One of the most admired lyric-writing collaborations in recent memory was formed by Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin. The team of John at the piano and Taupin at the pen has produced one of music history’s most beloved libraries.
It appears that John isn’t always aware of the concepts behind the lyrics because Taupin (apart from a few hard years for the couple) writes the songs solely. In a recent interview, the two rock legends sat down to talk about the ideas that went into one of their most popular songs, “Rocket Man.”
Following their mutual acceptance of a songwriting ad, John and Taupin crossed paths in 1967. After waiting five years, the group successfully published “Rocket Man” to rave reviews.
John said, “‘Rocket Man’ was our first-ever number one record I think – and it was on the Honky Chateau record, It was a pretty easy song to write a melody to because it’s a song about space so it’s quite a spacious song.”
Then Taupin clarified where he got the idea for the lyrics in the first place.
He said, “It was actually a song inspired by Ray Bradbury from his book of science-fiction short stories called The Illustrated Man. In that book, there was a story called The Rocket Man, which was about how astronauts in the future would become sort of an everyday job… so I kinda took that idea and ran with it.”
John spoke out right away and said, “Do you know, I never knew that…”
Check out the moment, below.
