Bernie Taupin was born this day, May 22, 1950. Happy #53!
As the lyricist for all of Elton John's best material, he's one of the most successful pop songwriters of all time. For that high level of success, he gets very little credit. Elton's tunes sell his lyrics, but that's true of any lyricist. Elton wouldn't have kept him around if he weren't outstanding.
One of my big favorite Bernie Taupin lyrics is "Bennie and the Jets"
Hey kids, shake it loose together
The spotlight's hitting something
That's been known to change the weather
We'll kill the fatted calf tonight
So stick around
You're gonna hear electric music
Solid walls of sound
Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen them yet
But they're so spaced out, Bennie and the Jets
Oh but they're weird and they're wonderful
Oh Bennie she's really keen
She's got electric boots a mohair suit
You know I read it in a magazine
Bennie and the Jets
Hey kids, plug into the faithless
Maybe they're blinded
But Bennie makes them ageless
We shall survive, let us take ourselves along
Where we fight our parents out in the streets
To find who's right and who's wrong
He gets right at teenage rebellion as a crass trendy consumer product. The poetry and sound of this is really good. He gets the breathless contrived trendy fake-hip talk "Hey kids, plug into the faithless". He also gets a good closer with the "fight our parents out in the street". That's good stuff.
Article comments
1 - sheelagh wright
Hello - how many years ago is this? Do you remember having lunch on my desk at Trident Studios? So glad you are well.