1970Released
4:04

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Your Song. By Songfacts®.

This was Elton's first single to chart. Before he hit it big, he worked as a songwriter and studio musician, and for a time was the warm-up act for Three Dog Night, who recorded this song on their 1970 album It Ain't Easy (they had previously recorded Elton's "Lady Samantha"). When it looked like Elton might finally make it in the States with his own version of "Your Song," Three Dog Night chose not to release it as a single in an effort to give this young upstart a chance to make it on his own. Elton's version was released on his second album, but the single did not come out until seven months later, when it was released to promote his tour. Elton issued his third album, Tumbleweed Connection, before the single came out, and by this time he was established enough to have his own hit, thanks in large part to a triumphant run at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in August 1970.

This was one of the first songs John wrote with Bernie Taupin. They met after a record company gave John some of Taupin's lyrics to work with. Eventually, they both moved into John's parents' house, where they started working together.

The song was written in 1967, when Bernie Taupin was 17 ("hence the extraordinarily virginal sentiments," he has said). Elton has said that this song is not about anyone in particular, so Taupin has refused to reveal the identity of the person - if such person exists - who inspired this song. He explained in a 1989 interview with Music Connection: "It's like the perennial ballad 'Your Song,' which has got to be one of the most naïve and childish lyrics in the entire repertoire of music, but I think the reason it still stands up is because it was real at the time. That was exactly what I was feeling. I was 17 years old and it was coming from someone whose outlook on love or experience with love was totally new and naïve. Now I could never write that song again or emulate it because the songs I write now that talk about love coming from people my age usually deal with broken marriages and where the children go. You have to write from where you are at a particular point in time, and 'Your Song' is exactly where I was coming from back then."

Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Your Song.
D♯Key
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
128BPM

Album

The album Your Song is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Your Song.
Universal Music Group
© 1995 Mercury Records Limited
℗ 1995 This Record Company Ltd.

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