1978 single by Elton John

"Song for Guy" is a mainly instrumental piece of music by English musician Elton John. It is the closing track of his 1978 album, A Single Man.

Musical structure

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.

— Elton John, from the sleeve notes of the 7-inch single.

The song opens with a solo piano, which is then accompanied by a looped Roland CR-78 drum machine,[2] with occasional shaker and wind chimes alternating; other keyboards are often layered in shortly after, with a bass guitar mainly accompanying this. It is instrumental until the end, in which the words "Life isn`t everything" are repeated.

It stands as one of the few pieces written by Elton John alone and the only instrumental he made and released as a single. His subsequent instrumentals were released only as B-sides, notably "Choc Ice Goes Mental" (A-sides: "I Guess That`s Why They Call It the Blues" and "Kiss the Bride") and "The Man Who Never Died" (A-sides: "Nikita" and "The Last Song").

Reception

Cash Box said it has "an alluring beauty", with "spunky piano chording, rhythm ace backing, evocative synthesizer explorations and chimes".[3] Record World said it would surprise his fans as "an instrumental with traditional orchestral arrangements and John`s own semi-classical piano work".[4]

Release and performances

The song was one of his most successful singles in the UK, peaking at No. 4 in January 1979, and remaining on the chart for ten weeks.[5] It marked his return to the Top Ten for the first time since 1976`s "Don`t Go Breaking My Heart", which reached No. 1 on the same chart.[6] The single was not released in the US until March 1979 where it barely made the charts, peaking at No. 110.[7] It was a modest success, though, on the American adult contemporary charts, where it reached No. 37 in the spring of 1979.[8]

Use in media

The song was used extensively throughout all 6 episodes of the 1985 BBC comedy series Happy Families (the lead male character is named Guy). It is also used in the seventh episode of Diamonds in the Sky (1979), a BBC–Channel 9 Perth co-production about the history of commercial aviation, and is played frequently in the 1980 movie Oh Heavenly Dog starring Chevy Chase and Jane Seymour and directed by Rod Browning.[9] The song also features prominently in the 2017 film Film Stars Don`t Die in Liverpool.[10] In November 2020, the track was featured in The Crown, during a scene in which Lady Diana Spencer dances alone in a Buckingham Palace ballroom.

Personnel

• Elton John – piano, Mellotron, Polymoog, ARP String Ensemble, vocals
• Ray Cooper – wind chimes, shakers
• Clive Franks – bass

Charts