Analysis of Sir Elton John's "Your Song"

Rock and Roll is a music series that comprises of fifty-three volumes of songs combined from the early years ranging from the1950s (Rogers, 2016). Asked about it (Rock and Roll), Fats Domino who is the pioneer of Rock and Roll said that it iss nothing but Rhythm and Blues. It was primarily associated with and influenced by R&B. Some of the examples of artists who were included in this music class are: Elvis Presley, Frankie Valli, Roy Orbison, the beach boys, the four seasons among others. Those who weren’t included were artists like Sir Elton John who is going to form the basis for this essay.

Sir Elton John

A musician, songwriter, pianist and composer who has been active since 1963. He was raised in London where he began to play the piano at an early age. Having a passion for music, he formed Bluesology in 1962 and five years later (1967), he met Bernie Taupin who is still his songwriting partner. This was after they had answered an advertisement for songwriters. They began working together as they wrote songs for other musicians including the famous Lulu, an endeavor they did for two years. John, together with Bernie worked as a session musician for artists like the Scaffold and the Hollies.

He then began to release albums such as Empty Sky (a debut album he released in 1969). In 1970, his single song, “your song” featured in top ten playlist(s) both in the UK and US. Apart from this success, he has also been successful in musical theatre, and he composed music for the Lion King Film and musical.

Historical Significance of Rock and Roll Era and Beyond

Its inception in the 1950s was not just about musical revolution but had a very strong social, economic, historical and cultural significance because of the unpredictability of the type of music under this class. They all talk about the modern day life circumstances as they reveal what this generation goes through. In a very artistic and innovative manner, the musicians whose music were classified in this category maneuvered their ways into the heart of the teenagers, young adults and the old significantly. Both the black and white cultures embraced this and nearly all the street corners were filled with rock and roll. Rock and Roll, in record-business terms, meant that the small labels such as Sun and Chess were moving into the top pop chart; which was a niche that it filled in the 1950s (Guralnick, 2016).

During this time, the artists and composers of the Rock and Roll concentrated on high volume sales in conjunction with major corporate record labels (Rogers, 2016). The small labels, had taken over the R&B (Rhythm and Blues) market and were expanding their wings into country and western music popularly abbreviated as C&W.

R&B was majorly associated with blacks (Bolden, 2016). The younger white generation of the C&W fans listened and danced to black music. This encouraged the white country music to begin recording R&B songs and to play with a heavier, rocking beat (Bolden, 2016).

Elton John’s song, titled “your song” is one of his hit songs that weren’t listed under the class of rock and roll era and beyond. Being that songs in this category are those associated with R&B (according to Fats Domino because they share most characteristics) (Marcus, 2014), the song “your song” by Sir Elton John ought to have been covered in the Rock and Roll category.

Song’s Details

To begin with, the message it portrays or conveys brings the social inclusion and acknowledges that it’s not just a song to him but to a loved one. The lyrics, paraphrased, begin like this, “it is funny how I feel inside, I am not like the others who can easily hide, I don’t have a lot of money but boy if I had the money, I would buy a very big house where both of us could live”

The song “your song”, through its lyrics is a demonstration of inclusion, especially in the end of the first stanza where it states, “I would buy a very big house where both of us could live.” This means that he acknowledges the importance of having others in his life and that life in itself has a social aspect. Most R&BS and Rock and Roll songs have a common character of narrating stories in the perspective of the happenings in a community/society. Even if it addresses one person, the song would seek to travel in the thoughts and imaginations of this person and depict what s/he’s likely to do or how s/he is likely to end up. This is where creativity comes in.

In addition, songs in the rock and roll era are those that explore people’s emotions and in-depth feelings. In the Lyrics above, Elton starts by saying that “it is funny how I feel inside, I am not like the others who can easily hide” so the song is a way in which he expresses his emotions and explores how much feelings he has that needs to be expressed (Meyer, 2016). All the songs in the 1950s that were in the rock and roll category exhibited this character. Artists such as Elvis Presley in his 1954-1961 songs expressed his emotions and set the souls of his fans on fire by the authenticity of his songs and creativity of heart that he put down on paper as he voiced them (Meyer, 2016).  This is the same thing that happened to Elton and his songs during that era but his songs such as “your song” wasn’t categorized under the rock and roll era and beyond.         

The message and Musical Elements

In the same vein, the message of the song was channeled to a loved one with a lot of sincerity and openness, stating that he has nothing much to offer but that which he has, he would give; all he had was the song. There is also the use of comparison wherein the second stanza, he compares himself to someone with an experience of making potions in a traveling show.  This is a technique that almost all songs have not excluding those in the rock and roll category. Apart from the message and the means of message delivery, the musical elements used in this song mark a very important aspect and is a more important reason why this song should have been covered under this category. It shares the same musical elements with those under this category (rock and roll). Some of the elements that are similar are: Beat and Meter, Harmony, Melody, and Tempo. 

The tempo varies from stanza to stanza as well as the melody. He (Elton John) only used a piano during the composition and singing of the song. However, all the elements depicted in the song are superb and match with the genre of the music.

Therefore, there is a social, historical and cultural connotation that are all embedded into this song. Being gay, the general society back in the days looked down upon/harshly judged all those who expressed themselves as gay or who openly declared that they are gay but Elton wasn’t afraid to do that and he openly and very boldly sang this song to his partner (Lizardo & Skiles, 2016). This depicted the picture of the society then and still do depict it to date, showing clearly that the gay culture and lifestyle exist and will always exist, especially after its legalization in the United States and many other countries around the globe.

Music, just like any other thing is not immune to change. Change is the only constant thing on earth. This means that there have been lots of changes that have occurred in this industry.

Likening Rock and Roll to R&B

The rock and roll era and beyond was likened to R&B by its pioneer, Fats Domino. R&B has since then changed and even the musical elements that made R&B in the early years have tremendously changed (Lizardo & Skiles, 2016). This can be seen by the tons of change in the messages sang by these singers/artists who in their songs embed elements of soul, jazz, rock, and hip-hop (Cateforis, 2015).

The same thing that has since happened to rock and roll, and the type of music that was categorized back then (the 1950s and early 1960s) under this category have changed. The ones that existed before 1950s were completely different with those of the 1950s and beyond. Not only in the elemental phase of it, but also in the message it passes to the world. Just like in R&B, the messages that were passed through the songs of the 1980s are completely different with those passed in the 2000s songs. This is because of the continued change in lifestyle and also the changing tastes and preferences of fans all around the globe.  

The barrier of music made by blacks are only heard/listened to by blacks and music made by white are only heard and listened to by whites have changed and in the 1960s, the whites used to listen to black music and enjoyed them so much (Neal, 2013), the reverse is true for blacks and white music (Bolden, 2016). This developed a people with a culture that was willing and able to spend more on the record labels. The rock and roll label still produces most songs (Rogers, 2016).

This was because of the consistency of the artists and also the fact that the rock and roll label had under it a broad musical terrain (different genres). This had everyone covered, from the black inner city vocal-group sound to the soulful mid-nighters (Wallach & Clinton, 2013). The teenagers were widely amazed by this endeavor since the music covered their delight area including blues and country music (Neal, 2013).

Conclusion

Sir Elton John, through his musical input from the early 1960s, made a remarkable contribution to the social, economic and historical aspect of life. Even though none of his songs were listed under the rock and roll era and beyond, his song entitled “your song” should have without a doubt been covered under this category or class of music. The message portrayed and musical elements (Beat and Meter, Harmony, Melody, and Tempo) used in this song correspond to that of those songs that were initially categorized under the rock and roll era and beyond. Therefore, “your song” by Sir Elton John should have been classified under Rock and Roll era and beyond.

References

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