Your Song

"Your Song" was first released by American rock band Three Dog Night in March 1970 as an album track on It Ain't Easy. John was an opening act for the band at the time and allowed them to record it. They did not release it as a single as they wanted to let John, then an upcoming artist, have a go with it. John's version was recorded at Trident Studios in London in January 1970 and appeared in April as the first cut on his self-titled second studio album. Following "Border Song" as the first album single, "Your Song" was released in the United States in October 1970 as the B-side to "Take Me to the Pilot". Both sides received airplay, but "Your Song" was preferred by disc jockeys and replaced "Take Me to the Pilot" as the A-side, eventually making it to number eight on the Billboard chart. The song also peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as charting in the top 10 in several other countries.


In 1998, "Your Song" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[3] In 2004, the song was placed at number 136 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", 137 in its 2010 list, and 202 in its 2021 list. The song is listed among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.^[4] A demo version was included in John's 1990 box set album To Be Continued.^[5] In 2017, the song was voted by the British public as The Nation's Favourite Elton John Song in a UK-wide poll for ITV.^[6]


The song has been covered by a number of artists, including Rod Stewart, Lady Gaga and Ellie Goulding. The song was also covered by Ewan McGregor and opera singer Alessandro Safina in the 2001 musical film Moulin Rouge! and by Taron Egerton in the 2019 film Rocketman. In 2018, the song was certified 2× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[7]

Composition and inspiration[edit]

One widespread story is that Bernie Taupin wrote the song's lyrics after breakfast one morning on the roof of 20 Denmark Street, London, where John worked for a music publishing firm as an office boy, hence the line "I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss." However, Taupin has denied this, pointing out that John had stopped working there by the time they met. According to Taupin, "I scribbled the lyric down on a lined notepad at the kitchen table of Elton's mother's apartment in the London suburb of Northwood Hills, breakfast time sometime in 1969. That’s it. Plain and simple."^[8]


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 person. John sings 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":^[9]


"Your Song" was the inspiration for the song "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" on John's 1975 album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.^[10]


The song is performed in the key of E-flat major.^[11]

Commercial performance and impact[edit]

"Your Song" rose to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number seven on the UK Singles Chart by January 1971. In 2002, John re-recorded the song as a duet with Safina for the first Sport Relief charity telethon and released it on 15 July 2002; this version reached number four in the UK.^[17][18] In the US it was certified Gold and Platinum on 13 December 2012 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over one million digital downloads. On 23 July 2021, it was certified 2× Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting sales in excess of 1,200,000 digital downloads. In the US in April 2018, it was certified 2× Platinum for sales of two million digital downloads by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Performances and renditions[edit]

John has played "Your Song" at almost every live performance during his solo career, and issued several live versions, including with his band, solo on piano and with orchestra. One notable version was during his Central Park concert in 1980, when John was dressed as Donald Duck.


A live version of John's concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, recorded on 14 December 1986, was included in his 1987 album Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He also performed "Your Song" live with Ronan Keating at Madison Square Garden, New York, in 2000, the recording of which can be found on Keating's 2010 album Duet. On 20 October 2001, John performed the song with Billy Joel at The Concert for New York City, a tribute show to the September 11 attacks. In 2004, Daniel Bedingfield performed a cover of the song to Elton John at An Ivor Novello Tribute: Elton John. John performed "Your Song" to open the Concert for Diana on 1 July 2007.^[54] John and Lady Gaga performed a medley of "Your Song" with Gaga's song "Speechless" at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on 31 January 2010.^[55] At the 2013 Grammy Awards, Colombian singer Juanes performed a bilingual rendition of "Your Song".^[56] Gaga recorded a cover of the song for the 2018 tribute album Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin.^[57]


Soul singer Billy Paul released a version of the song on Philadelphia International in 1972, as the B-side of "Me and Mrs. Jones", then in 1977, which reached number 37 on the UK Singles Chart and spent seven weeks in the top 75.^[58] Also in 1972, the song was covered by Finnish band Alwari Tuohitorvi, with Finnish lyrics.^[59]


In 2018, John starred in the annual Christmas advert of British department store chain John Lewis & Partners, titled "The Boy & the Piano". Set to "Your Song", it featured John reminiscing about his life in reverse, culminating with him receiving a piano for Christmas as a child.^[60][61] In 2014, singer Aloe Blacc released “The Man” from his 2014 album “Lift Your Spirit” and the melody of this album hinges on the melody of this song.


In 2020, Canadian singer The Weeknd interpolated the post-chorus with his song "Scared To Live" from his fourth studio album, "After Hours". He also performed the song on Saturday Night Live two weeks before the album was released.


On 12 April 2021, Team Nick Jonas members Rachel Mac and Bradley Sinclair sang the song for the battle rounds of The Voice, despite the battle being leaked online three days prior to its air date. Although both have strong effort, Jonas ultimately went with Mac as the winner, and Sinclair was eliminated from the competition.


On 19 November 2021, Janet Devlin released her version of the track.^[62]


In December 2021, it was reported that the original plan was for John to sing "Your Song" at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, but the final choice was "Candle in the Wind 1997".^[63]