written by Bernie Taupin & Dennis Tufano

Bernie Taupin is internationally renowned as Elton John’s lyricist on evergreens like “Rocket Man,” “ Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ,” “Your Song,” “Daniel,” “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me,” “Candle In The Wind” plus many others. Taupin also wrote lyrics for hits by Jefferson Starship, Heart and Alice Cooper. 

The collaboration with Cooper on the album “From The Inside” brought the gifted songwriter in touch with the team of David Foster and Humberto Gatica. In the Autumn of 1979 for his second solo album, Taupin chose Gatica as producer/engineer plus enlisted Foster and a string of a-list session aces to play on the recording.

“He Who Rides The Tiger” was released in 1980 and includes nine originals co-written by Taupin with songwriter/guitar player Dennis Tufano. The atmosphere of the album reflects the Californian pop/rock sounds of those days, but still keeps a few echoes of Elton John’s work. The instrumental parts are sublime, performed by people like Foster, Carlos Vega, Jay Graydon, Jeff Porcaro, Tom Scott, Richie Zito and Steve Lukather. Taupin sings with good style and his lyrics are, as usual, extremely interesting and well written. Yet, Tufano obviously isn’t Elton John, so the musical part isn’t exactly memorable. We have to say that the overall flavor of “He Who Rides The Tiger” is pleasant just the same with a couple of effective rockers like “Monkey On My Back” and “Blitz Babies.” The best moments on the album are two ballads; the elegant “Valley Nights” and the evocative “Love (The Barren Desert).” The latter song resembles quite a bit of Elton John’s style with the superstar appearing on the backing vocals. Other pluses on “Love (The Barren Desert)” are Foster’s trademark keyboard and synthesizer playing in addition to Graydon’s intense guitar solo.

For those interested, “He Who Rides The Tiger” has been printed on compact disc, in 2009, by American Beat Records.

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/love.mp3|titles=Love|artists=Bernie Taupin]

Lead Vocals: Bernie Taupin
Rhythm Guitar & Vocals: Dennis Tufano
Bass & Vocals: Kenny Passarelli
Drums: Carlos Vega
Guitar: Jay Graydon
Keyboards: David Foster & Joey Carbone
Synthesizers: David Foster
Synthesizers Programming: Ralph Dyke & Michael Boddicker
Background Vocals: Elton John, Alan Gorrie, Hamish Stuart, Bill Champlin etc.

Synthesizers Arranged by David Foster
Arranged by Dennis Tufano

Produced by Humberto Gatica

Lyrics

You went East to New York, and I stayed in L.A.
You wanted a brownstone, and I wanted my own way
You were drawn by the neon, when I wanted to play,
Just wanted to play
I guess I’m California, and you’re just Broadway
I tuned out on romance, pushed it to one side
I don’t believe in happiness when love is genocide

And love, the barren desert, we’ve all come to thirst
Loyalty’s a mirage, caring just a curse
Storms keep blowing through the bones of another man
And the sands of time keep slipping through,
Hearthless empty hands

And they say get out, get out of the house
I say I take it as it comes along
Get a slice of life on the streets tonight
I’ll just fit in where I feel I belong

I can feel like a martyr, you feel like a stone
You danced with an actor, me I danced all alone
Hearts are captured easy, and you had mine so long, so long
I guess you’re Louis Vouitton, and I’m just Tuscon
I can’t change my habits, I guess that’s what counts
But he who rides the tiger, never dismounts

It is a rock song full of heavy guitars (Dick Wagner, Steve Lukather, Jay Graydon…) and with a strong vocal performance by Cooper, but being a Foster production, it is also classy and perfectly arranged like other of his more rock oriented productions like “Stranded” or “Sweet Body” on “Airplay”, or the whole second side of Hall & Oates’ “Along The Red Ledge” (which was released the same year).The Foster fans will find typical signs of his presence like the piano intro, the complex and refined backing vocals arrangements sung by the great Bill Champlin, a nice touch of strings and the overall clean sound of the production.

Alice Cooper said recently that “the combination of Cooper/Taupin and David Foster resulted in what I consider my classiest-sounding album” and you can definitely hear it in the title track. Foster wrote it in 1978, that year he also wrote timeless ballads like “After The Love Is Gone” and “We Both Tried”, R&B anthems like “Got To Be Real” and “In The Stone” and uptempo pop tunes like “It’s The Falling In Love”, rock, soul, pop, r&b…..talking about versatility !

Lead Vocals: Alice Cooper
Keyboards: David Foster
Guitars: Davey Johnstone, Dee Murray, Steve Lukather, Rick Nielsen, Jay Graydon & Dick Wagner
Drums: Jim Keltner
Bass: Kenny Passarelli & David Hungate
Percussion: Jim Keltner
Backing Vocals: Bill Champlin, Kiki Dee, Marcy Levy & Bobby Kimball
Produced and Arranged by David Foster

Lyrics

I got lost on the road somewhere
was it Texas or was it Canada
Drinkin’ whiskey in the mornin’ light
I’d work the stage all night long
At first we laughed about it
My long hair drunken friends
proposed a toast to Jimi’s ghost
I never dreamed that I would wind up
on the losin’ end

I’m stuck here on the inside
lookin’ out
I’m just another case
where’s my make-up
where’s my face
(on the inside)

You all got your kicks
from what you saw up there
eight bucks even buys a folding chair
I was down in…on another flight
and I worked that stage all night long
You were screamin’
for the feelin’ up there
and I was much obliged
the old road
sure screwed me good this time
It’s hard to see
where the vicious circle ends

I’m stuck here on the inside
I’m lookin’ out
That’s no big disgrace
where’s my make-up
where’s my face
(on the inside)
(on the inside)

I’m stuck here on the inside
lookin’ out
I’m just another case
where’s my make-up
where’s my face
(on the inside)
I’m stuck here on the inside
I’m lookin’ out
That ain’t no big disgrace
where’s my make-up
where’s my face
(on the inside)