I read today that venerable wordsmith and Elton John collaborator Bernie Taupin will be releasing his first TRUE solo album this fall, with the award-winning lyricist handling both words and music.
The news about Taupin got me thinking back to when I was 15 and pedaled my 10-speed Schwinn over to the Eckerd's Drug Store at the mall to buy Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player. This was the first of a couple dozen EJ/BT purchases I would make over the years.
I bought Don't Shoot Me after hearing the singles "Daniel" and "Crocodile Rock" on AM radio and reading a fulsome review of the album in a music magazine. The critic described the record's closer, "High Flying Bird," as one of the duo's greatest songs. Looking back, that was pretty high praise considering John and Taupin had already released "Your Song," "Tiny Dancer," and "Rocket Man," among other classic pop tunes that are superb, IYAM.
Being a big movie buff even then, I liked Don't Shoot Me's cover photo of a ticket booth and marquee. And as was record industry practice back then, major label releases were heavily packaged with art, lyrics sheets and notes. Good stuff!
After listening I decided "High Flying Bird" is indeed a fine song, but I liked the wandering romanticism of "Blues for Baby and Me," the brassy bombast of "Midnight Creeper," the countrified takedown of intolerance on "Texan Love Song" and the nostalgically cinematic "Have Mercy on the Criminal."
After 50 years of listening and having never NOT owned Don't Shoot Me in some form, I still think it's a fine record, maybe the best from the duo's early period, and certainly before their game-changing masterwork Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which was released later the same year.
Taupin's upcoming album is titled The Sea Has No Mercy. He is 76; John is 79 and just finished work on a new record. That they're both creatively vital is inspiring, for sure.
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