Collaborating

He was only 17 when he and 20-year-old Elton John began collaborating. He is the words to John's music. Bernie Taupin is his name. Elton John is the only artist who had a song in Billboard's Top Ten every consecutive year from 1970 to 1999. Correction. John and Taupin have had a song every year during that time. I have been listening to John's music, and Taupin's words, since I was just a little girl and heard "Your Song" on the radio. I remember a slumber party when a friend who played the piano played "Crocodile Rock," a song I have always loved in no small part because it has my name, Susie, in it. We all sang along, "Wa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa..." and giggled, because giggling is a lot of what goes on when 12-year-old girls get together. That is a super fun song.

Taupin and John collaborate without even being in the same room. It goes like this. Taupin writes the words first, then gives them to John and he sets them to music. No back and forth. In an interview, John said it often takes just 20 minutes or so for him to take those words and put music to them, and there you have it.

One of my favorite Taupin-John songs is "Take Me to the Pilot." When interviewed about it, Taupin said he had no idea what the words meant. He wrote them and just thought, "Wow! That sounds really great." At a concert, John told the audience he also had no idea what the song meant. "You're on your own there."

We as humans are creators, whether we think of ourselves as that or not. We can create by ourselves, of course. Taupin is a poet. All lyricists are. John is a musician. John has written some songs, so he knows how to write lyrics. Taupin has written songs for other musicians. But their greatest works have been their collaborations, because obviously, something great happens between these two men.

Then they share it with us, and we become collaborators with them. Not just an audience. We take it and create something for ourselves out of it.

Susan

"Take Me to the Pilot" written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin