Bernie Taupin eagerly and cordially invites you to a coming out party—no, to a public unpeeling of a second banana. No longer is he content to be a byline on a sheet of music. The man wants some recognition.

“ . . . but that’s how Taupin is— trashy, cheap, small-time. I always managed to keep him under wraps — well out of the way —but now the little twerp wants fame, fortune, recognition of his own.” —Elton John from the introduction of Bernie Taupin, The One Who Writes The Words for Elton John.