(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOUR SONG")
ELTON JOHN: (Singing) I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words how wonderful life is while you're in the world.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The familiar voice of Elton John, who sang the words. Bernie Taupin wrote them. He's been Elton's lyricist on practically every album. And now, for the first time in 40 years, Taupin released a collection of songs entirely written and sung by him.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OLD CHURCH ROAD")
BERNIE TAUPIN: (Singing) I've carried this weight, been a heavy load, since I was last on Old Church Road.
MARTÍNEZ: The album is called "The Sea Has No Mercy." Bernie Taupin says, until recently, he hadn't thought about writing for himself.
B TAUPIN: Obviously, the bulk and the majority of what I've done in the past - I've been writing purely with Elton in mind because that was sort of...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
B TAUPIN: ...What I call my day job. I don't think of myself as a songwriter in the term that everybody thinks of songwriters. You know, I'm not somebody who gets up in the morning and goes into a music room and spends the day writing songs. I am not a professional songwriter.
MARTÍNEZ: I think hundreds of millions of people would...
B TAUPIN: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: ...Disagree with you, Bernie.
B TAUPIN: Well, I don't know. You know what, man? It's like, I've always wrestled with that - lyricist, songwriter. It's pigeonholing you to a certain degree. I think of myself as a storyteller. I always have. Songwriter sounds way too grown-up.
MARTÍNEZ: So I remember, almost 10 years ago, you were selling your ranch in Santa Barbara County.
B TAUPIN: Yes, sir.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. Do you still live in California?
B TAUPIN: Oh, yeah. No, I live...
MARTÍNEZ: OK.
B TAUPIN: ...Literally 10 or 15 minutes from the old ranch.
MARTÍNEZ: So I asked you about that because when I first saw the list of songs on the album, my eyes went right to "Come On California." Let's hear a little bit of "Come On California."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COME ON CALIFORNIA")
B TAUPIN: (Singing) Tear down the freeway. Lay on that horn. Come on, California. Turn your radio on. Got a song so long. It goes on and on, with 100 verses. Man, she's in every one.
MARTÍNEZ: So, Bernie, first of all, considering that I work for National Public Radio, thank you for encouraging people to turn on their radio.
B TAUPIN: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: That's the first thing, right off the bat. And considering that you live in California for a long time - I've lived here my whole life - what keeps you in California?
B TAUPIN: Oh, man. It's - you know, it was the one place that we came to when Elton and I first came here in 1970 - it was the apex, the absolute pinnacle, of where the music that we loved was coming out of - Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Doors. We loved all of that kind of music, and it was all coming out of this particular point in California.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COME ON CALIFORNIA")
B TAUPIN: (Singing) Yeah, come on, California. Turn your radio on.
MARTÍNEZ: You have been writing songs with Elton John for almost 60 years. I mean...
B TAUPIN: Yeah. It'll be 60 years next year.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. How have you and Elton John kept this relationship going? I mean, it sounds like you met your musical soulmate at 17...
B TAUPIN: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: ...And really never looked back.
B TAUPIN: No. Well, that's true, but separation helps. You know, we both live very, very, very different lives. But we have this bond. Back in the early days, back in the late '60s, you know, it really was just me and him against the world, and we found fame together, but we've never lived in each other's pockets.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
B TAUPIN: You know, I know certain elements of people think that we're there's two-headed creation, but we are very, very separate human beings.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONE HUNDRED WAYS")
B TAUPIN: (Singing) Before I let you go, well, I need you to know trees will always grow. The grass will be beneath you. There'll be seed in the earth below.
MARTÍNEZ: On the song "One Hundred Ways," you've got a duet partner. So who is this person? And what's that song about?
B TAUPIN: OK, well, that's a song about my own mortality, and that's my 18-year-old daughter, Georgey, singing on it and responding to what I have to say about leaving the best parts of me when I pass on.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONE HUNDRED WAYS")
GEORGEY DEVON TAUPIN: (Singing) We'll catch the ball and run with it. Don't worry about that. We'll follow in your footsteps. Just leave us the map.
B TAUPIN: I don't see it as morbid. It's saying, I want to leave you guys with the best possible instincts, and the most beautiful things that we still have in this crazy world - some of them are still going to be there. And I want to instill those beliefs in you. And it wouldn't have made any sense to me whatsoever to have a female voice responding to me that wasn't of my own blood. So she just happens to sing beautifully.
MARTÍNEZ: Bernie, that song really grabbed me, especially the last few lines of "One Hundred Ways."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONE HUNDRED WAYS")
BERNIE TAUPIN AND GEORGEY DEVON TAUPIN: (Singing) And watch the burning clocks.
B TAUPIN: (Singing) They're counting down. And in every life, there's a clock that has to stop.
MARTÍNEZ: So, Bernie, when I turned 50, I started to hear that clock that you sing about. And understanding that I'm closer...
B TAUPIN: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: ...To the end than I am to the beginning,
B TAUPIN: Right.
MARTÍNEZ: I'm wondering, do you hear that clock?
B TAUPIN: You think about it much more as you get older. But the thing is, I don't resent that clock because I think I'm having the most fun at this particular point in my life, and I'm not going anywhere no time soon, believe me. I've got too much more to achieve and do. I've said what I need to say on this album, but there's a lot of stories that I still want to tell.
MARTÍNEZ: The next record, based on your release schedule, that would be - what? - 2065.
B TAUPIN: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: You'll be 115 years old. Can we lock that interview in now, Bernie?
B TAUPIN: Yeah. That's a good point, my friend.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Bernie Taupin. His new solo album is called "The Sea Has No Mercy." Bernie, thank you very much.
B TAUPIN: That was great. Thanks a lot, man.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GHOSTS OF GREATER MEN")
B TAUPIN: (Singing) Time is a healer, and so is the Lord. And I ask myself, sometimes, have I been here before? Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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