Elton John: Simply Overwhelming

Bernie Taupin says of working with Elton John, “Elton is one of the most recognizable performers in the pop music world – a singer/songwriter with numerous achievements bordering on the overwhelming.”Bernie Taupin says of working with Elton John, “Elton is one of the most recognizable performers in the pop music world – a singer/songwriter with numerous achievements bordering on the overwhelming.”

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Perhaps it’s his and longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin’s consistency as songwriters that has become John’s greatest accomplishment of all. For over twenty-five years, the magic of their collaboration has not changed. Taupin still writes all the lyrics first and sends them off to Elton via fax or mal. Among their too-numerous-to-count awards together and individually, John and Taupin were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

“We’ve never sat down side by side. We’ve always worked separately,” attests the pop lyric legend. “I don’t know any other songwriting team that does it this way, but it works for us.”

Just what is the secret behind the many years of the John/Taupin successful partnership?

“We have the kind of relationship that is between brothers,” John recently stated. “That’s much more than being just friends. I feel like we were once Siamese twins, who then got cut clean down the middle, so that each went zoom!, off into the distance. I don’t ever remember a time in our lives that we had to question our writing partnership. Bernie is very precious to me. He will always be special to me.”

But was there ever a time when the pop piano man had seriously questioned his personal and professional relationship with Taupin?

“No. I can’t actually remember having a fight with Bernie,” he explains, “There might have been times where we were secretly tired of each other. Then we might have wanted to destroy each other. But time is a great healer – space is a great healer too. And of course, so is love. And if you love and respect someone, you don’t throw that kind of collaboration away.”



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