Believe/Song for Guy
Writers - John/Taupin
Unreleased (1997)
In September 1997, British ITV aired a special titled An Audience with Elton John, in which Elton answered questions posed by celebrities and performed a number of his songs, including duets with his guest stars—the Spice Girls, Sting, and the Pet Shop Boys. Neil and Chris performed with Elton an ingenious medley of his hits "Believe" and "Song for Guy." It started out with the melody of "Song for Guy," which flowed into the first verse of "Believe," sung by Elton. Neil then sang the second verse of "Believe," which then segued back into "Song for Guy" ("Life isn't everything…."), which Neil and Elton sang together. Chris of course played keyboard throughout.
The choice of these two songs may seem odd (I wonder if the idea for this particular medley was Elton's or the Boys'—naturally, I suspect the latter) until you realize that "Believe" contains a not-too-subtle dig at those who loudly espouse so-called "family values" in its lines "Fathers and sons make love and guns/Familes together can kill someone without love—I believe in love." And "Song for Guy" was written in memory of a young man who died prematurely—a courier for Elton's Rocket Record Company, killed on the job in a motorcycle accident. The song seemed to take on even greater poignance in the post-AIDS era. It's not surprising, then, that the openly gay Elton John and Neil Tennant would find common ground in such a medley.
Incidentally, a commercial VHS tape of An Audience with Elton John was released several months after its original broadcast.
List cross-references
All text on this website aside from direct quotations (such as of lyrics and of other nonoriginal content) is copyright © 2001-2024 by Wayne Studer. All Rights Reserved. All lyrics and images are copyright © their respective dates by their respective owners. Brief quotations and small, low-resolution images are used for identification and critical commentary, thereby constituting Fair Use under U.S. copyright law. Billboard chart data are copyright © their respective dates by Nielsen Business Media, Inc.