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Eden L. Reed

English Composition II

Reynolds

02/20/2022

Your Song

While Moulin Rouge’s “Your Song” and the original version performed by Elton John in

the 1970s vary greatly in their physical, musical, and emotional portrayal, the overall point of the

song still comes across. “Your Song” describes the innocent romantic musings of someone

appreciating the person they love. “Your Song” by Elton John has a slow and serious tone, while

Ewan McGregor’s version is more upbeat. The lyrics of Elton John’s “Your Song” discuss all of

the sweet and special things that he would do if he were wealthy for this person that is so special

to him. Ewan McGregor’s “Your Song” lyrics are more of an apology for forgetting the small

details that go into a relationship, while reinforcing the fact that he will always love her, no

matter what.

Elton John’s 1970 music video starts out with him standing alone in a park, holding a

microphone. As the music begins to swell, he sings his first lyric, “It’s a little bit funny this

feeling inside I’m not one of those who can easily hide.” This single lyric sets the tone for the

entire song, it was a way for Elton John to explain that he has incredibly deep feelings for a

specific person but is not sure how to express them. Throughout this video the camera angle

zooms in and back out emphasizing Elton John’s facial features, which allows us to see the

emotion in his eyes while singing this song and understand that it was written for someone very

special to him. The song continues on, describing all the wonderful things that he wishes he
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could give this person, and comes to the lyric, “Well, a few of the verses, well, they’ve got me

quite cross, but the sun’s been quite kind while I wrote this song. Its for people like you that keep

it turned on.” This verse highlights exactly how special this person is to Elton John. They are the

entire reason his life is bright, and they can make any darkness fade away. The song continues on

again to the final refrain, “I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind, that I put down in

words, how wonderful life is, while you’re in the world.” This verse describes how Elton John

hopes that this person appreciates the work he put into this song about how special they are to

him.

“Your Song” by Elton John and “Your Song” by Ewan McGregor share many

similarities. Both versions of the song describe how much they love someone very special to

them. In Ewan McGregor’s version of “Your Song”, he is in Paris with a woman, and is

expressing his love to her. His version of the song focuses more on him not remembering the

little things, but that no matter what he will always love this woman and he is not afraid to share

that with her. The lyric that highlights this is, “So excuse me for forgetting, but these things I do.

You see, I’ve forgotten if they’re green or they’re blue. Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean,

yours are the sweetest eyes that I’ve ever seen.” Ewan McGregor continues to sing about how

writing this song has been difficult for him because he doesn’t know how to put his feelings for

this woman into words. However, once he sings, he sings so loudly that all of Paris can hear him,

and he proudly belts out, “And you can tell everybody that this is your song,” in an effort to

show this woman how much he loves her and that no amount of difficulty could keep him from

expressing that love one way or another.

Both Elton John’s version and Ewan McGregor’s version have that verse in common,

“And you can tell everybody that this is your song.” It solidifies the fact that both men are eager
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to share their feelings about their special someone. The 1970 “Your Song” music video is filmed

in such a way that Elton John’s audience could apply this song to someone special in their own

lives. The song was meant to appeal to the viewers heart and evoke in them a feeling of gratitude

and appreciation for their special someone. They way that Elton John describes his love for a

person that is special to him very easily transfers to the viewer and can cause the same emotional

reaction. Ewan McGregor’s “Your Song”, is filmed to be much more personal, and his audience

only appeals to one person. McGregor appeals to a different, more personal aspect of love than

Elton John. This version of “Your Song” was meant for the viewers to appreciate how much

McGregor’s character loves this woman in Moulin Rouge. While the scene is beautiful, and

touching, it does not evoke the same emotional response that Elton John’s version does. It makes

the viewer think how sweet it is that McGregor’s character is willing to make such a grand

gesture with his song because he knows that he forgets the little things, and wants to confirm his

love with words of affirmation, made more glamourous by the upbeat tempo, and louder music.

Both versions of the song are so similar, and many people could maintain a point

that they were meant for the same audience due to their underlying mean of love and devotion.

However, Elton John’s “Your Song” is still sung and played more often because it has the ability

to appeal to more than just one person. Ewan McGregor’s version was mainly meant to be used

in a movie to get the point of love for one specific character across, and therefore does not appeal

to everyone in the way Elton John’s version does.

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Works Cited

John, Elton. “Your Song.” YouTube, uploaded by NVNCBL, 30 March 2016,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrznwpD-2tk.

McGregor Ewan. “Your Song”. YouTube, uploaded by MovieClips, 04 August 2015,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRkMyW_J5U. Accessed 13 Feb. 2022.