Elton John marks 50th anniversary of 'Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy'

ELTON JOHN Disney/Abigail Nilsson (Abigail Nilsson/The Walt Disney Company)

By Josh Johnson

May 23, 2025 at 11:00 am CDT

Elton John's album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy was first released on May 23, 1975 — 50 years ago Friday.

In honor of the milestone, Elton has shared an Instagram post reflecting on the significance of the record, which was the first-ever album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200. It also spawned the hit "Someone Saved My Life Tonight."

"An autobiographical album telling the story of how [lyricist] Bernie [Taupin] and I met and strived for success in the late 60s [sic]," Elton writes. "It made history as the first album ever to debut at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart and stayed there for seven weeks."

He adds, "It's one of the albums I'm proudest of."

Elton revisited Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy in 2006 with the sequel album The Captain & the Kid.