By 1975, Elton John was undoubtedly the biggest pop star in the world, having already started a steady stream of seven consecutive No. 1 albums, which began with his fifth release, Honky Château, in 1972 and wrapped up with Rock of the Westies in 1975. John’s dominating streak set a new record, a feat only rivaled by Paul McCartney and Wings, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin, who each had six albums top the charts during the decade.
In between the succession of hit albums, John set another record with his ninth release in 1975, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the first album to ever debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, where it remained for seven weeks. It was also the first to be certified Gold upon its release, and sold 1.4 million copies in its first four days. Later that year, John would make history again as the first solo artist to perform at Dodger Stadium since the Beatles in 1966, and in front of 110,000 fans for two sold-out nights on October 25 and 26.
“‘Captain Fantastic’ remains one of my most-favorite albums,” John tells American Songwriter. “I am so proud of what we did and that it became the first album in history to debut at No.1 … and the first to be certified Gold when it was released. I am still so proud of what we created.”
Written onboard the French luxury line, the SS France, on his way back to the U.S., John took time out to play in the Salon Debussy, the music room aboard the ship, setting music to songwriting partner Bernie Taupin‘s lyrics. The album was then recorded at Caribou Ranch in Colorado with longtime producer Gus Dudgeon and later mixed in London.
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Released on May 23, 1975, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy tells the story of John and Taupin from their beginnings to that point, under the guise of two personas. John was Captain Fantastic, and Taupin was the Brown Dirt Cowboy.
“I was ‘Captain Fantastic,’ the musician, the showman, the one in sequins,” says John. “I was living in my own little fantasy world, always dreaming big. Bernie, on the other hand, was always the ‘Brown Dirt Cowboy,’ the poet from the countryside, who is earthy and grounded. He came from Lincolnshire, loved horses, loved the outdoors.”
John adds, “While I was in the city behind a piano, he was the romantic dreamer writing about the world and our lives as he saw it.”
From the introductory title track to chronicling the ups and downs of making a song on “Writing,” through the closing “Curtains,” a metaphoric nod to the end of their journey, until that point in time, the album is a testament to an unbreakable partnership between John and Taupin that began in 1967 when the two answered the same Liberty Records advertisement for songwriters the music paper New Musical Express,
“This album was easy to write for us because we were telling a story of our lives, in sequence,” says John. “It was like writing a musical of sorts to our life story.”
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Captain Fantastic was the first time John and Taupin looked back at what they had gone through together over the years. “They were formative years,” says John, “but not all rosy. Writing about that period reminded us of how far we’d come.”
On the album is a song John called “one of the best songs” he ever wrote with Taupin, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.” One of the more autobiographical tracks, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” which went to No. 4, documents a difficult time in John’s personal life, while under the pressures of stardom, and in the middle of a drug and alcohol addiction, while making the album.
At the time, it was a difficult song to write, says John, yet quite cathartic. “’Someone Saved My Life Tonight’ was one of the hardest of the lot,” shares John. “That song is deeply personal. It’s about a time when I was in a very dark place. Bernie wrote the words with such empathy and honesty; he captured exactly what that period felt like. It still brings tears to my eyes when I play it just because it’s so personal to me, and to Bernie and our friendship. In the end, though, I think all of that is why ‘Captain Fantastic’ resonates.”
Though not part of the original release in ’75, John also recorded the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and “One Day at a Time,” from John Lennon‘s Mind Games. Recorded during the Captain Fantastic sessions, the tracks also feature Lennon. Both, along with “Philadelphia Freedom,” a song written for John and Taupin’s friend and tennis star Billie Jean King, later appeared on the reissues of the album.
“I recorded those songs with John Lennon at his studio in New York City after I arrived off the SS France, where I wrote the majority of the album,” recalls John. “Recording with John was another incredible moment in my life, and it felt fitting to add them as bonus tracks many years later.”
Though constructed during a difficult period in his life, John says Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is one of the “finest albums” he and Taupin ever made together.
“I wouldn’t have done anything differently,” says John. “As I have said before, I think it’s one of the finest albums we have ever made. It’s so brilliant because it’s an autobiography of what our lives were like leading into the creation of ‘Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.’ From start to finish, it was an autobiography of who we were at the time. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
John adds, “Our approach, 50-odd years later, has remained the same. We have never questioned it because it works. It works for both of us. He gives me lyrics; I go away and write the melody. That has never changed.”
A 50th Anniversary Edition reissue includes the 2016 remastered album, previously unreleased demos, Live At Midsummer Music, and Live at Wembley Stadium 1975, John’s 2005 performance of tracks during its 30th anniversary, along with a 28-page booklet featuring sleeve notes and never-before-seen diary entries written by John in 1974.
“Of all our recorded output, ‘Captain Fantastic’ has a very special place in my heart,” Taupin shared in a statement. “Obviously, it was emotionally rewarding as it chronicled a very special time in our lives. I’m not by nature one to wallow in nostalgia, but hearing this album once again 50 years on reminds me of how very deep our bond of friendship and creativity ran.”
Photo: Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images
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