. He explained in a 1989 interview with Music Connection: &quot;It&apos;s like the perennial ballad &apos;Your Song,&apos; which has got to be one of the most naïve and childish lyrics in the entire repertoire of music, but I think the reason it still stands up is because it was real at the time. That was exactly what I was feeling. I was 17 years old and it was coming from someone whose outlook on love or experience with love was totally new and naïve. <br>Now I could never write that song again or emulate it because the songs I write now that talk about love coming from people my age usually deal with broken marriages and where the children go. You have to write from where you are at a particular point in time, and &apos;Your Song&apos; is exactly where I was coming from back then.&quot; <br>Bernie Taupin wrote the words for this song over breakfast at Elton&apos;s parents&apos; house, where he was staying. The original lyrics have coffee stains on them. <br>&quot;The original lyric was written very rapidly on the kitchen table of Elton&apos;s mother&apos;s apartment in Northwood Hills in the suburbs of London, if I recall, on a particularly grubby piece of exercise paper,&quot; said Taupin. <br>Elton wrote the music in about 20 minutes, as he often did with Taupin&apos;s lyrics in their early days. <br>This helped alter the music landscape in the early &apos;70s. After it came out, singer/songwriters like James Taylor and Carole King had a lot of success with heartfelt songs featuring a prominent vocal and a soft piano or guitar. <br>Regarding the place of this song in the Taupin/John canon, Bernie Taupin said: &quot;This one is the one I recall like it was yesterday. The rest of them I&apos;m a little shaky on. In retrospect, and I&apos;ve said it on several occasions, I see this song as a bookend and its counterpart would be a song like &apos;Sacrifice.&apos; &apos;Your Song&apos; being a song about absolute naiveté in love while &apos;Sacrifice&apos; is the complete opposite, the story of someone who&apos;s seen and done it all, as far as love&apos;s concerned, and come out the other end scarred but realistic about certain aspects of the real world.&quot; <br>This attracted the attention of some heavy hitters in the music industry. Arranger Paul Buckmaster and producer Gus Dudgeon both signed on to work with Elton after hearing this. They played a big part in crafting his songs over the next several years. <br>Elton appeared on US TV for the first time performing this on The Andy Williams Show. He was shy and dressed very plain, which changed a few years later when he became known for his outrageous costumes and flamboyant personality. <br>Elton&apos;s 1975 song &quot;We All Fall In Love Sometimes&quot; is about the writing of this song. <br>After hearing this, John Lennon said Elton was &quot;The first new thing that&apos;s happened since we (The Beatles) happened.&quot; They ended up becoming good friends. <br>Both Elton John and Bernie Taupin agree that this is one of their best efforts. Said Taupin: &quot;I think &apos;Your Song&apos; is a gem. Our classic, I&apos;m not sure. I&apos;ll let others decide that. But it&apos;s like an old friend, it means so many things on equally as many levels. It&apos;s certainly proved its worth, and I&apos;ve heard it sung a million times. It&apos;s like a good dog, it&apos;s always there.&quot; <br>Elton performs this at all his concerts. He once said of this song: &quot;I don&apos;t think I&apos;ve written a love song as good since.&quot; He has called it &quot;A perfect song,&quot; and says that the older he gets, the more the lyrics resonate with him.

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• M.

  @m.jackiematos5069 · 6 months ago (edited)

  Regarding the line about potions, I think he&apos;s evoking Medicine shows of the 19th century, shady traveling performances where a showman would theatrically sell various snake oils to an enraptured crowd. Basically saying he wishes he were as smooth a talker as a huckster.

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• MA

  @martinisaac5106 · 6 months ago

  Paul Buckmaster was a genius strings arranger. &nbsp;He and Gus Dudgeon (producer) were key contributors to Elton&apos;s early sound.

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• MA

  @marks9140 · 6 months ago

  The structure of the verse about forgetting the color of her eyes is just so wonderful.

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• TH

  @thejoyofthemusicinmylife7897 · 6 months ago

  This is the song that put Elton on the map. Today while he &nbsp;and Bernie went on to write many classics, Your Song stands as one of his most noted work.

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• ST

  @stevewest4994 · 5 months ago

  Bernie had a knack of putting little hooks into the lyrics and Elton knew exactly how to write the music to bring them out. A brilliant writing partnership.

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• FL

  @fluff1353 · 6 months ago

  The scene in &quot;Rocket Man,&quot; where he plays this song for his family, is actually quite moving.

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• DA

  @davidrauh8118 · 6 months ago

  Contrary to what most people believe, Bernie Taupin wrote virtually all of Elton&apos;s lyrics and Elton wrote the music. A great collaboration for sure.

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• BR

  @BruceDillinger-f9g · 6 months ago

  One of Elton&apos;s sweetest. Made us all sit up and take notice back in the day. ✌️

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• TH

  @thomassharmer7127 · 6 months ago (edited)

  &quot;A man who makes potions in a travelling show...&quot; is stereotypically someone who is good with words and getting their message across. The writer is struggling to express themselves, but their lack of slick patter, together with their hesitations and homely images just add to the sincerity of the sentiment. Elton has said he typically responds quickly and instinctively to the words &nbsp;Bernie sends him. He&apos;s an excellent pianist who crafts beautiful melodies, and he&apos;s a pretty good singer too. All he needed was a great lyricist. Fortunately, he found the right one.

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• WP

  @wpl8275 · 6 months ago

  The true story of Bernie Taupin and Elton John is kismet personified. &nbsp;Elton struggling to catch a break. Taupin a 17 year old dropout. Both applying casually to an ad for new talent. Neither one making the cut. Elton bothering the guy who was the AR man for a break and getting an unopened (not even looked at) envelope of poetry/verse by Taupin tossed to him that was sitting at the top of the pile of material leftover from the rejected pile. Elton takes the envelope with him to the tube station and sits down somewhere and opens it up to read what is in it. And somehow he connects with it enough to contact Bernie and ask to meet up with him in a diner/cafe.

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