 from the historical audio archives of Fox News Talk. In the 1970s and 80s, one of the most successful songwriting duos was Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Elton John discusses their music-composing relationship. He writes the lyrics first and gives them to me, and then I write the songs to them. In the old days, I would slice bits of verses out and cut things here and there. It's not so bad now. But it's always been lyrics first.