Scattershot

'This is the most glorious of books. I am besotted by the life I never knew he had.' - Elton John

'I loved writing, I loved chronicling life, and every moment I was cogent, sober or blitzed, I was forever feeding off my surroundings, making copious notes as ammunition for future compositions... The thing is, good, bad or indifferent, I never stopped writing, it was as addictive as any drug.' Bernie Taupin

Scattershot is the memoir music fans have been waiting for. Half of one of the greatest creative partnerships in popular music, Bernie Taupin is the man who wrote the lyrics for Elton John, who conceived the ideas that spawned countless hits and sold millions and millions of records. Together, they were a duo, a unit, an immovable object. Their extraordinary, half-century-and-counting creative relationship has been chronicled in biopics (like 2019's Rocketman) and even John's own autobiography, Me. But Taupin, a famously private person, has kept his own account of their adventures close to his chest, until now.

Written with honesty and candour, Scattershot allows the reader to witness events unfolding from Taupin's singular perspective, sometimes front and centre, sometimes from the edge, yet always described vibrantly, with an infectious energy that only a vivid songwriter's prose could offer. From his childhood in the East Midlands of England, whose imagination was sparked and forever informed by the distinctly American mythopoetics of country music and cowboys, to the glittering, star-studded fishbowl of '70s and '80s Beverly Hills, Scattershot is simultaneously a Tom Jones-like picaresque.


'Orgasmic. Every page of Scattershot is a delight, a joy, a name-dropper fan's delight. Divine. I couldn't put it down.' - Pete Townshend

'In Bernie Taupin's miraculous memoir Scattershot, you'll meet legends, cowboys, geniuses, unforgettable faces in the night, shady purveyors of outrageous fortune, warriors of the heart, and most of all, Taupin himself. Hilarious and so emotionally true, Scattershot is like a letter from a cherished friend. You'll want to keep it close, so you can read it again and again.' - Cameron Crowe

'Touching. Charming. Humble. Witty. And exquisitely written. Taupin's words need no musical accompaniment. They sing with a poets voice.' - Gary Oldman

'Eloquent and inspiring, Scattershot is a freewheeling memoir that is as warm and evocative as Bernie Taupin's most memorable lyrics. A born storyteller, Taupin gives us the life of an artist whose outlook was shaped by a rare, but fascinating, blend of lifelong innocence and endless intellectual curiosity.' - Robert Hilburn, author of Johnny Cash: The Life