Bernie Taupin solo album The Sea Has No Mercy lands in October
Elton John’s longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin will release The Sea Has No Mercy on Oct. 23, his first solo album in decades.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
Bernie Taupin’s solo album drought is ending: the longtime Elton John lyricist will release The Sea Has No Mercy on Oct. 23, according to Rolling Stone.
The record is a rare turn in the spotlight for a writer whose words helped build much of Elton John’s catalog, including Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across the Water and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Rolling Stone noted that John handed Taupin his own Rock & Roll Hall of Fame statue during John’s 1994 induction and later welcomed Taupin into the Hall in 2023.
Taupin’s new album arrives long after his last solo LP, Tribe, released in 1987. He also made music with Farm Dogs, a band that split in 1998, but has spent much of the time since focused on family and his work with John, according to Rolling Stone.
When is Bernie Taupin's solo album coming out?
The Sea Has No Mercy is due Oct. 23. Rolling Stone reported that Taupin recorded it in Nashville with producer Frank Liddell, guitarist Adam Wright, bassist Glenn Worf and keyboardist Michael Rojas.
The guest list gives the project some extra shine. Brandi Carlile, Lee Ann Womack, the Jeremy Jordan Ensemble, percussionist Jay Bellerose, violinist Scarlet Rivera and Taupin’s daughter Georgey all appear on the album, according to Rolling Stone.
Taupin told Rolling Stone the project became personal in a way his past records were not. He said the new songs let him put his own feelings into his own writing, calling it “the most satisfying record I’ve ever made” within his solo work.
The album’s spark, Taupin said, came after two projects forced him to look back: his memoir, Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton and Me, and a documentary about his life. He told Rolling Stone that writing the book was cathartic and made him revisit memories, while the documentary pushed him further into the past through interviews and visits to old places.
That process first produced a song called “That Was Me,” intended for the documentary’s closing credits, Taupin said. The song did not make the album because he felt it did not fit, but it opened the door to more writing.
He described the finished record to Rolling Stone as the statement of a 76-year-old looking back, reflecting and feeling angry at the world. He said he brought songs to Liddell, who then urged him to come to Nashville and make the album at his house.
Taupin also revisited his earlier solo history in the interview. He said his 1971 album Taupin was encouraged by music publisher Dick James during the early success of John’s records, and that he was inexperienced in the studio at the time. He later described 1980’s He Who Rides the Tiger as lyrically interesting, and said 1987’s Tribe was an attempt at a commercial rock-pop record.
Farm Dogs, he told Rolling Stone, was the first time he felt closer to the kind of music he wanted to make. Touring with the band also helped him find confidence as a singer and performer.
On The Sea Has No Mercy, Taupin said most lyrics connect to his past, present or possible future. He told Rolling Stone that “Old Church Road” refers to the road where he grew up in Lincolnshire, while the title track reflects mistakes from the past and his fear of the open sea.
This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.