Further Listening (Elton John)
Some essential tracks from Elton John, the main featured artist on this week's music history round-up (plus, a song by one of his influences)
‘Your Song’ from Elton John (1970)
‘I remember writing it as I was having breakfast – the original lyric had tea stains on it,’ recalled Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s lyricist. ‘Elton wrote it the same day. We went into the room where the piano was and just hammered it out.’1
‘What can I say, it's a perfect song,’ says Elton. ‘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.’2
The track was included on Elton’s self-titled second studio album. Reaching the top 10 in charts across the world, ‘Your Song’ was Elton’s breakthrough hit. John Lennon was also a fan…
‘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 happened.” It was a step forward.’3
For another Elton John essential track, check out the story behind ‘Tiny Dancer’ in this week’s music history round-up…
