I had this played as I walked down the aisle to get married 2 weeks ago...the most beautiful tune. Dont care what it was originally meant to mean,. I makes me regret giving up my piano lessons when I was younger!!!
there are absolutely no words for this... it's just incredibly beautiful, and not just the song but also that elton had such a big heart that he called this song after a bicycle messenger from his company, who was overridden by a car. You can feel hear the sadness in this song. Eleven people hated this song.I say that if you hate this, then you haven't listned it properly, or you can just not bring up the respect for such a great hero. I'm from holland, and I say everybody should think like him
I would say something back unto thee, dear Demian-of-Dirksen ... but just like thself ... I am 'speechless and without words' ... only for good reasons !!!
I first heard this song over 40 years ago. Despite being a crusty punk rocker at the time, I've always found it an incredible track, and a beautiful eulogy to a poor lad who had a bike crash. Thanks Elton. Life is short. Live and love every day.
This piece of music is a moving tribute to Guy Burchett was employed by Elton's record company as a motorcycle dispatch rider. His life was tragically cut short at the age of 17 when he was involved in a fatal road accident. I am always very moved when I hear this haunting instrumental.
This was played at a workmates funeral 30yrs ago, he died in a car accident,only 28 left a wife & 2 young boys real sad. When it was played it was so moving & each time i've heard it over the yrs it takes me back to that moment.Elton John is truly a great artist.
I had originally believed that Reg penned this melody specifically for Guy Burchett.The fact that it came to him as an awareness that mortality is an unpredictable force in every persons life only serves to make it an even more heart felt tribute. It would have been much easier to lament such a fact in hindsight. We are all witness here to a truly human and genuine expression
Elton said this in the sleeve notes of the 7" single: "...As I was writing this song one Sunday, I imagined myself floating into space and looking down at my own body. I was imagining myself dying. Morbidly obsessed with these thoughts, I wrote this song about death. The next day I was told that Guy (Burchett), our 17 year-old messenger boy, had been tragically killed on his motorcycle the day before. Guy died on the day I wrote this song."
That's really moving, I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing. I've always loved this song - it was one that often came on during long drives to visit family and it had a very calming effect on the whole car! 🖖
This is possibly the most evocative rendition I have heard of this beautiful song. Sir Elton is playing solo piano here and is filling each note with emotion which I don't hear with the studio or concert versions. Absolutely breathtaking!
Absolutely agreed, dear Roderic-of-Tse!!! This is that one-off and ultra-rare take where it is just about the artist 'doing what they do' in their own private quarters minus producers or studio executives. It is a moment that cannot be matched, even with the best of intentions and music software !!!
I totally agree with you! Since I first heard it, 40 years ago, it's become one of my very very favorites ever. I love Sir Elton John since 1970, when I first heard Skyline Pigeon... and, it's been wonderful watching him perform here, in Brazil, some years ago, in a stunning performance in Rio. Just perfect! ♡
Elton has been so much the sound track of my life. I lived through amazing days here in the UK, Elton, Bowie, the Stones, Floyd.... When he was good he was so VERY good. In the 70's he walked a fine line between genius & madness & MAN did some great music come out of that! I think people should be handed a copy of the album "Capt. Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy" at birth... it don't get much better than that!
Easily the best version of “ song for Guy “ by Elton John. I get chills watching this performance with the emotion from Elton. In 1978, a young messenger boy who worked for Elton's Rocket Records label named Guy Burchett was killed in a motorbike accident. So sad but a brilliant tribute ❤️🙏🏾
I remember a time when on German TV, every time you saw a balloon or snowy mountains, you'd hear this song. I hated this song back then. It was years later when I found out it was Elton's, and suddenly I heard a completely different song. Beautiful, haunting, magic.
Seriously folks, close your eyes, take a few minutes and have a little listen. Breathe deeply and take care of yourselves. x ❤️ "Although it has words "Life Isn't everything" this Elton John composition can rightly be classed as an instrumental. Guy Burchett was a messenger for Elton's label, Rocket Records. According to reviewer Claude Bernadin, Elton wrote and recorded this piece on the afternoon of Sunday, August 18, 1978. He had felt it was a song about death, and only learned the next day that Guy had been killed that very afternoon in a motorcycle accident."
For those who are wondering what the words are, they are merely 'life...isn't everything", repeated over and over...I wondered the same thing myself until I listened closely.
Elton.....passano gli anni , si accavallano le generazioni....ma la tua musica prende sempre ! ti si ascolta sempre, ogni occasione è quella giusta per ascoltarti. Grazie Elton, la tua è pura genialità compositiva.............sei un grande!!!!
Elton- I have always loved this song. One of the most beautiful I have ever heard. When I watched this and you started to sing- it brought tears to my eyes- it was so beautiful. I have never heard the words to this before. Thank you Elton for your contribution to our world. You are deeply loved!
Eddie, a good friend, had a drug and drink problem, sorted himself out, got a job, was accepted to a course for pilots, and then lost at sea with his four shipmates on his last fishing trip, his parents and all of us buried and empty coffiin. Always loved this piece of music and will always be remembered as long as his friends remember him.
It's "Life isn't everything" but he pronounces it "Ev-o-ray-thing" I remember as a child the tribute to the young motorcyclist who died..think he was a courier for Rocket. What a beautiful song and as a 10yr old I was truely moved...and still am.
Unto some of us, this the eternally number-one-number of the lovely-and-sexy-yet-deep-yet-slightly-retiring Elton John of Reginald-Dwight-ness. Such a remarkable man-being whose earlier-and-newer numbers still hit so many worldwide beings at all sorts of levels. We eternally love this 70s fella for his 70s-hits-plus-beyond. LORD bless the dear Elton and David, This, once again, is the song-and-video that encapsulates the natural, organic beauty-and-strength of Uncle's Elton John. No special effects ... no backing vocalists ... no obvious producers ... no obvious artistic help ... Just Elton and his gift!!! Dear publisher 'Thecatkeaton' ... keep this dear man's original appeal going !!! The world needs it !!! Dear Elton-of-Dwight ... this is truly thy number that defineth thee unto some of us!!!!
guy was a person who delivered paperwork on a bicycle .For Elton John's company,while on his deliver got killed in new york he died at 17 years young.... sad but elton acknowledged him
Elton’s strangest hit, penned as he imagined looking down at his dead body. The next day, he was told that his 17-year old messenger boy, Guy Burchett, had been killed on his bike 24 hours earlier.
Guy Burchett was a messenger for Elton's label, Rocket Records. According to reviewer Claude Bernadin, Elton wrote and recorded this piece on the afternoon of Sunday, August 18, 1978. He had felt it was a song about death, and only learned the next day that Guy had been killed that very afternoon in a motorcycle accident. Although it has words - "Life... Isn't ever-y-thing" - this Elton John composition can rightly be classed as an instrumental.
This song takes me back to 1979. Those were the days I wore a white tuxedo and flew first class, and spent holidays in Spain, sipping on Margaritas whilst looking out on to an endless horizon of blue sea. I also smoked Dunhill, and had a female friend that looked like Farrah Fawcett. I do appreciate a simple attempt at classical muzak, which Elton had truly achieved with this piece. Though, I must say, he really did describe me well in his follow up hit 'Sartorial Eloquence'.
It's been one of my favorites for a long time, it's on my list of songs to learn to play. I've always enjoyed "Reverie" right before it on the album too. They really go nicely together.
Wow! This song and that look totally bring me back to 1978-- the first year I really got "into" Elton and his music. This song and its album, A Single Man, may not be Elton at his coolest, but it has a sentimental place in my heart.
Indeed dear John-of-Smith ... the man himself is musical beauty-strength-intellect-and-handsome-ness unleashed upon and shared with the world unto his own 70s era and of many more later eras to come in many more later centuries.
Perhaps with a recently deceased friend he wished to send a message for himself and Guy's family that his spirit carries on , and he lives on in memory etc.
this music make me remember a good times, when i was young, and the only thing that can take care was my studies. At that time I had a girl Rita that I never more see.This is th trill of my life.A good good song
Dear FlyingWoolf who was-in-Wales-in-seventy-whatever ... a very moving composition indeed ... and unto some of us, Elton's very best (besides his Philadelphia Freedom).
What a beautiful tune. I love the simplicity of it. Upper chordal dominant 8th, dominant 5th and ...... I play this on guitar the same way, and I can't work it out 100%!! Elton has a particular formula. He is a musical and vocal genius. My wife and I named our Chihuahua after him.
With so very few lryics....this song is so dam powerful...........all you have to do is listen to the lryics, and you may think, hell what is life really about !!! THINK !
I had this played as I walked down the aisle to get married 2 weeks ago...the most beautiful tune. Dont care what it was originally meant to mean,. I makes me regret giving up my piano lessons when I was younger!!!
there are absolutely no words for this...
it's just incredibly beautiful, and not just the song but also that elton had such a big heart that he called this song after a bicycle messenger from his company, who was overridden by a car. You can feel hear the sadness in this song.
Eleven people hated this song.I say that if you hate this, then you haven't listned it properly, or you can just not bring up the respect for such a great hero. I'm from holland, and I say everybody should think like him
I would say something back unto thee, dear Demian-of-Dirksen ... but just like thself ... I am 'speechless and without words' ... only for good reasons !!!
Mother loved this song, introduced me to it when I was a kid. She passed on Feb. 20. I miss you mom.
Beautifull 🌹
❤
Sorry for you
I am so so sorry
💔
I first heard this song over 40 years ago. Despite being a crusty punk rocker at the time, I've always found it an incredible track, and a beautiful eulogy to a poor lad who had a bike crash. Thanks Elton. Life is short. Live and love every day.
We only hope that dear Elton himself hath read thy beautiful-and-sincere words, dear Alistair Boom.
Words cannot describe this song! Beautiful, haunting, tears when I hear it just so deep... love Elton incredibly much
AMEN, DEAR RICH-M.
When this came out it brought back so many memories of my brother who was also killed in a motorcycle accident in '73. It haunts me to this day.
This piece of music is a moving tribute to Guy Burchett was employed by Elton's record company as a motorcycle dispatch rider. His life was tragically cut short at the age of 17 when he was involved in a fatal road accident. I am always very moved when I hear this haunting instrumental.
Who is here because of "The Crown" Season 4 Episode 3?
Me.
Me
Me. Always loved it though
Me
Moving scene
we played this at my fathers funeral. he wasnt a big music fan, but this piece he liked. its too beautiful.
This was played at a workmates funeral 30yrs ago, he died in a car accident,only 28
left a wife & 2 young boys real sad.
When it was played it was so moving & each time i've heard it over the yrs it takes me back to that moment.Elton John is truly a great artist.
We only 'appreciate the appreciation' of the dear John James ... this is truly a sad yet incredible piece that came from beneath Elton's fingers.
I had originally believed that Reg penned this melody specifically for Guy Burchett.The fact that it came to him as an awareness that mortality is an unpredictable force in every persons life only serves to make it an even more heart felt tribute. It would have been much easier to lament such a fact in hindsight. We are all witness here to a truly human and genuine expression
Elton said this in the sleeve notes of the 7" single:
"...As I was writing this song one Sunday, I imagined myself floating into space and looking down at my own body. I was imagining myself dying. Morbidly obsessed with these thoughts, I wrote this song about death. The next day I was told that Guy (Burchett), our 17 year-old messenger boy, had been tragically killed on his motorcycle the day before. Guy died on the day I wrote this song."
Time Lord Victorious oh my god! I never knew this😢
That's really moving, I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing. I've always loved this song - it was one that often came on during long drives to visit family and it had a very calming effect on the whole car! 🖖
This is possibly the most evocative rendition I have heard of this beautiful song. Sir Elton is playing solo piano here and is filling each note with emotion which I don't hear with the studio or concert versions. Absolutely breathtaking!
Absolutely agreed, dear Roderic-of-Tse!!! This is that one-off and ultra-rare take where it is just about the artist 'doing what they do' in their own private quarters minus producers or studio executives. It is a moment that cannot be matched, even with the best of intentions and music software !!!
Elton John will never compose a better one than this.
He just may do, be we equally find that hard to envisage, dear Malcolm-of-Mifsud.
Played this on piano today. Used to play it when I was 13 or something. Such a great song. Never get sick of it :)
best piano solo ever!! its so emotional it really doesnt need anything else!
This song is one the most beautiful songs I have ever heard, and it always makes me think about a someone..
I totally agree with you!
Since I first heard it, 40 years ago, it's become one of my very very favorites ever.
I love Sir Elton John since 1970, when I first heard Skyline Pigeon... and, it's been wonderful watching him perform here, in Brazil, some years ago, in a stunning performance in Rio.
Just perfect! ♡
It is one of the best musical compositions of the late twentieth century
Elton has been so much the sound track of my life. I lived through amazing days here in the UK, Elton, Bowie, the Stones, Floyd.... When he was good he was so VERY good. In the 70's he walked a fine line between genius & madness & MAN did some great music come out of that!
I think people should be handed a copy of the album "Capt. Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy" at birth... it don't get much better than that!
Much shared feeling with the dear Deep Heat-ness as regards the dear-and deep Elton-ofJohn.
This is my favourite instrumental piece of music. Beethoven's 5th comes second. 🎼🎼🎼
Easily the best version of “ song for Guy “ by Elton John. I get chills watching this performance with the emotion from Elton. In 1978, a young messenger boy who worked for Elton's Rocket Records label named Guy Burchett was killed in a motorbike accident. So sad but a brilliant tribute ❤️🙏🏾
To be numb is to have no feeling, I dare numbness to listen to this + NOT be moved, just absolutely moving. Brilliant. ✌️
If one were 'numbed', dear Kevin-of-Monaghan, they would be 'un-numbed' by both thy words and this piece.
I remember a time when on German TV, every time you saw a balloon or snowy mountains, you'd hear this song. I hated this song back then. It was years later when I found out it was Elton's, and suddenly I heard a completely different song. Beautiful, haunting, magic.
A 17 year old messenger boy died on Sunday, and this is the song that tributes him.
Remember this well when I was at school, still love it.
Seriously folks, close your eyes, take a few minutes and have a little listen. Breathe deeply and take care of yourselves. x ❤️
"Although it has words "Life Isn't everything" this Elton John composition can rightly be classed as an instrumental. Guy Burchett was a messenger for Elton's label, Rocket Records. According to reviewer Claude Bernadin, Elton wrote and recorded this piece on the afternoon of Sunday, August 18, 1978. He had felt it was a song about death, and only learned the next day that Guy had been killed that very afternoon in a motorcycle accident."
We appreciate both the mind (knowledge) and heart of the dear StrumT Strummer.
@@ty7504 Thank you. Shine on. :))
@@strumstrummer ... shine on too ... only more brightly.
Alex, my best mate, last song we heard together, as he left the pub on his bike, he was hit by a bus...this is for you mate....always missed
In 1978/79 This song was a hit in South Africa,it used to lull me to sleep when I was on night duty as a student nurse after a long night shift.
The Greatest Melody Writer Ever In Popular Music
I hear this in the morning remembering my mam and missing her💜
For those who are wondering what the words are, they are merely 'life...isn't everything", repeated over and over...I wondered the same thing myself until I listened closely.
I was born on 1978, but I also really love things like this..
One of the greatest pieces of music
Elton.....passano gli anni , si accavallano le generazioni....ma la tua musica prende sempre ! ti si ascolta sempre, ogni occasione è quella giusta per ascoltarti.
Grazie Elton, la tua è pura genialità compositiva.............sei un grande!!!!
so beautiful yet haunting
This is my favorite song from Elton. I learned how to play this. ✌
I'M HAVING THIS PLAYED AT MY FUNERAL SERVICE
me too
this is the greatest video of all times
It's British...So inventive and pure, like also the French songs, very polite and secure... the piano gives memories... allways;-)
Elton- I have always loved this song. One of the most beautiful I have ever heard. When I watched this and you started to sing- it brought tears to my eyes- it was so beautiful. I have never heard the words to this before. Thank you Elton for your contribution to our world. You are deeply loved!
We stand with the dear Sedona-of-Legend ... and 'the legend' of Elton John.
awesome, awesome piece of music. Elton at his best
Timeless classic and a beautiful song, played by a pure genius.
Eddie, a good friend, had a drug and drink problem, sorted himself out, got a job, was accepted to a course for pilots, and then lost at sea with his four shipmates on his last fishing trip, his parents and all of us buried and empty coffiin. Always loved this piece of music and will always be remembered as long as his friends remember him.
It's "Life isn't everything"
but he pronounces it "Ev-o-ray-thing"
I remember as a child the tribute to the young motorcyclist who died..think he was a courier for Rocket. What a beautiful song and as a 10yr old I was truely moved...and still am.
Gorgeous song.
It's the blood from broken hearts that write the words to every song ! There's so much beauty in the world,but not enough time...
Dear Jason-of-Antiqua ... even dear Elton himself would pay for the beauty of the lyric you just expressed !!! I KNOW I WOULD!!!
Amazing genius.,amazing composition
Those piano tones, minus any vocal interference only cement the truth of thy words, dear Glen-of-Adlin.
This song it talks to me without saying any word it speaks gently to my heart and it’s like I need to hear it carefully
I was sooo young when i heard it for the first and it still gives me the chills... don't kown if should I cry or die in peace...
This song is so Wonderful... I'm crying...
Unto some of us, this the eternally number-one-number of the lovely-and-sexy-yet-deep-yet-slightly-retiring Elton John of Reginald-Dwight-ness. Such a remarkable man-being whose earlier-and-newer numbers still hit so many worldwide beings at all sorts of levels. We eternally love this 70s fella for his 70s-hits-plus-beyond. LORD bless the dear Elton and David,
This, once again, is the song-and-video that encapsulates the natural, organic beauty-and-strength of Uncle's Elton John. No special effects ... no backing vocalists ... no obvious producers ... no obvious artistic help ... Just Elton and his gift!!!
Dear publisher 'Thecatkeaton' ... keep this dear man's original appeal going !!! The world needs it !!!
Dear Elton-of-Dwight ... this is truly thy number that defineth thee unto some of us!!!!
Always reminds me of that winter 78/79 blizzards etc, over the UK, the Winter of discontent, and this song on the radio.
guy was a person who delivered paperwork on a bicycle .For Elton John's company,while on his deliver got killed in new york he died at 17 years young.... sad but elton acknowledged him
My God, is that true?
I actually heard this story before, could be true
Elton’s strangest hit, penned as he imagined looking down at his dead body. The next day, he was told that his 17-year old messenger boy, Guy Burchett, had been killed on his bike 24 hours earlier.
I think it was a motorbike
and I used to think it was just "a song for a guy" ...
the sign of a great musician......with words or without them, he moves you to think.....to cry.....listen to funeral for a friend....same thing....
Great piano. Great melody. I love this song.
Great piano song, classic hit as well as Reg proved he can play it.
a great artist !
simple melody line but real magic.
Elton has amazing talent. His piano playing is beautiful, I wish i could be as good :P
I can play this in its entirety but can never master how he does it..
Superb always LOVE THIS ! Derek
Guy Burchett was a messenger for Elton's label, Rocket Records. According to reviewer Claude Bernadin, Elton wrote and recorded this piece on the afternoon of Sunday, August 18, 1978. He had felt it was a song about death, and only learned the next day that Guy had been killed that very afternoon in a motorcycle accident.
Although it has words - "Life... Isn't ever-y-thing" - this Elton John composition can rightly be classed as an instrumental.
What a great songwriter, singer, performer...Musically, he's got it all!
This song takes me back to 1979. Those were the days I wore a white tuxedo and flew first class, and spent holidays in Spain, sipping on Margaritas whilst looking out on to an endless horizon of blue sea. I also smoked Dunhill, and had a female friend that looked like Farrah Fawcett. I do appreciate a simple attempt at classical muzak, which Elton had truly achieved with this piece.
Though, I must say, he really did describe me well in his follow up hit 'Sartorial Eloquence'.
Excellent piece of music
It's been one of my favorites for a long time, it's on my list of songs to learn to play. I've always enjoyed "Reverie" right before it on the album too. They really go nicely together.
Hauntingly beautiful.
Wow! This song and that look totally bring me back to 1978-- the first year I really got "into" Elton and his music. This song and its album, A Single Man, may not be Elton at his coolest, but it has a sentimental place in my heart.
I met my first and biggest love in 1978 and this is our song.....
I enjoy playing this song, very mellow....
my favourite elton johns song!!
thanks
Ditto, dear John-of-Nocaed.
Wow this song has alway brough tears to my eyes
Esta música é de uma profundidade infinita,
ela traz pra mim uma insistencia de busca pela vida, através da alma.
I could listen to him just play piano for hours.
Memories of childhood. My mom used to play an EJ hits cassette when I was a young child. And it's stayed with me.
A timeless classic.
Those three words speak more than three record producers combined, dear Michael-of-Grier.
such amazing talent.. he knows most of the keys on the piano
that made me lol so much
Klate Wilson Hahaha same!
Imagine how much he'd be worth if he knew as many as you!
Indeed dear John-of-Smith ... the man himself is musical beauty-strength-intellect-and-handsome-ness unleashed upon and shared with the world unto his own 70s era and of many more later eras to come in many more later centuries.
Perhaps with a recently deceased friend he wished to send a message for himself and Guy's family that his spirit carries on , and he lives on in memory etc.
The above statement by SNEDILLIO is 100% correct, it was a song about a roadie who died at a young age in a car accident.
this music make me remember a good times, when i was young, and the only thing that can take care was my studies.
At that time I had a girl Rita that I never more see.This is th trill of my life.A good good song
I was working in Swansea when I first heared this in the 70s. Im not a great elton fan, but this is quite a moving composition
Dear FlyingWoolf who was-in-Wales-in-seventy-whatever ... a very moving composition indeed ... and unto some of us, Elton's very best (besides his Philadelphia Freedom).
I'm first hearing this today... Also working in Swansea! Haha.
"Life is a temporary thing..." and we are just passing by....
Very true and very well put, dear Rui-of-Samuel.
True... but the lyric is "Life Isn't Everything"....
Elton wrote this beautiful piece of music as a gift for Guy's mother. How lovely is that?
beautiful, this man is talent personified
Oh man this was the year I was born.... I must have been rocking away in my crib...... TUNE!!!
Always loved this. I always seem to listen to it round Christmas time, don't know why
SPEACHLESS,no need words for a great song and yet so simple piano notes
i remember listening to this song as a little child from my parents elton john lp. so melodic great song!
This song brings back special memories, my late Mom used to play this song beautiful
This touches hearts.
Thanks
fantastic song, my mum used to play it on the record player when i was young. Beautiful.
I love the "just nipping out to paint the fence" look
Спасибо тебе, друг классная музыка не века...! Такую музыку не как забыть. Дай Бог тебе крепкого здоровья. ❤
the song is about a paper boy named guy who used to deliver newspapers to elton johns home who got hit and killed by a car.
What a beautiful tune. I love the simplicity of it. Upper chordal dominant 8th, dominant 5th and ...... I play this on guitar the same way, and I can't work it out 100%!! Elton has a particular formula. He is a musical and vocal genius. My wife and I named our Chihuahua after him.
thank you! amazing piece of music isnt it?
I was alone in my kid's room and played with my Matchbox cars, and heard this song. Those were times
With so very few lryics....this song is so dam powerful...........all you have to do is listen to the lryics, and you may think, hell what is life really about !!! THINK !
wunderbar, contributed to my coming out
this is when Elton was at his best
This is amazing!