Bernie Taupin Reveals the Real Inspiration Behind Elton John's "Your Song"
The writing of "Your Song," plays a key role in Rocketman, the new movie musical about Elton John's rise to fame. I won't spoil the scene with specifics, but in the film, John and his close friend and writing partner Bernie Taupin share an emotional moment together. Shortly thereafter, Taupin writes the lyrics to "Your Song," which is not only one of John's most popular tracks, but arguable one of the most beautiful love songs of the modern era.
It's not too far a leap to assume that Rocketman is suggesting that "Your Song" is about a platonic love between two friends and creative partners.
But according to Taupin, the lyrics weren't inspired by a specific person. Last fall, he wrote a blog post about the song, specifically hoping to debunk longstanding rumors that he wrote it on the roof of 20 Denmark Street in London’s Tin Pan Alley. (He says he did not.)
"I thought it might be timely to correct the massive amount of misinformation regarding how the lyrics to “Your Song” were originally conceived," he wrote.
"I can only assume that the invention is more appealing than the actual truth. The truth being that I scribbled the lyric down on a lined notepad at the kitchen table of Elton’s mother’s apartment in the London suburb of Northwood Hills, breakfast time sometime in 1969. That’s it. Plain and simple. It was not to my recollection inspired by anyone, although at the time Elton secretly thought it was."
Perhaps then, the scene in the film is about how John felt at the time, and not necessarily a factual retelling of the creation of the song. After all, John never said the film was a historically accurate biopic.
As he says, "It’s obviously not all true, but it’s the truth."
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