"Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" is a song written by Elton John and 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 his second single on Rocket Records. The song is a mournful ballad about unrequited love. It was also one of the rare instances where Elton John himself wrote much of the lyric. Whereas most of the John-Taupin songs began with Taupin's lyrics, this one began with John's melody, with some lyrics included. Taupin simply finished them.
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 1976-1986, and in Greatest Hits 1970-2002, as well as a number of other compilations.
The song has been covered by R&B singer Mary J Blige. The song was also covered by Joe Cocker and featured in his "Joe Cocker's Greatest Hits" album.
Country singers Suzy Bogguss and Chet Atkins covered the song on their 1994 Simpatico and released it as a single but failed to chart on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.
In 2002, Blue covered this song, but they had help from Elton John who appeared in both the recording and the music video as 'Featured Artist'. Ray Charles and Elton John also recorded this song as a 'duet' in Ray's 2004 posthumous release Genius Loves Company. In 2006 this song was covered by Clay Aiken on his CD A Thousand Different Ways.
The song was a UK/US Top 20 hit, reaching #11 in the UK and #6 in the US. In 2007 it was revealed that the original version reached a virtual #4 in the United World Chart.
The video of "Sorry seems to be the hardest word" depicts the story of a unrequited love of a male youth who wants to take revenge on that reluctant girl, he was in love with. At the end of the video he and the best friend of the girl are a couple and so the friendship of the two girls is actively threatened. Because the guy tells a lot of gossip and untruths about the girl, who did not return his affection in the beginning.
