Your Song

This doe-eyed ballad remains one of John's most successful and enduring songs, and for good reason; Taupin's lyric is as unpretentious as he ever got, and combined with John and Paul Buckmaster's arrangement, it gets its heartfelt valentine sentiment across directly and sweetly.

For my part, I've always liked the lilting flute that pops in and sustains a note at the point right after John sings "...that I put down in words" and "How wonderful life is..."; a small, but appropriate Buckmaster touch. His skills and sound really made a lot of John's early efforts as memorable as they were.

Introduced to a whole new generation, I think, via Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!, which worked it into the love song medley; Ewan McGregor's guileless (and vibrato-free) delivery fit the song nicely.