Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy by Elton John

Album: Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)

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Songfacts®:

Elton is "Captain Fantastic," his writing partner Bernie Taupin is "The Brown Dirt Cowboy." The song is a look back on the early days of their songwriting partnership.
Elton John composed the music for Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy on board a ship during a voyage from the UK to New York. Percussionist Ray Cooper recalled to Uncut magazine:

"Elton decided to take everybody on the boat to New York, and then we would go to Caribou Ranch out in Colorado to record. His idea, which worked perfectly, was that he would write the material on the boat. We went on the SS France, and it turned out to be the last voyage of that ship. He had a suite with a grand piano, and he wrote all the material for Captain Fantastic on that boat trip, which was six days. Go figure that one!"

Comments: 4

Phil Twosheds from East Yorkshire Was Captain Fantastic a big hit in the USA
Mika from FinlandThis album is second after Goodbye yellow brick road. Caribou was first.
Bpkparksteve@aol.com from Bigpine Key Fl 33043This album was the first after Goodbye Yellow brick road and it debut at number 1.
Kevin from Reading , PaThis song is one of Elton's great album cuts -- songs that could have or should have been hit singles but were never put on a '45' and subsequently got a lot of FM radio play. In my home near Philadelphia, WYSP and WMMR were the cool rock stations that would play cuts like this. The song is a little unusual for Elton in that is driven primarily by an acoustic guitar, not a piano. The chorus kicks in nicely, with the usual stellar electric guitar work from his longtime sideman Davy Johnston.

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