Songfacts®:

• As the title implies, this is a very personal song for Elton. Lyrics for most of his songs came from Bernie Taupin, but this one had a lyric written by Tom Robinson, a British singer whose songs include "2-4-6-8 Motorway" and "(Sing If You're) Glad To Be Gay." Unlike Taupin, Robinson is gay, and wrote words that Elton could relate to on that level.
  
  Elton was not yet public in his homosexuality (he would marry a woman in 1984), and the song is not gender-specific. Elton, however, heard it as a boy-meets-boy love song, and says it reminded him of a 1968 movie called If, which is set at a school for boys in England. "It was the first gay song that I actually recorded as a homosexual song," Elton told Rolling Stone.
• Directed by Russell Mulcahy, the music video presented a very clear interpretation of this song, showing a schoolboy pining for a male classmate.