„Your Song” Elton John

„Your Song” is a ballad composed and performed by English musician Elton John with lyrics by his long-time collaborator Bernie Taupin. It appeared on John’s self-titled second album in 1970.  The song was released in the United States in October 1970 as the B-side to „Take Me to the Pilot„. Both received airplay, but „Your Song” was preferred by disc jockeys and replaced „Take Me to the Pilot” as the A-side, eventually making the top ten on both the UK and US charts.

„Your Song” is a soft blend of two different styles: folk and jazz: „I hope you don’t mind / I hope you don’t mind / That I’ve put down in words / How wonderful life is while you’re in the world.” The instrumental focus is on John’s Leon Russell-influenced piano work, along with acoustic guitar, Paul Buckmaster‘s string accompaniment, and a shuffling rhythm section.

The lyrics express the romantic thoughts of an innocent. Taupin offers a straightforward love-song lyric at the beginning: „It’s a little bit funny this feeling inside / I’m not one of those who can easily hide / I don’t have much money but boy if I did / I’d buy a big house where we both could live.” At times the self-deprecating narrator stumbles to get out his feelings, which despite being a melodramatic device, Allmusic calls „effective and sweet”: „So excuse me forgetting but these things I do / You see I’ve forgotten if they’re green or they’re blue / Anyway the thing is what I really mean / Yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen / And you can tell everybody this is your song / It may be quite simple but now that it’s done…”

The song was part of a stockpile of songs John and Taupin wrote while living together. John pinpoints his composition of the music to 27 October 1969. It took him only ten minutes. Taupin had penned the lyrics earlier that day over breakfast. John cites the song as one of his favourites, and plays it at most of his concerts. In an interview, he commented, „I don’t think I have written a love song as good since”. „Your Song” was itself the inspiration for the song „We All Fall in Love Sometimes” on John’s 1975 album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.^[3] The original framed handwritten lyric, complete with egg and coffee stains from breakfast, can be seen in the lyrics booklet that’s included with various editions of Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.