So, it’s not like a As staff songwriters at DJM Records, they spent much of their first two years together writing material for other artists, among them Lulu and Roger Cook. “They gave each other physical distance and emotional distance beyond 1976 and I suppose that preserved the partnership and gave them breathing space,” Doyle says.Avoiding resentment of the other person in the duo is easy, says Taupin. "The emotional feeling at the end of the film dictated the lyrics and overall mood of the song. He asks, 'Where did you hear that song?' Bernie Taupin is one-half of one of the most successful and prolific songwriting duos in the history of popular music. “You have to see each other for that to happen,” In the 1980s and the 1990s they continued to collaborate on hits including “I’m Still Standing,” “Sad Songs,” “Nikita,” “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues,” “The One,” “Simple Life,” “Club at the End of the Street,” and “Believe.” Their biggest single came in 1997 when Taupin rewrote the lyrics of “Candle In the Wind” in honor of the late Outside of popular music, the pair collaborated on the 2006 stage show Bernie Taupin and Elton John accept the Mercer Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame 44th Annual Induction and Awards Dinner in June 2013Turning his obsession with the American West into a reality, Taupin spent much of the early 1990s living the life of his alter ego, The Brown Dirt Cowboy, by competing in weekend horse shows and as part owner of a three-time bucking champion bull, Little Yellow Jacket. California Stars Words by Woody Guthrie, Music by Jay Bennett & Jeff Tweedy. Taupin, a farmer’s son from Lincolnshire, England was 17, John (still using his birth name of Reg Dwight), who had begun playing the piano by ear at the age of three before completing formal musical training in his teens, was 20.Though they were close in age at the time of their first meeting, 17-year-old Taupin was in awe of John. Taupin, on the other hand, was a writer of beautiful, often introspective verse akin to poetry, but he could not write music. “Some of the songs, like ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,’ are pretty personal to Bernie but Elton could express this as he understood where Bernie was coming from. “It was a very intensive working relationship that started in 1967 and by the time they got to 1976 these two guys are completely worn out,” says Doyle.
The song California Sun was written by Henry Glover and Morris Levy and was first released by Joe Jones in 1961. Kristofferson found inspiration for his lyrics from a film, as he explained to "There was a Mickey Newbury song that was going through my mind--'Why You Been Gone So Long?' On a whim, they were paired by Liberty with John being sent away with a folder of Taupin’s lyrics in what would become a precursor to how the duo would form their long-lasting working relationship.“They had written something like 20 songs before they had even met,” says Doyle of the pair. In 1969, . As lyricist to Taupin and John are responsible for more than 35 gold and 25 platinum albums, 30 consecutive U.S. Top 40 hits, have sold more than 255 million records worldwide, and hold the record for the biggest-selling single of all time, The duo’s early years was portrayed onscreen in the biopic “They’re absolutely crucial to each other,” says Tom Doyle, author of Introduced in 1967, the pair met when each replied to an advertisement placed in the music magazine NME by Liberty Records searching for singer/songwriter artists. For some reason, I thought of 'La Strada,' this Fellini film, and a scene where Anthony Quinn is going around on this motorcycle and Giulietta Masina is the feeble-minded girl with him, playing the trombone. He's drunk and ends up howling at the stars on the beach. ... London, SE1 9GF. “What’s interesting to remember about Bernie is that Bernie was a rock star who didn’t appear on stage," says Doyle. In some cases, they have guided him in … From Offstage Bernie had more of a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle than Elton did early on.”Though Taupin says he never splurged on luxuries in the early days, he has admitted to a then liking for vodka, cocaine and women, but would only write when he was sober.By the mid-1970s the unrelenting schedule of composing, recording and touring had begun to take a toll on both men. “And this put in place their writing relationship which was basically Elton putting Bernie’s lyrics in front of him and virtually auto-composing. "Me and Bobby McGee" became Joplin's only number one hit and is widely considered one of the greatest songs of all time.
But obviously, they are completely in tune and on the same wavelength which allows for a certain intimacy to come through in the songs which people related to in a big way.”That understanding extends to the work itself, that the song, above all else, is the most important thing. But it was such a purple patch for them and it really set this amazing working relationship.”What followed was a period of success and the excesses that come with sudden fame and wealth. “It’s a process and many great songwriters have this,” Doyle says. Bernie Taupin is one-half of one of the most successful and prolific songwriting duos in the history of popular music. Due to the gender-neutral name of "Bobby" male and female artists gravitated to cover the song. From 1967 they developed this incredible remote working relationship where they would never sit in the same room and write together.