Songs in the Key of Life in a series of concert dates in the U.S. and Canada. The start of the tour coincided with the 38th anniversary of the release of "Songs in the Key of Life". Highly anticipated, the album surpassed all commercial expectations. It debuted at number 1 on the "Billboard" Pop Albums Chart on October 8, 1976, becoming only the third album in history to achieve that feat and the first by an American artist (after British singer/composer Elton John's albums "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" and "Rock of the Westies", both in 1975). In Canada, the album achieved the same
Your Song self-deprecating narrator stumbles to get out his feelings, which despite being a melodramatic device, AllMusic calls "effective and sweet": "Your Song" was the inspiration for the song "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" on John's 1975 album "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy". "Your Song" was praised by critics upon its release and in subsequent years. Writing in the NME on its release Derek Johnson wrote, "The song itself is glowing and strangely haunting, the scoring is smooth and delicate and the performance is symptomatic of a new era in pop idols." Bill Janovitz from AllMusic described it as