Inside Bernie Taupin’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Exhibition
In 2019, the original, handwritten lyrics for Your Song went on the auction block. The framed lyrics sold for over $237,000, and are now part of a celebration of the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees in Cleveland, Ohio.
Bernie Taupin, who was inducted into the Rock Hall by Elton, recalled ”scribbling” the words down on a notepad during breakfast at Elton’s mother’s apartment ”sometime in 1969. That’s it. Plain and simple.”
There’s also sheet music for Your Song and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Bernie says figuring out titles is his favourite part of songwriting. And titles usually come first.
Another must-see is Bernie’s naturalisation certificate, which includes his height and weight. He became a citizen of the United States in 1990, and ”did everything I could do get here.” He says practically all of his songs and artwork allude to his ”Americanism.”
It is surprising to see Elton’s Induction Award from 1994. This is included because Elton wanted Bernie to have the trophy, figuring that without the lyricist, ”there would be no Elton John.”
A couple of Bernie’s own trophies are here, too. In 1972, he got a Sales Award for Rocket Man (I Think It’s Gonna Be a Long, Long Time) to commemorate over one million sales of the single throughout the world at that point.
Another Sales Award was for Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. This marked over £150,000 in album sales across the United Kingdom in 1973.
A couple of more recent artefacts from the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour are on hand: a black jacket worn by Bernie, and his All Access pass.
Bernie says they were kids when embarking upon their careers. Then they became young adults, then adults, and now are old men.
But they are ”old men with distinctly young ideas,” he added.
Ej.w would like to thank the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for their assistance. In addition, they say Bernie hasn’t visited his display–at least not yet. . . .
