Your Song

“Your Song” was written by pop icon Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin. And is debatably one of John’s most known and loved songs.

When breaking down the lyrics of the track, it becomes clear that the love song uses non-gendered pronouns, and according to Taupin this because John had not yet come out. In Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” in 2011, Taupin had this to say about the track: The early ones were not drawn from experience but imagination,” Taupin said. “Your Song” could only have been written by a 17-year-old who’d never been laid in his life.” John also stated in an interview with the publication in 2013: “What can I say, it’s a perfect song. It gets better every time I sing it. I remember writing it at my parents’ apartment in North London, and Bernie giving me the lyrics, sitting down at the piano and looking at it and going, ‘Oh, my God, this is such a great lyric, I can’t fuck this one up.’ It came out in about 20 minutes, and when I was done, I called him in and we both knew. I was 22, and he was 19, and it gave us so much confidence. ‘Empty Sky’ was lovely, but it was very naive. We went on to do more esoteric stuff like ‘Take Me to the Pilot,’ of course, but musically, this was a big step forward. And the older I get, the more I sing these lyrics, and the more they resonate with me.” The track has been covered by many singers such as modern pop artist Ellie Goulding and Ewan McGregor.

There is no official music video for the track, but a video of John performing the track live on British music show “Top of the Pops” in 1971. As of July 2019, the video has almost 11 million views since its upload in November 2018.

Release Date: 26th October 1970

Songwriter/s: Elton John & Bernie Taupin

Producer/s: Gus Dudgeon

Label/s: Uni / DJM

Chart Rankings, Certifications and Accolades: The track hit the charts in many countries such as: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Ireland, the UK and the US. “Your Song” is certified Platinum in both the US and UK. The track has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, was placed at #137 on the Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” in 2004, and again in 2010.