Remember When: Elton John and Bernie Taupin Took a Break From Their Songwriting Partnership

The pressure and insanity of the rock and roll lifestyle can cause friction between even the closest companions. Even Elton John and Bernie Taupin, generally regarded as the most harmonious of songwriting partners, had a brief rift in the second half of the ’70s.

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What caused the two men to split up? And what brought them back together again? Here’s a look back at a time when the John/Taupin songwriting combination took a little bit of a break.

An Incredible Run

By any standard, the recording pace kept by Elton John at the beginning of his career stands out as ridiculously prolific. From 1969 to 1976, he released 11 studio albums, two of which were doubles. That doesn’t even mention the touring and other appearances that took up his time as well.

As a result, the demand for songs was always high. Luckily, the formula proved conducive to churning out the material fast. Taupin would write the lyrics first, and then John would take them and compose the music to go around them. Needless to say, it worked, as there are dozens of classic tracks that came from that incredible stretch for the pair.

But by the time Blue Moves (another double album) in 1976 rolled around, the music seemed to drop off in quality, and the success rate of the singles released by John also dipped. All the time that the two men spent together was also starting to wear on their once-tight relationship.

Taking a Break

According to both men, there wasn’t some giant blowup between the two that precipitated the decision to take a hiatus from working together. After Blue Moves, John made a lot of career changes, including taking time off from the road and cutting loose his longtime backing band. He wanted to try new styles with new collaborators.

Meanwhile, other artists came calling for Taupin’s special lyrical skills. Chief among them was Alice Cooper, already a major superstar when he tapped Taupin to help him with several songs on his 1978 album From the Inside.

It’s hard to say whether John had already had made the decision by then to try a new lyricist, but he admitted after the fact his feelings were hurt to see Taupin’s name in the credits of songs by others. John made the decision that his 1978 album A Single Man would feature a co-writer other than his longtime partner.

A Few Albums Apart

On A Single Man, John worked exclusively on the material with Gary Osborne. The album charted a minor hit single in “Part-Time Love,” but it wasn’t generally considered one of John’s best. After the disco-fied Victim of Love flopped, Taupin came back into the fold, albeit tentatively.

Taupin would write a handful of songs with John on the next three albums, although John also included songs written by Osborne and others. On the 1982 album Jump Up, the John/Taupin song “Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny),” a tribute to John Lennon, gave Elton his biggest hit single since the pair had written together exclusively.

The writing was on the wall for both men, so to speak. John’s next album, the major comeback smash Too Low for Zero, was written entirely with Taupin. Thus, their break was just a relative blip in their careers. And it likely made them appreciate what they had in each other all the more.

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