Bernie Taupin

 

 

Bernie Taupin was born May 22th 1950. He grew up in England close to Lincolnshire in a catholic home where their secondary language was French. B. Taupin and his family lived a quiet life in the country, where his father Robert had made himself a career in agriculture. Bernie had never in mind to follow in his fathers footsteps and as a rebel teen he spend a lot of his time on the local pool pubs. Despite this, his love for literature was at a young age already growing. This was particularly due to his mother, Daphne and his grandfather, Leonard Patchett Cort.

Bernie was a quiet and thoughtful child, he read a lot and was a bit of a loner. He has always been fascinated by America , "The Old West" and it's icons. So at the age of 11 he decided to write a book about the subject. He wrote 3 pages and sent it to a publisher but it was unfortunately declined : Dear Mr. Taupin there's nothing we can do for you right now .. " His interest in "the Old west" obviously comes to the surface in a record like " Tumbleweed Connection ".

In 1967 an ad from Liberty records brought Bernie and Elton together. Bernie had never really considered to write lyrics for music until he met Elton. Elton found it hard to write lyrics and that triggered one of the worlds most famous singer/songwriter relationships. Bernie and Elton developed a brother like relationship and also they lived together in their early years, first at Elton's moms flat and thereafter in a basement flat on Furlong Road 29 in London.

It's hard to compare Bernie with other lyric writers. In the early years he usually didn't write in typically "song style", which meant Elton would rearrange the words to chorus and verse. This resulted in pop songs which stood out from anything else that was written at the time. It is obvious to see that Bernie doesn't prioritate rhythm and rhyme, that part he gladly leaves to Elton. Several times there has been taken out a verse because Elton either thought it was too long or did not fit the melody. A famous example of this is the song " Daniel " where the entire point was in the last verse according to Elton. Elton removed that last verse and today no one quite understands the full meaning. Songs like " Ticking ", " We All Fall In Love Sometimes ", " Sixty Years On ", " Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me " etc. underline Bernies unique talent for writing lyrics.

Bernie has also achieved great things on his own. He has written for several artists like Alice Cooper, Heart and Willie Nelson. He has formed his own band , Farm Dogs and has also released solo records including "Tribe" & "He Who Rides The Tiger".