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BY LISA ROBINSONWhy did Bernie Taupin title his bestselling book of lyrics “The One Who Writes the Words for Elton John”? “Oh, Groucho Marx came up with the idea for that,” said Bernie. “He never remembers people's names, so he always called me ‘the one who writes the words for Elton John.’ 1 was going to give him credit for that, but 1 forgot.” Bernie compiled the book because “I wanted to put something together thatRock Beat\As for the 10-inch platform boots Gene wears onstage: “we've forgotten what the ground looks like,” he admitted. “We’re thinking of wearing parachutes as a safety precaution during the show.”In Milwaukee, Aerosmiih wiveswould include everything I’d written that’s been recorded,” said the author. It took over a year to complete, has all the Bernie-Elton songs from early days through “Caribou” and was edited by artist Alan Aldridge, who designed “The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics” in 1969.“Because I included everything, wanting it to be totally complete, there are some lyrics in there that are really bad,” Taupin laughed. “But I think it’s nice when people see a total evolution of someone’s work from the very naive to simplifying yourself. Actually I’ve got enough lyrics since ‘Caribou’ to do another book.”As for his unconventional song-writing methods (Bernie often mails the lyrics to Elton): “Well, it depends on where he is. If we’re both in L.A. I can iust hand them to him. People may think it’s unconventional, but for us, it’s very simple. We’re not your normal run-of-the-mill sotigwriting team with two people at the piano, hammering it out, loosening their ties, cigarettes burning,” he conceded.Kiss guitarist Paul NStanley says, “We could count the special effects of our previous show on the fingers of one hand. But this time around, it’s spectacular — like a movie set. It’s like seeing Kiss in Kissland.” ,Kiss bassist Gene Simmons (he’s the .one with the tongue) is especially pleased about their God of Thunder machine that emits bolts of “light- .ning” during the show. “It’s about time grownups had some fun, too,” Gene said, presumably referring to the band.“The only thing we could do to top this,” added Raul, “would be to bring elephants onstage.”
Newspaper Details
Appleton Post Crescent
Appleton, Wisconsin, US
Thu, Jul 22, 1976
Page 21
Full Page
Clipped by
Olav S.
NO 16 Nov 2021
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