Bernie Taupin - Non-musical Projects

Non-musical Projects

In 1973, Taupin collected all his lyrics up through the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album into a book entitled Bernie Taupin: The One Who Writes the Words for Elton John. In addition to the lyrics from the albums, this book contained the lyrics to all the single B-sides, various rarities, and Taupin's 1970 spoken-word album. The songs are illustrated by various artists, friends, and celebrity guests such as John Lennon and Joni Mitchell. The book is in black & white except for the cover.

In 1977, Taupin collaborated with rock photographer David Nutter on "It's A Little Bit Funny", adding text and helping chronicle Elton John's year-long, "Louder Than Concorde, But Not Quite As Pretty" world concert tour. The now-collectible book was published in hard and soft cover editions by Penguin Books. It collects the better part of one year's worth of personal adventures and memories of Elton and the band, aboard his private plane, on the beaches of Barbados, at backstage gatherings and in some quieter off-stage moments with friends (including some famous faces that Elton and Bernie met and palled around with in their travels).

In 1978, Taupin also appeared in an episode of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Meet Dracula, singing backup to Shaun Cassidy. In 1988, Taupin published an autobiography of his childhood entitled A Cradle of Haloes: Sketches of a Childhood. The book was released only in England. It tells the tale of a childhood fuelled by fantasy in rural Lincolnshire in the 1950s and 1960s, ending in 1969 as Taupin gets on the train to seek his fortune in London.

In 1991, Taupin self-published a book of poems called The Devil at High Noon. In 1994, Taupin's lyrics up through the Made In England album were collected into a hardcover book entitled Elton John & Bernie Taupin: The Complete Lyrics, published by Hyperion. However, it doesn't appear that Taupin was intimately involved in this project, as it contains multiple misspellings and outright misrenderings of the lyrics. It is also missing some of the rarities and B-sides found in the earlier collection. As with the 1973 collection, the songs are illustrated by various artists, this time in full color throughout.

In 2009, Taupin debuted his American Roots Radio with Bernie Taupin — roots music show hosted by Taupin on satellite radio Sirius XM Radio's The Loft channel.

In addition to his music and poetry Taupin began displaying and selling his original artwork on canvas in 2010. Consisting of large, mixed media, contemporary works, the art has been shown in a handful of select galleries across the US.