Hero
As a child and even as a young adult there was one person who more than most helped me get through the tough times that you have growing up and also someone that inspired me to write- it is someone I suspect most people may not have heard of -Bernie Taupin. If you have ever sung along to an Elton John classic like Your Song, Daniel, Rocketman or Sacrifice then you have been singing the words that said Bernie Taupin wrote. He has been writing with Elton for over 55 years- becoming one of the most successful popular writing partnerships of all time. Bernie, although now a naturalised American was as English as roast beef having been born and brought up in rural Lincolnshire working in dead end jobs before he struck out on the ‘Yellow Brick Road’ to come to London to eventually team up with a young musician called Reginald Dwight -who we all now know as Elton Hercules John.
Bernie has been one of the few people who has consistently written song lyrics that mean more than just something for a singer to sing to, they are about things he cares about- the struggle for fulfilment, how to navigate important personal relationships, his love for what could best be called ‘Americana’ (the real wild west of America) and ultimately about what is true-he was and isn’t one to just write about what you might call ‘soppy love’ -he wants to talk about what is real and meaningful in our lives. As he once wrote about him and Elton: “No lies at all just one more tale about the Captain (Elton) and the kid (Bernie). As a kid myself I went through a teenage ritual of buying a new Elton LP (vinyl record to the younger generation!), taking the record out of its sleeves, putting it on a turntable, switching it on, and lying down in my darkened bedroom to soak in the music and Bernie’s lyrics. I was also heartened to hear that fairly recently Bernie became a Christian-always quite nice to know that a personal hero or heroine of yours believes in Jesus. His personal testimony is perhaps similar to others in that he had given up on church saying “..there was no vitality. It was drab and stuffy, overly pious and centred on a droning, unenthusiastic sermon conducted by a charisma-free priest.. the emphasis on wrath and retribution far outweighed the presence of a benevolent God”.
I suspect that may mirror a number of people’s own early experiences of church where the faith was taught in an overly zealous manner so much so that it put people off Christianity for a long time – in some cases for ever. How then did Bernie come back into the ‘fold’? It was thanks to a fine woman, his wife, Heather who has an admirable but captivating faith that had a powerful effect on him-he has talked about how “I wanted what she had, that sort of compassion and understanding, free of pious inequality and liberating in ethical diversity”. Bernie now belongs to a church which he describes as a ‘rehab for the soul’ and where there is a simplicity and joy he can relate to.
Of course, anyone who knows Elton and Bernie’s songs will know that religion has always played a big role in them with songs like Where to Now St Peter?, Religion and Cry to Heaven, and as Bernie has said “the Bible is the lyricist’s best crib sheet”. However, my personal favourite is a 1972 soul song Salvation which highlights Bernie’s desire for all of us to find Jesus -his powerful lyrics are below and if you click onto the link you can hear a great version of it:
I have to say my friends, we’re looking for a light ahead
In the distance a candle burns, Salvation keeps the hungry children fed
It’s gotta take a lot of Salvation what we need are willing hands
You must feel the sweat in your eyes, you must understand Salvation
A chance to put the devil down, without the fear of hell
Salvation spreads the Gospel round, and free you from yourself…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaXnZmAvxJQ
Tags: Elton John, Bernie Taupin, rocketman