Maybe this should really be in MPSIMS, and I don’t want this to be a GD. This is more an appreciation of the song. I just listened to the song again and I can’t believe how awesomely romantic it is even after all these years. “How wonderful life is while you’re in the world.” Damn if that doesn’t sum up Love! Scuse me while I get all weepy and thank God for all those great people in my world, including all the great dopers on the board. Love you all too! Anyway, I hope this wasn’t that pointless to post.
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
I have to agree. It’s also Elton’s personal favorite even after all these years.
“Yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen.”
Pure poetry. Thank you Bernie Taupin.
It is unbelievably romantic. It simply HAD to launch John and Taupin into stardom. How could it not?
I didn’t realize, until a couple of years ago, the following:
Voila, a gay-friendly love song! 
It’s a good one, no doubt.
The greatest? No. That’s They Can’t That Away From Me. Better tune, better lyics.
There’s also I Get a Kick Out of You.
Well, they certainly can’t take that away from you! 
And it’s really difficult for me, as a modern who loves the classics, to rank Gershwin against Elton. There’s a part of me that says the old masters (the Gershwins, Arlen and Koehler, Porter, etc.) are bigger than life, like the heroes of Greek myth, while I’ve actually seen that Elton John is a somewhat short, somewhat stout middle-aged man.
Of course, I have to discount myself from this specific question, as “Your Song” isn’t even in my Top 10 Elton John list.
Actually, as the most realistic love song to date, I have to nominate Charles Aznavour’s “You’ve Let Yourself Go”.
I can’t quote the full lyrics here, but the excised middle part is a laundry list of all the little annoyances and negligencies and such that any couple has with each other after a while. And yet, by the end, the song has come back to the point that they still love each other very much, despite all the commonplace detritus that builds up.
No, no, no…
The greatest love song of all time is Always With Me, Always With You by Joe Satriani
One of my all-time favorite love songs is I Do Not Love You (written by Anthony Newley, but Sammy Davis Jr.'s performance knocks it out of the park).
I cannot find the lyrics anywhere. The co-writer is Leslie Bricusse, and I can’t find it under that name, either. Anyone got better Google skills than I?
One of my favorite love songs is “Annie’s Song” by John Denver…it’s so passionate.
You can’t really boing to “Your Song”.
I prefer Weekend in New England.
With you, there’s a heaven, so earth aint so bad.
Now there’s a line, and you can boink to it.
I’m not much of one for love songs. I’ve got unrequited love songs and unrequited lust songs galore, not to mention breakup songs, “I screwed up and lost you” songs, and “we used to have something but it’s kinda fizzled out now” songs.
My best favorite truly tender and moving love song is rare music indeed: Carole Etzler, “Close to You”:
Lying here, next to you
What a lovely way to spend a summer afternoon
I feel you breathe quietly
Lost in secret dreams that only you can see
There isn’t room for me
I watch your face, and I can tell
There is nothing could make me break that magic spell
And so i smile, I lie still awhile,
Next to you
Slightly off topic but I know Elton performed Your Song for the concert tribute thingy for the late Princess Di.
It was one of the first songs he did when I saw him on tour with Billy Joel at RFK some years back.
Any estimate as to how many times he’s done the song in concert? I know he’s a performer and he probably views that his job is to give the people what they want but I would think that after a while it would get a bit tough getting up for another rendition of a song you’ve done a million times now.
Billy Joel stopped performing Just the Way You Are after a few tours because he just got sick of it and Steely Dan refused to do Do It Again with Fagen claiming that he grew allergic to the song. Obviously not so with Elton.
Your Song is certainly a great song.
*Greatest *is a tough row to hoe. There are so *very *many love songs that I enjoy that I can only say this is a good one.
I´ve always loved Your Song, and it just goes to show what a genius Elton John is, that he can write a song about a guy who´s having a hard time writing a song and it turns out to be the most beautiful song ever.
I´ve always loved it, but one day I took that song global. I realized at its crux, the song is about wanting to show someone love but feeling totally inadequate and awkward in doing it. I relate that strongly to my own career path… I love the world, baby, but sometimes I feel like an incompetent fool trying to make a difference here.
Still, like Elton´s protagonist, we gotta just do our best and hope it turns out so beautifully.
Right on.
I agree. “Your Song” is something special, no doubt. But reading though the thread, I have to agree with the posters who suggested “Annie’s Song” and “Weekend in New England.”
I’d suggest that “Someone To Watch Over Me” (especially as done by Ella Fitzgerald) and “You Belong to Me” are up there as great love songs as well.
I loved your song as a teenager. But when I think of romantic, sweet songs,
here are my slightly more recent favorites…all from the 80’s
Crazy For You by Madonna
I Get Weak by Belinda Carlisle
Head Over Heels by Tears For Fears
My vote for the greatest love song (greatest song really) goes to “Stardust.” Especially as performed by Nat Cole.