A Saturday late post ...

Good evening everyone! I've been keeping fairly busy with family issues the last few days or so (more about that for another post). Speaking of family problems, I just found out that the Tim Hawkins concert we had tickets for in Maryland for next weekend has been cancelled by Hawkins due to "a family emergency" so we are told that we will be refunded our money sometime this coming week ... bummer as that show was my anniversary gift. Oh well, stuff happens.

Anyway, while I was cleaning up the basement this past week, I found this old original 33 1/3 Elton John vinyl album I used to play as a kid. It is the "Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy" album which only my generation perhaps would remember. I loved it (and still do). The title song is (yep, you guessed it) written by Bernie Taupin about he and Elton John. There are quite a few really great tracks on this album ('Tower of Babel', 'Bitter Fingers', 'We All Fall in Love Sometimes', 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight') and one of the reason's that I love it so much is because a) the music seemed to have much deeper overtones than their songs which followed after and b) Elton's voice was, in my humble opinion, at it's peak and the best he has ever sounded. Even the live versions I found on YouTube from this time period were the BEST!

In 1967, after answering an ad placed by Liberty Records, Elton John (born Reginald Dwight) met and partnered up with lyricist Bernie Taupin. A partnership which still continues to this day. Taupin, who has clearly expressed that he is very happy being on the sidelines while Elton takes the stage glory, writes the poetic words on paper and sends them to John who then in turn writes the music for all of their hits (and non-hits) from their albums & CD's. In spite of the fact that the two could not be more different, the collaboration works beautifully. Factoid: The pretty song 'Tiny Dancer' was written about Taupin's then girlfriend, 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight' was written about John's suicide attempt back in the 70's,  and as most people already know the song 'Candle in the Wind' was written about the life and death of the legendary Marilyn Monroe.

John & Taupin in the 70's.

... and now.

Have a great night all!!