Song Stories: “Your Song” by Elton John

Randal C. Hill

50plus Magazine

 

It was a magical moment for Elton John and Bernie Taupin when they fully realized the potential that had blossomed in their professional partnership. As Bernie once explained, “’Your Song’ was one of the first songs we wrote when we really got locked into writing and when we had really honed our craft.”

 

It all began one morning in 1969 at John’s parents’ London apartment, when Taupin scribbled the words to the future classic on a tea-stained sheet of paper.

 

At one time, Reginald Dwight — born in London in 1947 — was just another piano-playing teenager hungry for a show-biz break. By the mid ‘sixties, he and some pals were jamming in a band called Bluesology. Among the musicians were sax player Elton Dean and singer John Baldry — the inspiration for Dwight’s future moniker.

 

Reg eventually left the group and later answered an audition call by London’s Liberty Records for songwriters.  While melodies came easily, he choked when it came to writing lyrics. Although he wasn’t hired, it turned out to be a fateful day in Liberty’s office: there he met another creative hopeful, 17-year-old Bernie Taupin. A school-dropout farmworker without music-making skills, he could write poetry — and song lyrics — thanks to constant encouragement from his literature-loving mother.

 

Now calling himself Elton John, Reg and Taupin began working together, with Bernie penning lyrics, and Elton setting them to piano melodies. If during a session nothing came to fruition within a few minutes, John would summarily toss Taupin’s attempt into the trash and move on to the next offering.

 

The duo employed this unorthodox approach throughout most of John’s remarkable career.

 

Recalling his reaction when he first considered the words to “Your Song,” Elton said, “I sat down at the piano and looked at it, going, ‘Oh, my God, this is such a great lyric, I can’t [mess] this one up.’ It came out in about 20 minutes, and when I was done, I called him in. And we both knew.”

 

Bernie had never been in love or even in any meaningful relationship, so his “Your Song” lyrics reflected a refreshing innocence about such a heady experience:

 

I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words

   How wonderful life is while you’re in the world

 

Elton eventually signed with Britain’s DJM Records, and in 1969 recorded the LP Empty Sky, which went nowhere. But the next year his second album, Elton John, featured “Your Song,” the key to success.

 

Haunting and delicate, the tune worked its way into the public consciousness, and in January 1971, it reached America’s Top 10 list on the Uni Records label.

 

After that, John included “Your Song” in virtually every live concert of his career. When asked to explain the work that led to acclaim for the pair, Taupin answers with these few well-chosen words: “It is a simple, naïve song. And it still stands up.”