The Brown Dirt Cowboy – Troubadour of the American West

By Bennett Owen

Credit: Western Wishes

Bernie Taupin is a fanatic bull riding fan and co-owner of  ‘Little Yellow Jacket’ one of the most fearsome bulls in the business.

Credit: Teague Bucking Bulls © 2010  Little Yellow Jacket: PBR Bull of the Year 2003

He’s also a horse breeder and rancher with a spread in the Santa Ynez country of central California.

Credit: Eltonjohn.com

He’s a voracious reader and chronicler of the roots of American music and folklore, with a weekly satellite radio show that is a combination of time travel, history lesson and pure listening pleasure.

Credit: Bernie Taupin

He’s an established artist and (as family and friends enthuse) a gourmet cook and restaurateur. Not a bad resume if you include the following:

• 200 Million Singles Sold
• 60   Million Albums Sold

And collaboration with:

• Alice Cooper
• Jefferson Starship (We Built This City)
• Heart (These Dreams)
• Rod Stewart
• Willie Nelson
• John Anderson
• Rick Derringer
• Cher
• The Stray Cats

And many, many more, believe me, not to mention Grammy nominations galore and a Golden Globe for his musical contribution to Brokeback Mountain.

And of course the one and only, the incomparable, Elton John.  Here’s John’s assessment of legendary songwriter Bernie Taupin:

“Without Bernie, basically, there wouldn’t have been an Elton John. I mean...I’m just a purveyor of Bernie’s feelings, Bernie’s thoughts.”

Credit: Musicko.com

And many of those thoughts centered on the American west. When I grew up, Elton John was NOT an act that teenaged boys hooked on Neil Young admitted liking. But he was a guilty pleasure for me because the lyrics resonated and I always wondered how a “True Brit” could sing songs that tugged so hard at my bona fide western heartstrings.

“I'll take my horse and I'll ride the northern plain
To wear the color of the Grays and join the fight again,
I'll not rest until I know the cause is fought and won:
From this day on until I die I'll wear my father's gun.”

“My Father’s Gun” – Tumbleweed Connection         

Credit: Amazon

There are so many others – Indian Sunset – Texas Love Song - Roy Rogers – Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy –  and the albums – Tumbleweed Connection – Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player – Rock of the Westies - all written with love and longing by a Catholic school dropout Brit.

Credit: rhapsody

Taupin grew up in northern England but was captivated by the American west at an early age, listening incessantly to the gunfighter ballads of Marty Robbins:

A fanatic devourer of westerns, he can recite the dialog from ‘The Wild Bunch’ line by line.

Credit: DVD Beaver.com

His boyhood dream was to “experience the life of a western cowboy”, and by 1993 he had achieved his dream, moving to his California ranch, immersing himself in western culture and playing a major part in keeping the mythos alive and vital for another generation. His bi-weekly program ‘American Roots Radio’ is a must for any audiophile.  

Taupin’s meteoric career began with a satchel of songs sent to an obscure London recording studio, which then coupled him with an unknown named Reginald Kenneth Dwight. By 1970 they were going places and as Elton John’s star rose, he and Taupin traveled to Los Angeles for the first time. Taupin described it this way for Rolling Stone:

Credit: brizzle born and bred

“We came to California in the fall of 1970 and it seemed like sunshine just radiated from the populace…I guess I was trying to capture the spirit of that time encapsulated by the women we met. They were these free spirits very ethereal in the way they moved...They’d mother you and sleep with you. It was the perfect oedipal complex.”

Credit: real down to mars girl

Out of that experience Taupin wrote ‘Tiny Dancer’, one of the  most beautiful and haunting songs in pop history. In the movie ‘Almost Famous,’ director Cameron Crowe uses it as a metaphor for the single tattered thread holding together a rock group on the brink of breakup. The scene was filmed in northern California and it too is a classic:

All of that from Bernie Taupin, a most unlikely western hero.

Credit: Carlene Carter Fan Club