Bernie Taupin on his life in music, from the songs that inspired him to the hits he wrote with Elton John
Bernie Taupin is one of the most renowned lyricists in modern music, but he’s kept his personal history close to his chest, shunning the limelight in favour of protecting his privacy — until now.
He tells his story in his new memoir, Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton and Me, which chronicles his incredible life and longtime creative partnership with Elton John.
In an interview with Q’s Tom Power, Taupin looks back on his life in music by taking us through some of the songs he wrote with his “musical soul brother,” as well as a few songs by other artists that inspired him along the way.
On the song that turned him onto songwriting
Growing up in England, Taupin mostly listened to American songs on the radio because he found they told stories “in ways that classic rock and basic formatted pop didn’t do.”
But there was only one song that made him realize that he wanted to be a songwriter: El Paso by Marty Robbins.
“I always wanted to be a storyteller,” says Taupin. “The only storytelling songs were American country songs and I’ve always said for my entire career that the song that turned me onto songwriting was El Paso by Marty Robbins.
“When I heard that song, I went, ‘Wow. You can write stories and have people sing them too.’ And that was always my mantra all the way through my life: I wanted to be a storyteller. I didn’t understand the process of songwriting or what really a lyricist was. I didn’t like to be referred to as a poet and I loathe it still to this day, you know. I just always wanted to be a storyteller.”
On the song that encouraged him to follow his instincts
In his book, Taupin writes that The Band’s Tears of Rage — with lyrics written by Bob Dylan — encouraged him to follow his instincts.
“Whoa, whoa, wait a second,” Taupin interjects in his conversation with Power. “Not just written by Bob Dylan, you know, give the other guys credit. They made it their own, man…. To me that’s a Band song, it’s not a Dylan song.”
When Taupin first heard Tears of Rage, he thought it was “incredibly hip” and decided he wanted to try writing something like it.
Surfing through life with music in his soul: Paddy League at home with Echolocator
Ethnomusicologist Panayotis “Paddy” League mixes culture and music into a new, intoxicating Tallahassee sound. Catch him at Wonderful Wednesday at Goodwood Museum & Gardens on Sept. 20.
A heritage of harmony
Music lives at the heart of Greek culture. The sounds made by the traditional Greek goatskin tsambouna bagpipe combined with the chords plucked on the long-necked bouzouk serve as a form of social anthropology and musicology that investigates the role of music within the human experience. Although one’s relationship with music can be personal and inexplicably moving, it is a connection meant to be shared.
Paddy League will perform at Goodwood Museum’s Wonderful Wednesday event on Sept. 20, 2023.
For centuries, Greek tradition has intertwined storytelling with music and poetry to connect and uplift the community socially, spiritually, and artistically. For musician, educator, and ethnographer League, music and his Greek heritage have always been central to his life.
His mother and maternal grandfather were professional musicians and music educators in Tarpon Springs, home to the largest Greek-American community in the nation. League’s family cultivated his love of music as a child by immersing him in traditional Greek and Irish music and the tantalizing beats of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s rhythm & blues, funk, rock, and jazz.
After his first drum lesson, given to him by his mother, League began a lifelong journey as a versatile instrumentalist. What started as a relationship with the drums led to a romance with guitars, violins, and Greek lutes. His 20s introduced him to the bagpipe sounds of a tsambouna, and graduate school brought him hand-to-hand with the button accordion.
As he tells his story, League leans in with an aside, “WARNING: If you’re reading this and thinking about going to grad school in the humanities, learning the accordion is not an uncommon side effect.”
Music Review: ‘Who’s Next/Life House’ is a dive into The Who’s masterpiece that mostly slipped away
“Who’s Next/Life House” — The Who’s massive new box set — dives deep down the archival rabbit hole to shed light on the development of one of the band’s greatest records — and one grandiose idea that (mostly) slipped away.
The 10-disc, 155-track collection out Friday shows how Pete Townshend ’s self-described “mad idea” for a science fiction rock opera “Life House” project, which was abandoned and eventually became 1971’s “Who’s Next.”
But the sprawling original concept from The Who’s songwriter, lead guitar player and vocalist never left his mind and got refashioned numerous times in various formats over the ensuing half century.
At its most basic, Townshend’s original “Life House” concept foresees a future where an autocratic government, in a land ravaged by pollution, enforces a national lockdown where every person is hooked up to an entertainment grid to distract them. Music becomes an inconvenient diversion to the powers that be, while inhabitants search for the perfect note to create a sort of musical rapture.
More or less.
The exhaustive box set allows the listener to observe the evolution of some of The Who’s best and most well-known songs, including “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “Baba O’Reilly” (aka “Teenage Wasteland”), “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Goin’ Mobile.”
While first envisioned for “Life House,” the songs eventually were released on “Who’s Next,” a record that to the uninitiated may appear to be a greatest hits compilation, it’s just that good.