All about the songs Your Song (1970) and Sacrifice (1989) by Elton John!
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He is a master piano player, a talented composer, a legendary "Rocketman"! He had to compensate for his mediocre appearance with spectacular images and simply crazy styles of glasses! In the past - addicted to drugs and alcohol, and today - an English sir, one of the few rock musicians of the capitalist camp, who managed to break through the "Iron Curtain" and perform for Soviet listeners... All this, of course, about good old Elton John!
Despite the fact that our hero discovered his attraction to music at a tender age, fame came to him only in 1967, together with the release of the composition "Your Song"! But let's get to the point.
The Story of "Your Song" (1970)
Reginald Kenneth Dwight (that's the real name of our hero) went to success long, but very confidently. At the age of four the boy learnt to play the piano, and already at the age of thirteen he founded his own rock band! The Corvettes started by performing Ray Charles and Jim Reeves compositions. Later the boys renamed themselves Bluesology, and from the mid-1960s they toured the United States with some of the most famous rhythm and blues musicians of the time!
In 1966, Dwight took a job at Liberty Records. It was this event that brought him together with talented fellow Bernie Topin, with whom they wrote their happy "Your Song"!
They set up their own "workshop" in John's parents' house. They wrote their first hit song there - in the London suburb of Northwood Hills... Just one marvellous day, the magical beauty of "Your Song" was born....
As the story goes, as well as the dried coffee stains on the draft of the lyrics, inspiration struck Topin during his morning meal! Just 30 minutes later, Elton had put his mate's verses to a surprisingly beautiful tune! On the same day, the ambitious composer made a modest note in his personal diary:
"...I didn't do anything today except for 'Your Song'..."
However, a second version was also put forward, where breakfast was also involved. But everything happened not at John's house, but on the roof of the Liberty Records publishing house (allegedly, this is where the phrase "I was sitting on the roof and knocking down moss with my foot" came from).
The most curious thing in this whole story is that the guys were in no hurry to put their creation into circulation. The composition "Your Song" saw the light of day only in 1970, as the second single from the album "Elton John" (its predecessor - "Border Song" - failed miserably...) It was "Your Song" that is considered to be the starting point of Elton John's enduring popularity!
John Lennon once said:
"...When I heard this song, I thought, "Oh my God, this is amazing!" "Your Song" was the first new song since we started! It was a big step forward..."
To this day, Sir John himself considers this composition to be the most beautiful lyrical piece in his repertoire. But... some listeners are ready to argue with this, because at the end of the 1980s, the equally heartfelt "Sacrifice" was released.
History of the song "Sacrifice" (1989)
Inspired by the work of Aretha Franklin, this touching composition has won millions of fans around the world! Beautiful melody, poignant lyrics....
Later, Bernie Topin will say:
"... 'Your Song' is a ballad that never fades over time. It's very naive, I would even say childish... But anyway, it's absolutely sincere, because I put my own soul into it... I couldn't do something even remotely similar today! My love songs come from my personal experience... As a rule - they are about the destruction of a marriage, about the loss of understanding with children... If 'Your Song' is about pure and innocent love, then 'Sacrifice' is the opposite of that!"
