Sir Elton John’s longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin has admitted the superstar could be “really horrible and difficult” at times but he would just roll his eyes.
Sir Elton John could be “really horrible and difficult”, according to his longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin.
Bernie – who co-wrote some of the superstar’s biggest hits – has admitted his friend used to have terrible tantrums when he was on tour but the songwriter would just “roll” his eyes because he knew that intervening would “make him worse”.
In an interview with The Times newspaper, Bernie explained: “When we went on the road, and he could be really horrible and difficult, I would just roll my eyes because if you intervened it would make him worse.
“And he knew about which outfits made me want to kill him, like when [in 1980 in New York] he dressed as Donald Duck in Central Park.”
However, the pair have remained close over the years even though they no longer work together and Bernie revealed they speak regularly and his pal is always interested in what he’s up to.
Bernie added: “He calls me pretty regularly, and he seems to know what I’m doing even before I do. When I told him I was doing a keynote address in Nashville, he said: ‘Oh yes, with Brandi.’ I’d only just found out myself.”
Bernie previously revealed Elton has adopted an entirely new way of writing music since suffering health issues which left him blind in his right eye and with limited vision in his left.
Speaking to Rolling Stone about Elton’s new music, Taupin said: “Well, he’s got a record coming out, I think, at the beginning of next year that I contributed to.
“But I literally don’t know when that is. He did it with Andrew Watt again. And he wrote it in a completely different way simply because of his eyesight problem.”
Bernie went on to explain that Elton “can’t read lyrics if they’re on the piano”. He added: “So he basically came up with instrumental tracks and threw basically three or four of them at me and said, ‘Can you do something with these?’ Which I contributed to. But he’s also worked with a couple of other people on there, which is great.
“So it’s a whole different ballgame for him.”
Sir Elton John could be ‘really horrible and difficult’
