Bernie Taupin

Who do you think wrote these words?

I remember when rock was young
Me and Susie had so much fun

Or these?

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind

Or these?

I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is
While you’re in the world

If your answer is “Those are Elton John songs,” you’re right. But John wrote the music, not the words. The lyrics to some of the most iconic, ear-wormy, singalong songs of the second half of the 20th century are the work of Bernie Taupin, John’s friend and collaborator of more than 50 years.

Bernie before Elton

Taupin was born in 1950 in Lincolnshire, England, north of London, to Robert and Daphne Taupin, who worked on a series of farms. The house that Bernie Taupin and his older brother were born in had no electricity. But Taupin’s parents instilled in him a love of reading, and although he was not a stellar student, he showed a talent for writing poetry at an early age.

After a brief attempt at a career in journalism, Taupin admitted he didn’t have much of a future in Lincolnshire, telling Esquire magazine, “You were either going to drive a tractor for the rest of your life or head for the city to work in a factory.” Instead, he answered an ad from a company looking for songwriters.

The rest, as they say, is history.

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Elton and Bernie

In 1967 John (then still known by his birth name, Reggie Dwight) was a struggling singer and piano player who admitted he couldn’t write lyrics. He was given an envelope of lyrics by a music executive and told to write melodies to go with them. The lyrics were by Taupin. “We basically were, in a nutshell, thrown together,” Taupin told People magazine in 2019.

That process—Taupin writing the lyrics first and then John writing the music—would mark the rest of their careers.

By 1969 Taupin had left Lincolnshire and was living with John and his mother and stepfather in London. One morning, while sitting at the breakfast table, Taupin jotted down the words that became “Your Song.” Total time spent by his estimation: 10–15 minutes. John had started putting music to it, singing along to the words when his mother remarked, according to Taupin: “I like that one.” So have the millions of couples who have used it as a wedding song. Released in 1970, it was the pair’s first big hit. Decades later, Taupin knows why: “The marriage of lyric and melody is probably perfect.”

The pairing of John and Taupin was more than professional. In the early years, the two were largely inseparable. John has called Taupin “the brother I never had.” Taupin echoes the sentiment, saying that John was “definitely a big brother.”

The success of “Your Song” placed the pair at the center of rock music in the 1970s. After a series of performances in Los Angeles, the legend of Elton John was born and the John/Taupin hits came in quick succession, including “Tiny Dancer,” “Crocodile Rock,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” and “Daniel.”

But success did not come without difficulty. John’s history of drug addiction and promiscuity is well documented, but Taupin also used drugs and alcohol excessively during the 1970s. In 1977 John announced his retirement from touring, and the pair stopped working together. Taupin, now living full-time in California, stopped taking drugs. He acknowledges that he still drinks. John and Taupin resumed their collaboration in the 1980s.

A candle and a rose

Among the pair’s most successful endeavors was creating one love song to two of the 20th century’s most famous women. But it almost never happened. Taupin originally wanted “Candle in the Wind,” the poignant 1973 ballad about the life and death of Marilyn Monroe, to be about the American actor and heartthrob Montgomery Clift. In his 2023 autobiography, Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, and Me, Taupin said that he found Clift a more interesting character than Monroe but ultimately realized that a song about Monroe had a greater chance at commercial success.

In 1997, after Princess Diana, one of John’s close friends, died in a car crash in Paris, Taupin reworked the iconic lyrics, changing the opening line, “Goodbye, Norma Jeane,” to “Goodbye England’s Rose.” John performed the new version at Diana’s funeral. The single of the recording sold more than 30 million copies.

Still standing

Taupin’s career has included writing with and for other artists—not always with the same success he enjoyed with John. He wrote the lyrics for the 1985 Starship single “We Built This City,” which has the dubious distinction of earning worst song honors from multiple publications.

While continuing to write music, Taupin has written several books and become a visual artist. He teamed up again with John to write a song for the 2019 Elton John biopic Rocketman. The song, “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” won the Academy Award for best original song.