For songwriter Bernie Taupin, discovering the 1959 Marty Robbins’ classic western ballad “El Paso” was a pivotal moment, with artists like the Louvin Brothers and Lefty Frizzell helping to develop in him from a young age an appreciation of the storytelling that has long defined the American country music tradition.
Growing up in England pre-rock and roll, Taupin further gravitated to the sounds of American artists like Eddie Cochran prior to the onset of the British Invasion and the breakthrough of groups like The Beatles.
“We had a station called Radio Luxembourg which came out of Europe where a lot of people discovered music. I think that was the first place I heard Bob Dylan,” recalled Taupin during a recent phone conversation. “The artists that were really popular were the people that actually played regionally around the area where I came from – not that I saw them,” he said. “But Eddie Cochran was huge in England (huge where I came from). So were Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison,” said Taupin. “I remember friends of mine having Eddie Cochran albums – and being very impressed, wondering where they got them from. Because I’d never been to a record store. I didn’t know they existed. The first albums that I ever procured were from an American serviceman on a Royal Air Force station near my home,” said the songwriter. “So, it was all sort of searching and finding and discovering – just the luck of the draw and kismet.”
Famously responding to an NME ad placed by Liberty Records, Taupin would meet Reg Dwight in 1967, quickly establishing a strong musical bond and a songwriting partnership which would become responsible for global record sales eclipsing 300 million over the last 50 years, a tale which lies at the heart of Taupin’s new memoir Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton and Me (now available via Hachette Books in hardcover, ebook or as an audiobook download).
“I think the thing about our songwriting is that it is so diverse because Elton and I are both absolute musicologists and music freaks and we have been since day one,” said Taupin. “I can certainly go back to the early days when we first began writing songs in the late 60s and we were caught between two sort of different worlds – because this was a time before Elton was Elton and was a performer. So, we were jobbing songwriters who were encouraged to write songs for the middle-of-the-road performers,” he explained. “We tried it – but the things that we wrote were appalling,” said Taupin with a chuckle. “So, out of frustration, I guess we said, ‘Well, you’re the one with the voice so you’re going to be the singer.’ And that’s when Elton John was born.”
I spoke with Bernie Taupin about the importance of storytelling, his songwriting relationship with Elton John and his approach to Scattershot. A transcript of our phone conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows below.
Jim Ryan: I know you didn’t approach the book with a specific timeline. And you write about having a short attention span – the title, obviously, sort of gets at that too. How did you go about putting this book together. How long did you work on it?
Bernie Taupin: Well, I guess I started off and it was sort of baby steps. I kind of found my way into it by experimenting with just writing some prose.
What had happened was I actually wrote an article for Harper’s Bazaar magazine. And it was basically a piece about how Elton and I had first connected. The editor of the magazine was so impressed by it that they said, “If you ever want to write anything else for the magazine, we’d love to have you.” And that was encouraging. So, not for the magazine, but I started writing various, bullet-pointed chapters. And then, suddenly, I sort of came to the realization that, basically, what I was doing was writing a book.
So, I put together three or four chapters and sent it to my agent in New York. She went out and found the deal. We got a lot of offers. And then I really got into it in earnest.
I would say it probably, in total, took me a couple of years. And I ended up writing about 800 pages. But, luckily, I had a really good editor who made some good suggestions – and has become a really close friend. So, we ended up with the correct number.
Ryan: I get the feeling reading the book that, like most artists, you’re not necessarily one to look back. What did you learn during the look back that a project like this requires?
Taupin: The thing is that I always was concerned by the fact that my memory wasn’t going to be good enough – and it’s probably one of the reasons that I didn’t write a linear memoir – because, as I say at the beginning of the book, I have no conception of sort of geographical dates and times.
But, what I did discover, once I started writing, is that I had an idea – and I don’t know how it happened – but I just started remembering things. If I wrote about a certain situation, then something else would come to me about that situation. And it sort of just fell into place. It was almost like somebody else was writing the book and I was just following along. And that was my brain just literally coming up with the story as it went.
I don’t know how I remembered some of the things that I did until I actually started writing and they just magically appeared.
Ryan: In the author’s note you hit on the idea of dreaming – switching over to dream mode. Later, you work in a Thomas Hardy quote about dreaming. Does dreaming impact you as a songwriter? Do you ever dream up lyrics?
Taupin: Unfortunately, I don’t have any choice! Because I can’t shut it off. So, dreaming is just a part of my life now. I literally do dream every night, all night. You might think that that’s crippling but I’ve sort of come to terms with it. I can still sleep. But, yeah – my mind is awake all of the time.
But, you know, I’ll be honest with you – I don’t think I’ve ever written a song that has been a part of any of my dreams. People have suggested in the past that I get up and write down what my dreams are about. But so many of my dreams are concurrent and the same all the time – the same sort of situations and individuals that inhabit them. So, I’d be writing the same song pretty much all of the time.
Ryan: Early in Scattershot, you speak of having a fascination with American country music at a young age. Later, you reference Marty Robbins’ “El Paso” and artists like the Louvin Brothers and Lefty Frizzell as flash points. Back then, the country genre was really defined by incredible storytelling. How important is that idea to you?
Taupin: The reason that that music appealed to me so much was the fact that it told stories. And being somebody who wanted to tell stories, it really was like, “OK. This really is sort of the blue touch paper. Because you can actually make music but you can also tell stories.”
The thing that I really gravitated towards was the combination of the fact that these people were telling stories and they were visually instilled into me. Which is one of the things that I love.
I’ve always said I was born in the wrong place. Because the mythic America in these songs was very realistic – as opposed to watching TV where there were things like Roy Rogers and The Lone Ranger, which I just didn’t get. I didn’t understand. Because it didn’t have any of that reality to me as a young kid.
As a youngster, I was instilled with a desire to search for the reality in the American West. And these songs opened the door for me.
Ryan: You wrote about wanting to equal somebody like Johnny Cash as a songwriter. But is there a moment when you feel like you really came into your own as a songwriter – where you weren’t equaling somebody else but establishing your own style?
Taupin: I think the thing about our songwriting is that it is so diverse because Elton and I are both absolute musicologists and music freaks and we have been since day one. So, like everybody else, you pull from all sorts of different genres.
But I don’t think there’s any contemporaries of ours, really, who have spread themselves across such a complete smorgasbord of genres. We’ve worked in everything imaginable. So, I don’t know if I can pinpoint one.
I can certainly go back to the early days when we first began writing songs in the late 60s and we were caught between two sort of different worlds – because this was a time before Elton was Elton and was a performer. So, we were jobbing songwriters who were encouraged to write songs for the middle-of-the-road performers who were currently popular – whether it be Engelbert Humperdinck, Cilla Black, Tom Jones or Cliff Richard or people of that ilk. And, obviously, we weren’t any good at that. We tried it – but the things that we wrote were appalling.
At the same time, we were trying to get a foothold in a different sort of songwriting mold. Which is, I guess, if you want to use the word, “psychedelia” – which was very prevalent at the time whether it be the writing of people like Procol Harum or Pink Floyd. So, we were trying to dip our toe in that water too. But, unfortunately, there was nobody who was going to cover those kind of songs – because those songs were being written by the artists themselves. So, out of frustration, I guess we said, “Well, you’re the one with the voice so you’re going to be the singer.” And that’s when Elton John was born.
I think the first song though that we ever wrote that we realized was pretty good was a song called “Skyline Pigeon.” This was prior to coming up with “Your Song” – which was the song where we really went, “OK. This could do it.”
Ryan: You write in the new book about how proud you are of the honesty that defines “Your Song.” Here we are in an era where sometimes it seems like the idea of honesty can be devalued. Not all of your songwriting is honest in that way. But, looking back now all these years later, how important is the idea of honesty to that song in particular?
Taupin: Well, it was honest because it was a reflection of myself. I was barely 17 years old. I was a virgin. I was sexually uneducated. Any sort of romantic notions that I had were on a very naive level. So, the song is pure honesty.
I’ve always said that it’s the sort of counterpoint, or the bookend, to a song which is one of my favorite songs that we ever wrote – which is a song called “Sacrifice.” “Sacrifice” came years and years later and is the polar opposite of “Your Song.” It’s all about deceit and broken marriages and the ruination of love. And I had lived through that.
So, I like to think it’s the same person – but “Sacrifice” was that person as an adult many, many years later.
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