Most Elton John fans know that Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics to his songs while Elton composed the melodies. Now, a selection of Bernie Taupin's original lyric sheets for future Elton John classics will be on the auction block on December 9th at Bonham’s in Los Angeles.
They have been in Maxine Taupin's possession since the two split 43 years ago.
The lyric sheets are among the ones that were missing from Bernie's own recent auction and include such instant '70s rock standards as "Candle In The Wind," "Border Song," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Bennie And The Jets," and "Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting." Maxine will be selling the lyric sheet for "Your Song" privately.
Maxine explained to Rolling Stone why she decided to sell off the lyrics, saying, "I thought after 40 years of having these fabulous treasures and enjoying them that it was time to have somebody else enjoy them. And with the fever-pitch interest in Elton, it’s really the year of Elton John with the movie Rocketman and with his autobiography Me. I figured this was a good time."
How did she end up with these sheets? "You don’t just normally sit in a room and divide things up, but it might have happened like that. I don’t really remember the moment. But some of them were framed on a wall in my home and other ones were in a bank vault, perfectly preserved."
Rolling Stone reported, "Most intriguingly, (Taupin's lyric sheet for) 'Border Song' has an entire verse that didn’t make the cut: 'My God, I’m sick of this motel/please give me the key to this coal hole/there’s a man down here in a mousetrap/praying that he doesn’t see your black cat.' The lines were crossed out and replaced by the 'Holy Moses, let us live in peace' verse from the finished song. That part was written in (Elton's) handwriting, though it’s unclear if he added them in himself or if they came from Taupin."
Maxine, who hasn't been in touch with Bernie in years, last saw Elton in concert back in 2004.
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