“That enjoyment has never changed”: Why doesn’t Elton John write his own lyrics?
Elton John is many things. A glitzy, sunglasses-loving pop-star. A powerful singer and a master behind the piano. A staunch advocate for LGBTQ+ rights who has consistently used his platform to fight against HIV and AIDS. A talented composer who has helmed some of the most iconic musicals of all time. A football president. A rocketman. But if there’s one thing he is not, it’s a lyricist.
John has composed and lent his voice to some of the most iconic songs in the history of pop, but he rarely wrote the words to accompany them. For his lyrics, he generally relied on the genius of his partner-in-songwriting Bernie Taupin. The pair combined their talents to forge hits like ‘Rocket Man’ and ‘I’m Still Standing’, as well as heartbreakers like ‘I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues’.
Their partnership pulled together John’s instrumental strengths with Taupin’s lyrical prowess, a combination so powerful that they never felt the desire to switch roles. John addressed this during an interview with Billboard, acknowledging that, while many people have told him to venture into lyric-writing, the idea has never really appealed to him.
“People say, ‘You should write lyrics,’” he commented, “And I say I’m quite happy not to, because I like being part of that process where you write your version of what someone else’s lyrics are saying to you, and that enjoyment has never changed in 38 years, that’s pretty amazing.”
John explained that the creative setup between himself and Taupin has hardly changed since they first began writing together, when they were living with John’s parents in Middlesex. “I would be in the living room writing something,” he recalled, “he’d be in the bedroom, and I would bring him out once I’d finished the song and play it to him and see the reaction.”
The pop star stated that the “pleasure on [Taupin’s] face is something that hasn’t really changed, that excitement”. Though John and Taupin have almost certainly upgraded their writing environment from the sofas in John’s childhood home, their process hasn’t changed. And why should it? It’s a tried and tested method, one that has spawned so many enduring hits.
From the early days, the creative chemistry between the pair proved to be magical. As they swapped songs and lyric ideas between the living room and the bedroom, they created enduring tracks like ‘Your Song’ and ‘Tiny Dancer’, which showed off their ability to match lyrics and instrumentation perfectly.
This creative synergy was only further honed as Taupin and John amassed more acclaim and grew even more accustomed with one another’s talents. Together, they would pen a bouncy duet with Kiki Dee, ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’, the regretful ‘Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word’, and the iconic ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’, filling John’s discography with all-time classics.
There was no need for John to try his hand at lyricism when he and Taupin worked so seamlessly together, creating hit after hit as one creative force. Their partnership’s success stemmed from their willingness to play to their own and each other’s strengths, and from the process that they had set in place early on. Decades later, it remains still a well-oiled hit-making machine. A true example of ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.
