"Your Song"

There's a song that always makes me feel better no matter how down and out I am. It reminds me of the nights my dad and I used to spend singing together to oldies in the basement. It's a timeless classic, and a simple love song.

"Your Song" by Elton John. I used to thumb through my dad's CD's and cassette tapes just to listen to that song. My dad cannot tell you how many times his "One Night Only" CD went missing. "One Night Only" was a live recording of some of Elton John’s biggest hits. I'd fall asleep listening to it.

I always thought it was amazing how Elton John's music and Bernie Taupin's lyrics just jelled together. "Your Song" was the song that catapulted me into being the huge Elton John fan that I'm proud to be now.

I own at least thirty of Elton John's records. Even the original record that "Your Song" was on: his self-titled album. The cover of the album is a picture of the right side of his youthful face. The left side of his face falls into the shadow surrounding him. I've spent hours just listening, watching the record spin. The genre of the music on this record fell more into the folk music category than some of his later pop records and I loved that about it. Elton John is so versatile.

In 2010, I was lucky enough to see my idol live. We had tenth row on the floor seating. I remember how amazing I thought it was. I couldn't believe that I would only be ten rows away from the man himself. Elton John played for three hours straight, without an intermission. He played so many great songs and I mouthed the lyrics to every song right along with him.

He started the show with a personal favorite of mine, "Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding." They were two songs combined into one track – the first track on his album, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”. “Funeral For a Friend” is solely instrumental. It’s a funeral rock song. I don’t know how else to describe it. “Love Lies Bleeding” is a lot more poppy. I believe it’s about a lover leaving because the man was to tied up in his band.

He played a lot of other great songs that night too like "Rocket Man", "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Candle in the Wind". But he went out with a bang. He closed the show with the best song of all: "Your Song".