Scattershot by Bernie Taupin

Due to the weather I won’t be going out today. However, the rain has given me the chance to finish reading a wonderful book which my friend Colleen kindly sent me recently. It is called Scattershot, a memoir by Bernie Taupin. Colleen said the writing is brilliant, and she is correct. Bernie is a great storyteller and has a way with words that shouldn’t be surprising as he is one of the most successful lyricists of the past fifty years. You don’t even have to be a huge fan of Elton John to enjoy this book because Bernie is a name dropper extraordinaire and so the book is littered with anecdotes about the famous musicians, writers, artists, sportspeople and public figures that crossed Bernie’s path along the way. Bernie was born in a small village in Lincolnshire in 1950. In the book he recounts at the age of sixteen seeing Otis Redding at the Boston Gliderdrome in Lincolnshire. That struck a personal note for me because that was a popular venue for music fans from my hometown of Peterborough. At the age of seventeen he answered an advert in a music paper for new songwriters and was teamed up with Elton John. They made their first album together Empty Sky in 1969 and Bernie says it was no Astral Weeks but it wasn’t bad, which shows that he has high regard for Van Morrison’s work. On pages 78/79 he recounts an hilarious meeting with Van where Van does impressions of the characters from a popular radio show called The Goons which showed a side to Van which most people don’t get to see.

One thing that comes over very clearly in the book is Bernie’s love for all things American. This was apparent from an early age when he discovered music by the likes of Marty Robbins. He moved to America permanently in the mid-1970s and totally soaked himself in the culture. Even his terminology is very American. He refers to ‘gas stations’ whereas we would say ‘petrol stations’. He has a great love of American Football and the western lifestyle, eventually buying a ranch and immersing himself in things like rodeos and bull riding. Bernie is very critical of people like Rod Stewart who move to America and pretend they are still in England. This is a huge read of 400 pages, so I’ll just pick out a few little things that I particularly liked in the book. I didn’t realise, or had forgotten that Bernie produced an album which I have always thought is very underrated which is American Gothic by David Ackles. Like me, Bernie also thinks that Dory Previn is a great singer-songwriter who deserved much more attention. I think he much preferred meeting Dory to meeting her nemesis Mia Farrow who stole away her husband Andre Previn. From a young age Bernie had a great love of literature and poetry which obviously seeped into his songwriting. He reveals how he got the title for Candle In The Wind from a book by Alexander Solzenitsyn. He got the idea for the song from watching the film The Misfits and the original inspiration was Montgomery Clift, but then he realised that Marilyn Monroe was probably a more commercial idea. Rocket Man came about through reading The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. Because of his love of books one of his most memorable encounters was an accidental meeting in a London hotel with one of his favourite writers Grahame Greene. He is full of praise for Leonard Cohen who he describes as the master who has no lyrical equal, a poet whereas all others are merely lyricists.

There are many hilarious stories in the book. Bernie recalls an evening in a restaurant with Salvadore Dali and his wife. During the evening Dali drew a picture on a napkin using anything that was to hand and gave it to Bernie who proudly took it back to his hotel. The next day to his horror he returned to his room to find the napkin had been laundered and no trace of Dali’s work of art remained. How surreal!. In another funny tale he recounts how he and Kris Kristofferson had to prop a drunken John Prine up on a stool for an appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test. There are also drunken encounters with the likes of Oliver Reed and his friend Alice Cooper. Bernie also remembers being in a restaurant with a pregnant Kate McGarrigle and her husband Loudan Wainwright. They were wondering what to call their future son and Bernie says it was he who suggested the name Rufus. There is also a sad encounter between Brian Wilson and John Lennon. I found Bernie's recollections of his parents last days particularly moving. I could go on and on, but I don’t want to ruin it for you if you want to read it yourself. I must say that I found it one of the most well written, informative, funny, moving, intelligent and honest music autobiographies I have ever read. Highly recommended.