(Credits: Raph Pour-Hashemi)
Mon 29 December 2025 15:55, UK
Elton John has played his part in creating countless songs that are beloved by millions, but for him, there’s one that holds more emotional significance than any other.
For Elton, this reasoning isn’t due to him believing it to be the best song that he’s ever carved out, but because it marked the start of his journey and allowed him to flourish artistically. Without this one creation, there’s every chance that there would never have been a foundation for him to become the ‘Rocket Man’ or to take a trip down Yellow Brick Road.
The hardest part for an artist is to make people take notice, and thanks to ‘Your Song’, Elton was able to make people listen. It opened doors for him to become a star, and although the most challenging work was still to be done in order to maintain his position, getting one foot through the door was a vital, necessary step.
While some fortunate artists strike lucky on their first release, Elton faced setbacks before enduring a glimmer of success. His first album, 1969’s Empty Sky, was a resounding failure and largely ignored by the general public. Thankfully, he was allowed the time to learn from the mistakes made on his debut release and used those life lessons to his advantage in his next venture.
If his next album also failed to strike a chord with the masses, Elton would have likely been released by his record label, and it may have even brought his partnership with Bernie Taupin to a premature end. Although with his vast skillset, his future would have still lay in the music industry rather than in a factory, he’d have likely been a session musician operating in the background.
His eponymous second album was released in 1970, and initially, the public didn’t take to it. Lead single ‘Border Song’ did reach 92 in the United States, but it wasn’t the hit that he had envisioned. Follow-up single ‘Take Me to the Pilot’ fared even worse, until radio stations took a liking to the B-side, ‘Your Song’, which became the de facto single.
Due to the growing popularity of ‘Your Song’, it was eventually made the A-side by his label. Following this manoeuvre, the track began to grow in popularity further throughout the United States, establishing Elton in the process, eventually peaking at eight on the chart. ‘Your Song’ was also a hit in the United Kingdom, providing John with a platform to grow his presence.
For this reason, John named ‘Your Song’ the song he’s most proud of writing during a discussion with singer-songwriter Charlie Puth for Lad Bible. If he’d never penned that track, Elton is acutely aware of how different his life could have turned out, and he’ll forever be thankful for its impact.
Explaining his choice, Elton said: “I’d say ‘Your Song’ because it is the first good song I wrote, my first hit, and I’ve got fed up with singing it, and it’s lasted. So you look at the chart, and your name is above people you’ve loved all your life and respected. ‘Your Song’, an Elton John record, was above George Harrison, and I kept looking at Billboard and going, ‘This can’t be right, I grew up with The Beatles, this can’t be right’. I mean, you never get over that.”
Following the success of ‘Your Song’, Elton was full of confidence and also had the taste of a hit single, which gave him the craving for more. If it weren’t for radio stations electing to play ‘Your Song’, his career would have been incredibly less colourful, and a fortunate twist of fate from the powers that be proved to be the best thing to happen to him.
However, importantly, Elton remained with his eyes on the prize and used the foundations of ‘Your Song’ as a building block rather than allowing himself to be a one-hit wonder.
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