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12 Dec 2007

The Story Behind "A Word In Spanish"



"A Word In Spanish" still retains the intelligence of Elton & Bernie's older romantic songs. The song was recorded early in 1988 at James Newton-Howard's house in L.A. and played a spanish-flavored acoustic guitar by Davey Johnstone.

The song referred to an imagined movie scene where Bernie became a would-be lover, but he doesn't know how to tell the affection he feels for his love, so he reminded a film he once saw. Although he didn't understand the word, he mimic the performance for his real life hoping it will work for him too.

A Word In Spanish's lyrics
Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin


"I don't know why
I just know I do
I just can't explain
In this language that I use
Something leaves me speechless
Each time that you approach
Each time you glide right through me
As if I was a ghost

If I only could tell you
If you only would listen
I've got a line or two to use on you
I've got a romance we could christen

And there's a word in Spanish I don't understand
But I heard it in a film one time spoken by the leading man
He said it with devotion, he sounded so sincere
And the words he spoke in Spanish brought the female lead to tears
A word in Spanish, a word in Spanish

If you can't comprehend
Read it in my eyes
If you don't understand it's love
In a thin disguise
And what it takes to move you
Each time that you resist
Is more than just a pretty face
To prove that I exist

When manners make no difference
And my gifts all lay undone
I trade my accent in on chance
And fall back on a foreign tongue
"

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