My Father's Gun

"My Father's Gun" was recorded for Tumbleweed Connection, a collection of songs based around Wild West themes. This track tells the story of a young Confederate soldier whose father dies in battle during the American Civil War. After burying his dad, the young man takes his gun and rejoins the fighting inheriting not only a weapon but also the cause his father fought for.

This song featured on the soundtrack for the Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst-starring film Elizabethtown.

A somber cover of the song was performed by country singer Miranda Lambert for the tribute album Restoration: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. A lifelong John fan, Lambert told the Tennesseean she chose "My Father's Gun," having re-discovered the track as an adult, because of the impact it had on her personally. "I re-listened to it a couple years ago," Lambert recalled. "Sometimes you hear things differently. And I had gone through some things in my life. It's almost like I re-discovered it, and it impacted me totally differently as an adult who had been through some things. It's crazy how music can touch you over and over again."