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.

My Evening With Natalie Merchant In Bath

Saturday was a good day for various reasons. Firstly, the sun was shining which was a welcome change from all the rain we have had recently, secondly, my team Peterborough United beat their local rivals Cambridge United 5-0, and thirdly I went to see Natalie Merchant at the Forum in Bath. I arrived in Bath far too early as always, so I bought a vegeburger from some food outlet and then repaired to my usual pre-gig haunt in Bath The Lamb & Lion where I passed the time with a large glass of chardonnay while watching Bournemouth v Newcastle on the large screen. Finally, it was time to make my way to The Forum which was packed with the cream of Bath society, and me. This concert had sold out months ago. I was in row J of this beautiful venue. 

Natalie and her excellent band came on stage promptly at 8.00. I didn’t catch any of the names of the group, but there was a piano player who also played accordion, a drums & percussion, bass, a guitar player, and a wonderful string quartet. I didn’t write down a setlist because I’m not an expert on Natalie’s music by any means. I think she only performed four songs that I was already familiar with. I wish I had bought her latest album Keep Your Courage which contained the majority of the songs performed last night. The experts will have to forgive any mistakes because I bet I have forgotten some songs or got the titles wrong. I have guessed at some titles based on snatches of lyrics I can remember.  Anyway, Natalie looked great when she arrived on stage dressed in a kind of purple and pink garb.

I believe the opening song is called Lulu and is a tribute to a silent film star called Louise Brooks (1906-1985). When she isn’t singing Natalie swirls around the stage like a gypsy dancer round a campfire. Natalie told the audience that the next song Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience she adapted from a poem by a Cornish poet Charles Causley. The title sounds very William Blake to me, but I just looked up Charles Causley and the poem. It is a children’s poem about growing up and lost innocence. Very educational and shows that Natalie is very well read. She said that she recorded the song with Irish folk band Lunasa who were in the audience tonight. 

I recognised The Worst Thing from her Motherland album which I acquired recently. The title track from that album is one of my favourite songs of hers. I videoed it and you can see it below. It was the song which brought Natalie back into my orbit when Christy Moore recorded his own version. The Man in the Wilderness is another adapted children’s poem from her Leave Your Sleep album. Narcissus comes from her latest album which I must get. I noticed that they were selling signed vinyl copies of it on the merchandise stall, but I don’t collect vinyl. I should mention that Natalie was joined on stage for several songs by another singer called Mayteana Morales who is also a wonderful singer. I think she sang on Ladybird, Come On Aphrodite, Break Your Heart, and also Wonder which I recognised from the Tigerlily album. Then Natalie said it was time for an intermission which made me wonder just how long this concert would last because they had already played for 90 minutes which is the usual length of time of an entire Van Morrison concert. Anyway, I went outside for some fresh Bath air.

Mayteana Morales

When Natalie returned for the second set she had changed her attire. The second half got off to a bad start because her microphone wasn’t working. She didn’t get upset about it though and the crew soon sorted it out. Frozen Charlotte opened this half of the show, followed by Ophelia and Giving Up Everything. During Ophelia Natalie wandered off stage and left the string quartet playing the beautiful arrangement with the piano player. It was like being at a chamber music recital. Natalie then returned and introduced all the musicians, but I regretfully didn’t write down their names because they all deserved a mention, especially the pianist who composed the arrangement. A highlight of the evening for me was when Natalie started talking about Jack Kerouac and I thought to myself, “Brilliant, she’s going to sing Hey Jack Kerouac”. She didn’t though because she talked about the female figures of the Beat Generation who don’t usually be mentioned such as Jack’s girlfriend Joyce Johnson who wrote the book Minor Characters. Natalie also recounted meeting Allen Ginsberg and squirming with embarrassment because she had written in the song ‘Allen baby, why so jaded?’, but he didn’t care, and they became great friends. Natalie wrote King Of May as a tribute to Allen and last night she read an extract from his poem of that name. Allen was actually crowned King of May in Prague in 1965. (See photo). 

Allen Ginsberg, King of May.

The next song was My Beloved Wife another of the few songs I recognised during the evening. After that song Natalie gave a lady in the front row a copy of her signed album. Lucky lady, I bet Natalie has done that at all the shows on this tour. This was followed by The Feast of St Valentine and Natalie said she had spent a couple of hours looking around Bath Abbey and reading all the words written on memorials in there. I’m pleased she got a chance to see some of the beautiful city of Bath. Then disaster struck! I looked at my phone and it was 10.25 already. I had to leave because my train was at 10.33. I think I missed at least 20 minutes of the show, probably some of the best songs as well. I ran to the station and just managed to catch the train which was packed with drunken youngsters who had been in the Saturday night pubs of Bath. Luckily I bumped into an old friend Jean who had been to see a play at the Theatre Royal, so I had some company on the way home. When I got home I uploaded my video which took ages on my slow computer. I had taken some photos as well, but most were blurry and unusable. Anyway, despite leaving the show before the end I really enjoyed it. Probably the best concert I have seen since Patti Smith at the same venue a couple of years ago. Thank you very much to Natalie Merchant and her wonderful band of musicians. THE END.