John/Taupin

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John/Taupin is a songwriting team that consists of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Taupin is the lyricist and John adds the music to his words. They have been working together since 1967, when both John and Taupin separately answered an advertisement in the New Musical Express placed by Ray Williams. Williams gave Taupin's lyrics to John and he began to write the music. They finally met six months later, and wrote the music and lyrics together for John's 1969 debut album, Empty Sky.

John's 1975 album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is about themselves, John being "Captain Fantastic" and Taupin being the "Brown Dirt Cowboy". The sequel to this album, The Captain & The Kid was released in 2006. John released his first album without Taupin in 1978 with A Single Man. However, Taupin would return in 1983 and to this day the songwriting team remains one of the most popular in rock music.

A very typical aspect of their team work is the fact that writing almost always takes place separately, i.e. Taupin first writes the lyrics and passes them on to John, who then writes the music to it, without the two really discussing the work. Another remarkable trait is the great speed at which they work: each one claims not to spend more than 30-60 minutes working on either the lyrics or the music.

[edit] List of popular songs by John/Taupin

• "Your Song"
• "Take Me to the Pilot"
• "Border Song"
• "Ballad of a Well-Known Gun"
• "Country Comfort"
• "Burn Down the Mission"
• "Tiny Dancer"
• "Levon"
• "Razor Face"
• "Madman Across the Water"
• "Indian Sunset"
• "Holiday Inn"
• "Rotten Peaches"
• "All the Nasties"
• "Goodbye"
• "Honky Cat"
• "Rocket Man"
• "Hercules"
• "Daniel"
• "Crocodile Rock"
• "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding"
• "Candle in the Wind"
• "Bennie and the Jets"
• "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
• "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"
• "The Bitch Is Back"
• "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"
• "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"
• "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"
• "I'm Still Standing"
• "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues"
• "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That"
• "Nikita"
• "Healing Hands"
• "Club at the End of the Street"
• "Sacrifice"
• "Something About The Way You Look Tonight"
• "Postcards from Richard Nixon"
• "Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC)"
• "The Bridge"
• "Old '67"
• "The Captain and the Kid"

[edit] See also

• Songs written by Bernie Taupin
• Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin