News John Lennon on the song that signified music’s first step forward from The Beatles
The problem with innovative and exciting music is that many people want to mimic it rather than enjoy it and expand upon it. We see this now, as many artists wear their influences so tightly around their sleeves that what they make sounds like a song designed for their inspiration instead of something unique. This was the case frequently throughout the 1960s, as no band was more influential and domineering than The Beatles.
Though it’s been repeated repeatedly, there is no understating just how important The Beatles were for music. They weren’t just a good band; it’s much more than that. These days, when you listen to groups who are making the charts and headlining festivals, what they do is an expansion upon what The Beatles did decades ago. It might not sound the same, but the influence is everywhere you turn because of how much variety The Beatles offered listeners.
That being said, it takes a long time for an exciting sound to be merely an influence toward something much bigger. Before all of that, there will be a lot of artists who try to replicate what they like instead of putting their own twist on it. Following the early success of The Beatles, this was very much the case, as many people who then started making music wanted to mirror their success, but in doing so, merely mirrored their sound.
This was something that members of the band picked up on as John Lennon stated how he felt when he heard the first song that seemed to step forward from what The Beatles were doing. That track came in the form of the heartfelt Elton John ballad, ‘Your Song’.
“I remember hearing Elton John’s ‘Your Song’, heard it in America – it was one of Elton’s first big hits – and remember thinking, ‘Great, that’s the first new thing that’s happened since we happened,’” said Lennon in an interview in 1975. “It was a step forward. There was something about his vocals that was an improvement on all of the English vocals until then. I was pleased with it.”
Lennon isn’t wrong. ‘Your Song’ was a track that saw Elton John skyrocket into the mainstream and is still considered one of the best love songs written to this day. It is incredibly earnest, and the way he corrects himself as the lines go on, “If I was sculptor / But then again, no,” makes his proclamation seem almost improvisational, as if he is only just plucking up the courage to confess his love to whoever he is speaking to.
Elton John didn’t stop there. He became one of the most successful recording artists in history. His recent Glastonbury headline set was non-stop hits, and he still didn’t get to play all of them. His ability to take what was popular and allow it to influence him while still injecting his individuality into his music was a massive factor in his successful career.
