It’s always the perfect time for me to listen to Elton John’s musical arrangements and incomparable vocals fused with Bernie Taupin’s timeless lyrics because together they cover almost all variations of human emotion. While listening to the duo’s colorful tales of frontier cowboys, love, addiction, celebrity, loss, hate, and redemption to name a few topics, you find that the applications of this powerful music are truly endless. As a teen I would even listen to my father’s Madman Across the Water CD on repeat while slaughtering Nazis in the original Wolfenstein PC game! What exactly is it about Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy (referring to Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s nicknames directly--not the album of the same name) that gives them the combined musical super strength of the connected five robotic lions that comprise 1980s anime hero Voltron? It’s a difficult question to answer but to venture a guess, I would say soul and imagination.
Elton John’s soul is of an unfathomable depth and every note that he sings or plays on the piano hangs in the air like a smoke trail from a jet. Bernie Taupin possesses a boundless imagination that allows him to travel to any time on Earth and beyond (Maybe Bernie Taupin is a Time Lord!), live there for a while, and report back his findings in the most poetic way possible. The fact that Taupin and John lived together for a time (in Elton John’s mother’s house with his mother no less!) gave them the type of brotherly bond that allowed them to create music that reflects the economy of words and powerful unspoken emotion you find between family and loved ones. Living in that close proximity to each other these two enormously talented individuals gained the ability to predict the other’s actions as if they worked out of a shared brain. This strong musical connection explains why John and Taupin have such perfectly complimentary music and lyrics – so much so in fact that any Elton John song that is not penned by Bernie Taupin, even when the song is a hit, suffers. These two extraordinary beings are truly two sides of the same coin and are very similar to the rock band Rush in terms of song development because like John and Taupin the members of Rush worked from a place of brotherhood to craft their phenomenal signature sound. As I have said many times before I find friendship to be paramount in creative endeavors and the spirit of teamwork is the guiding light which can bring a project from good to phenomenal – a fact that I can personally attest to by frequently collaborating with my wife and best friend.
Aside from the unquestionable mountains of talent within Elton John and Bernie Taupin the defining characteristic in their music is that it can speak personally to each and every listener – when I hear “Your Song” I feel that it is in fact my song, and I am sure that many others feel that it is their song when they hear it as well. The reason that their music can speak so personally to all of us is the fact that the songs are just that – personal. Their music feels like intimate stories exchanged between the best of friends and we feel that we are one of their close confidants as well – sometimes even feeling that through them we are able to speak our own personal truth. Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s collective musical force will always have the power to bring me back to the ground when I am overwhelmed by life and their songs speak to me like a caring friend. The magic of their music empowers me to process even the most difficult of emotions and there is truly no faster way to clear the emotional decks than singing their songs at maximum volume.
The most touching sequence for me in the film Rocketman is the first time that Elton John plays and sings “Your Song” in his mother’s house. At the breakfast table Bernie gives Elton the lyrics and heads to the bathroom from a shave. Elton immediately heads to the piano and quickly finds the sound of “Your Song,” causing Bernie to quit shaving and rush down to where Elton is playing. As Elton is discovering “Your Song” for the first time the audience feels his innocent joy mixed with stunning triumph so intensely that you cannot help but get swept up in his euphoria. While playing, Elton is acutely aware of the presence of his best friend and collaborator Bernie, of his loving and supportive grandmother, and of his hateful and disapproving mother who stares daggers at him. In this place of supportive love and burning hate (a foreshadowing of the critics and admirers to come) Elton experiences his innermost musical spiritual awakening and there is no question that Elton and Bernie are destined for stardom. I have no idea how accurate this scene is in comparison to the actual creation of “Your Song” but it most certainly will always be the way I envision the song’s genesis. Taron Egerton and Jamie Bell perfectly telegraph the deep emotion shared between these two friends, who are closer than brothers.
Out of Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s massive catalog, “Your Song” is the one that most intensely and consistently elicits an emotional response from me because I feel that I am personally being told that it is my song. “Your Song” always brings a smile to my face because it makes me feel like no matter what happens in my life that there will always be someone out there who cares about me so I will never truly be alone. Thank you for that wonderful gift of a song, Elton John and Bernie Taupin. To quote the geniuses themselves, “This one’s for you.”
Episode 25: Rocketman (Released March 25, 2022)
