6. Elton John Your Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTa8U0Wa0q8 I couldn't escape this song in a list of great love songs. For its selflessness, indecision, unworthiness and devotion, it goes beyond the nervousness of 'Head over heels with the line 'You can tell everybody, this is your song'. What this makes such a wonderful song about love is that it's so ambiguous; it could as easily be as about friendship as it is about love. No matter what your perception of Elton John is, this is one of the greatest love songs ever written. Imagine this a current hot band's new album is introduced with this as the lead single. What would the critics say? Well, without a doubt they'd all say that this is the best song the artist has ever written. And rightly so, the prize is immortality after all. 'Your song' contains so many things that tell the story of love, but chief among them all is that the person the song is about makes the writers life a better place - 'How wonderful life is while you're in the world". And last but not least, the aspiration that they can just run away and be themselves, without the need for day to day worries - "I don't have much money... But if I did I'd buy a big house where we both could live." Ultimately it's about how wonderful it is to be alone with the most inspiring person you've ever met, how great is that?
Ed Nash
Contributor
What makes music fantastic? Star quality, amazing music, breathtaking lyrics and the ability to bring something new to the table, even if that means a new take on the classics. That's what I love to listen to and write about.
As well as writing for What Culture, I occasionally write a blog http://tedney.blogspot.co.uk and sometimes use Twitter, but sparingly @TedneyNash
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