| "Your Song" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Elton John | ||||
| from the album Elton John | ||||
| Released | October 1970 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Recorded | January 1970; Trident Studios (London, England) |
|||
| Genre | Pop, soft rock | |||
| Length | 4:04 | |||
| Label | Uni, DJM | |||
| Writer(s) | Elton John, Bernie Taupin | |||
| Producer | Gus Dudgeon | |||
| Elton John singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"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.
In 2004 the song was placed at number 136 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
A demo version was included on John's 1990 box set album To Be Continued.[1] The song has been covered by a number of artists, including Ellie Goulding, whose version reached number two in the UK in 2010.
Contents |
"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":[2] "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 is included with various editions of Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.
"Your Song" was praised by critics upon its release and in subsequent years. Bill Janovitz from Allmusic described it as a "near-perfect song".[2] In a 1975 interview with Rolling Stone, John Lennon recalled, "I remember hearing Elton John's 'Your Song,' heard it in America—it was one of Elton's first big hits—and remember thinking, 'Great, that's the first new thing that's happened since we (The Beatles) happened.' It was a step forward. There was something about his vocal that was an improvement on all of the English vocals until then. I was pleased with it." John Mendelsohn from Rolling Stone called the song a "pretty McCartney-esque ballad".[4]
The song was John's first pop hit. It rose to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart. In 2002, John re-recorded the song as a duet with opera singer Alessandro Safina for the first Sport Relief charity telethon, and it reached number four in the UK.
|
|
| Chart (1971) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Dutch Top 40[5] | 10 |
| UK Singles Chart[6] | 7 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[7] | 8 |
| Chart (2002) | Peak position |
| Canadian Singles Chart[7]
Version with Alessandro Safina |
8 |
| Dutch Single Top 100[8]
Version with Alessandro Safina |
88 |
| UK Singles Chart[9]
Version with Alessandro Safina |
4 |
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
| US Hot Dance Club Play[7] | 5 |
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
| Norwegian Singles Chart[10] | 10 |
In 2001, John performed Your Song with Billy Joel as a part of The Concert for New York City as a part of the tribute to the September 11 attacks.
John performed the song at the Concert for Diana on 1 July 2007. On 31 January 2010, John and Lady Gaga performed a medley of "Your Song" with Gaga's song "Speechless" at the 52nd Grammy Awards.[11]
Other artists who have covered the song include:
| "Your Song" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Ellie Goulding | ||||
| from the album Bright Lights | ||||
| Released | 12 November 2010 | |||
| Format | Digital download | |||
| Recorded | 2010; The Pool, The Square (London, England) |
|||
| Genre | Pop, folk | |||
| Length | 3:10 | |||
| Label | Polydor | |||
| Writer(s) | Elton John, Bernie Taupin | |||
| Producer | Ben Lovett | |||
| Ellie Goulding singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
English recording artist Ellie Goulding covered "Your Song" for inclusion on the re-release of her debut album, titled Bright Lights. It was released digitally as the re-release's lead single in the United Kingdom on 12 November 2010.[14] Produced by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons, the single debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number thirty-nine on the issue dated 20 November 2010. It rose to number three the following week, before peaking at number two in its third week, becoming Goulding's highest-peaking single to date. The song was featured in the Christmas 2010 TV advert for the department store chain John Lewis.[15]
Goulding performed "Your Song" at the reception party of Prince William and Catherine Middleton's wedding at Buckingham Palace on 29 April 2011, to which the newly married Royal Couple shared their first dance.[16] She also performed the song live on Saturday Night Live on 7 May 2011.[17]
Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the song four out of five stars, commenting that producer Lovett "shrouds her beautifully fluttery vocals in little but piano and strings, just adding a few harmonies towards the finish, allowing her to draw out the tenderness in Bernie Taupin's lyrics and the utter loveliness of one of Elton John's very best melodies. The result is a quiet, modest triumph, but a triumph nonetheless."[18] Caryn Ganz of Spin magazine noted that her cover is "everything Gaga's Grammy version wasn't—a tender, vulnerable gift."[19] Jon O'Brien critic Allmusic, in his review for Bright Lights, called it "unimaginative" and felt that it "sounds out of place alongside the rest of her rather more adventurous material."[20]
The music video, directed by Ben Coughlan and Max Knight,[21] premiered on YouTube on 14 November 2010. Shot in a Super 8 style with a home video look, it depicts Goulding's life on the road with friends. Areas from Goulding's hometown of Hereford can be seen throughout the video including Hereford railway station.
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
| Preceded by "Heroes" by The X Factor Finalists 2010 |
UK Official Download Chart number-one single 11 December 2010 |
Succeeded by "The Time (Dirty Bit)" by The Black Eyed Peas |
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||