Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
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| “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” | |||||
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| Single by Elton John from the album 'Blue Moves' |
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| B-side | "Shoulder Holster" | ||||
| Released | November 1, 1976 | ||||
| Format | 7" Vinyl | ||||
| Recorded | Eastern Sound, Toronto, Ontario, Canada | ||||
| Genre | Piano pop | ||||
| Length | 3:48 | ||||
| Label | Rocket Records MCA Records (US/Canada) |
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| Writer(s) | Elton John Bernie Taupin |
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| Producer | Gus Dudgeon | ||||
| Elton John singles chronology | |||||
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"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It was recorded by Elton John and released in 1976, both as a single and as part of the Blue Moves album. It was his second single on Rocket Records. The song is a mournful ballad about unrequited love. It was also one of the rare instances where Elton John himself wrote much of the lyric. Whereas most of the John-Taupin songs began with Taupin's lyrics, this one began with John's melody, with some lyrics included. Taupin simply finished them.
The song also appeared the following year on Greatest Hits Volume II, though for copyright reasons it no longer appears on the current version of that album. It now appears on Greatest Hits 1976-1986, and in Greatest Hits 1970-2002, as well as a number of other compilations.
The song has been covered by R&B singer Mary J Blige. The song was also covered by Joe Cocker and featured in his "Joe Cocker's Greatest Hits" album.
Country singers Suzy Bogguss and Chet Atkins covered the song on their 1994 Simpatico and released it as a single but failed to chart on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.
In 2002, Blue covered this song, but they had help from Elton John who appeared in both the recording and the music video as 'Featured Artist'. Ray Charles and Elton John also recorded this song as a 'duet' in Ray's 2004 posthumous release Genius Loves Company. In 2006 this song was covered by Clay Aiken on his CD A Thousand Different Ways.
The song was a UK/US Top 20 hit, reaching #11 in the UK and #6 in the US. In 2007 it was revealed that the original version reached a virtual #4 in the United World Chart.
The video of "Sorry seems to be the hardest word" depicts the story of an unrequited love of a male youth who wants to take revenge on that reluctant girl, he was in love with. At the end of the video he and the best friend of the girl are a couple and so the friendship of the two girls is actively threatened. Because the guy tells a lot of gossip and untruths about the girl, who did not return his affection in the beginning. There was also a video produced where John sits alone at a white piano.
| “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” | |||||
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| Single by Marty Wilde and Kim Wilde from the album Born To Rock And Roll - The Greatest Hits |
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| Released | 2007 | ||||
| Format | CD-single | ||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||
| Label | Universal | ||||
| Writer(s) | Elton John, Bernie Taupin | ||||
| Marty Wilde and Kim Wilde singles chronology | |||||
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[edit] Marty and Kim Wilde version
The song was covered again in 2007 by Marty Wilde, a rock and roll star who made his name as a singer in the 1950s and 1960s, and during the 1980s co-wrote several hit singles for his daughter Kim Wilde. For his 2007 Greatest Hits compilation album, he recorded some new tracks including this one as a duet with his daughter. The two had previously performed the song together twenty years prior to this at an AIDS benefit concert. The Wildes chose to record this song for the new compilation in honour of Elton John's 60th birthday. It was released as a promotional-only single in the UK.
| Preceded by "Lose Yourself" by Eminem |
UK number one single December 15, 2002 - December 21, 2002 |
Succeeded by "Sound of the Underground" by Girls Aloud |
