Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1976
Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
Buy Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
| cover = Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word Single.jpeg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Elton John
| album = Blue Moves
| B-side = Shoulder Holster
| released = 1 November 1976
| recorded = 22 March 1976
| studio = Eastern Sound, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| venue =
| genre =
| length = 3:48
| label = Rocket (UK)
MCA (US)
| writer = *Elton John
*Bernie Taupin
| producer = Gus Dudgeon
| prev_title = Don't Go Breaking My Heart
| prev_year = 1976
| next_title = Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance!)
| next_year = 1977
| misc =
}}
"'Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word'" is a song written by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin. It was recorded by Elton John and released in 1976, both as a single and as part of the 'Blue Moves' album. It was John's second single released by The Rocket Record Company. The song is a mournful ballad about a romantic relationship which is falling apart.
The song also appeared the following year on 'Greatest Hits Volume II', though for copyright reasons it no longer appears on the current version of that album. It now appears on 'Greatest Hits 19761986', 'The Very Best of Elton John' and in 'Greatest Hits 19702002', as well as a number of other compilations.
Background and composition
"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" is a mournful ballad about a romantic relationship that is falling apart. Bernie Taupin said: "It's a pretty simple idea, but one that I think everyone can relate to at one point or another in their life. That whole idealistic feeling people get when they want to save something from dying when they basically know deep down inside that it's already dead. It's that heartbreaking, sickening part of love that you wouldn't wish on anyone if you didn't know that it's inevitable that they're going to experience it one day."
Elton John began writing the song in 1975 in Los Angeles. Whilst many of his songs involved Taupin writing lyrics first, then John writing the music later, John wrote the melody and most of the lyrics for "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", and Taupin completed it afterwards. John explained: "I was sitting there and out it came, 'What have I got to do to make you love me.'"
Taupin later said: "I don't think he was intending on writing a song, but we were sitting around an apartment in Los Angeles, and he was playing around on the piano and he came up with this melody line, and I said, 'Hey, that's really nice.' For some reason this lyrical line, 'Sorry seems to be the hardest word' ran through my head, and it fit perfectly with what he was playing. So I said, 'Don't do anything more to that, let me go write something,' so I wrote it out in a few minutes and we had the song." Taupin added: "[The i]nteresting thing about 'Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word' is that it's one of the rare occasions when Elton played me a melody line that inspired a lyric, as opposed to our routine of the lyrics always coming first. He was messing around on the piano one day and was playing something and asked me what did I think. It was actually pretty immediate, the title and the first couple of lines came into my head in a way that I guess I felt they were already there and just needed a little prompting."
Reception
'Billboard Magazine' praised John's vocal performance, calling it "almost painfully sincere and believable" and also commented on the complexity of the backing vocals. 'Cash Box' called it "a tender love song about breaking up."
Personnel
* Elton John piano, vocals
* Ray Cooper vibraphone
* Carl Fortina accordion
* James Newton Howard electric piano, strings arrangement
* Kenny Passarelli bass
Commercial performance and certifications
The song was a Top 20 hit, reaching No. 11 in the United Kingdom, No. 6 in the United States and No. 3 in Canada. In addition, the song went to No. 1 on the US and Canadian Adult Contemporary charts. In the US, it was certified Gold on 25 January 1977 by the RIAA.
Chart history
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Sales and certifications
Blue version
{{Infobox song
| name = Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
| cover = EJ&BlueSingle.jpg
| type = single
| artist = Blue featuring Elton John
| album = One Love
| B-side = Sweet Thing
| released =
| genre =
| length = * 3:41 (album version)
* 3:31 (radio edit)
| label = Virgin, Innocent
| composer = Elton John
| lyricist = Bernie Taupin
| producer = StarGate
| chronology = Blue
| prev_title = One Love
| prev_year = 2002
| next_title = U Make Me Wanna
| next_year = 2003
| misc =
}}
"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" was covered in 2002 by English boy band Blue for their second studio album, 'One Love' (2002). The song was recorded as a collaboration with Elton John and was the second single from the album. It peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart on 15 December 2002 and also reached number one in Hungary and the Netherlands. It peaked within the top 10 in an additional 16 countries.
Background
When Blue's second studio album, 'One Love', was being put together, executive producer Hugh Goldsmith said that a cover version should be included on the final tracklist. Band member Lee Ryan suggested "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" as it was his favourite song of all time. Despite reservations from the rest of the group, who were sceptical that Elton John would allow them to record the track, John's management gave permission and he later agreed to a duet as well as playing the piano.Track listings
'UK CD1'# "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" (radio edit) 3:31
# "Lonely This Christmas" 2:08
# "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" (Ruffin Ready Soul Mix) 3:51
# Video interactive element 3:30
'UK CD2'
# "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" (radio edit) 3:31
# "Album Medley" 5:44
# "Sweet Thing" 3:38
# Video interactive element 3:30
'UK cassette single'
# "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" (radio edit) 3:31
# "Album Medley" 5:44
# "Sweet Thing" 3:38
Personnel
Personnel are taken from the UK CD1 liner notes.* Elton John music, featured vocals
* Bernie Taupin lyrics
* Blue vocals
* StarGate production
* Max Dodson photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable sortable"
!Chart (2003)
!Position
|-
|Austria (3 Austria Top 40)
|align="center"|29
|-
|Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)
|align="center"|29
|-
|Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)
|align="center"|10
|-
|European Hot 100 Singles Chart Billboard European Top 100 Singles 2003 [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bA8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA65&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false p.65] (Retrieved September 11, 2022)
|align="center"|6
|-
|France (SNEP)
|align="center"|28
|-
|Germany (Official German Charts)
|align="center"|24
|-
|Ireland (IRMA)
|align="center"|58
|-
|Italy (FIMI)
|align="center"|24
|-
|Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)
|align="center"|2
|-
|Netherlands (Single Top 100)
|align="center"|4
|-
|New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)
|align="center"|25
|-
|Romania (Romanian Top 100)
|align="center"|11
|-
|Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)
|align="center"|20
|-
|Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)
|align="center"|26
|-
|UK Singles (OCC)
|align="center"|90
|}
Decade-end charts
Certifications
Release history
Other versions
The song was covered by Joe Cocker in 1991 for the 'Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin' tribute album. Cocker is quoted in the album liner notes:
In 1993, Argentinian singer Pedro Aznar covered and translated the lyrics in Spanish called "Ya no hay forma de pedir perdn", which made the single popular and a favourite among Argentinians.
Mary J. Blige also covered this song.
In 2004, Elton John and Ray Charles performed the song on Charles' duet album, 'Genius Loves Company'. It would turn out to be the last recording Charles ever did before his death that June. The duet was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. It was also performed by smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G on the soprano saxophone featuring Richard Marx on his 2004 album 'At Last...The Duets Album' later that year.
The single was the lead single for the eight-track remix compilation 'Good Morning to the Night' in collaboration with Australian remixer Pnau, which came out on 16 July 2012. In 2015, the song was covered by Diana Krall. This version was included on her 'Wallflower' album.
References
Category:1976 singles
Category:1976 songs
Category:2002 singles
Category:1970s ballads
Category:Blue (English band) songs
Category:Dutch Top 40 number-one singles
Category:Elton John songs
Category:Innocent Records singles
Category:MCA Records singles
Category:Number-one singles in Scotland
Category:Song recordings produced by Gus Dudgeon
Category:Song recordings produced by Stargate (record producers)
Category:Songs with lyrics by Bernie Taupin
Category:Songs with music by Elton John
Category:The Rocket Record Company singles
Category:Torch songs
Category:UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Category:Virgin Records singles
Buy Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1976