1976 was a very memorable year for me via a fantastic opportunity.
It started with a meeting at The Plough pub in Museum Street, London. Through a wispy haze of blue cigarette smoke sat the slender figure of Alan Aldridge, who was adding to the lingering smoke. He had contacted me to talk about the possibility of collaborating on a book together. He’d long moved on from his Penguin and Beatles period. At the time, he was having considerable success with his The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast books and was working on an animated film version. He had also designed the album cover for Elton John’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy and was developing the idea for an animated version of that too, so he was a very busy bee – or should I say butterfly.
The book Alan had in mind was to celebrate the work of Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s lyricist. It was to be called The One Who Writes the Words for Elton John and would contain all of Taupin’s lyrics. These would be accompanied by individual illustrations to visually express each song. Alan had a list of people from the pop world that he was going to commission, from John Lennon to Ronnie Wood. Most of these were in black and white so, I opted to make the whole book monotone.
It was to be my task to select and commission from the world of illustration and photography, as well as design and art direct the book – no pressure there then. In the event, my collaboration with Alan was minimal: I only saw him twice before he disappeared to America. And so, I was left to my own devices. Much later l discovered that Alan was living it up in Barbados with Bernie Taupin on sex,drugs and rock n' roll under the guise of writing the script for the Captain Fantastic film.
Eventually, I pulled it all together thanks to the many illustrators and photographers who kept to the very tight deadline. The book was really a present from Dick James, Elton and Bernie's music publisher, and he made sure that it was sold out before publication by apparently buying the lot. So it was reprinted before publication.
Flicking through the book now, 40 years on, I am amazed at the talent involved. Here is a sampling ...
Cover illustration by Alan Aldridge and Harry Willock
Illustration by Alun Hood
Illustration by Ken Carroll
Illustration by Donna Brown
Photograph by Lorenz Zatecky
Illustrated by Tony Meeuwissen
Illustrated by Peter Bentley
Illustrated by Brian Grimwood
Illustrated by Keith Bowen
Illustrated by David Pelham
Illustrated by Bill Sanderson
Illustrated by Dan Fern
Illustrated by Pauline Ellison
Illustrated by Humphrey Ocean
Illustrated by David Remfrey
Illustrated by Arthur Robins
Illustrated by Keith Davies
Illustrated by Paul Leith
Photograph by Barry Lategan
Illustrated by Justin Todd
Illustrated by Peter Blake
Illustrated by Mike Dempsey
Illustrated by Peter Brookes
Illustrated by John Holmes
Illustrated by Michael Trevithick
Photograph by Jeanloup Sieff
Illustrated by Betty Swanwick
Illustrated by Polly Dempsey
Illustrated by Lynda Grey
Illustrated by Franklin Wilson
Illustrated by John Lennon
Illustrated by John Gorham
Illustrated by Jannat Houston
Illustrated by Jennifer Eachus
Illustrated by Polly Dempsey