Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is the ninth studio album by English musician Elton John. The album is an autobiographical account of the early musical careers of Elton John (Captain Fantastic) and his long-term lyricist Bernie Taupin (the Brown Dirt Cowboy). It was released in May 1975 by MCA Records in America and DJM in the UK and was an instant commercial success. The album was certified gold before its release, and reached No. 1 in its first week of release on the US Billboard 200, the first album to achieve both honours. It sold 1.4 million copies within four days of release, and stayed in the top position in the chart for seven weeks.

Though they would all appear on later albums, this was the last album of the 1970s with the original lineup of the Elton John Band (guitarist Davey Johnstone, bassist Dee Murray, and drummer Nigel Olsson). Murray and Olsson, who had formed John's rhythm section since 1970, were fired prior to the recording of the follow-up album Rock of the Westies. Johnstone would remain in the band for that album and tour, and John's 1976 double-album Blue Moves, after which he only appeared on one track for A Single Man, for the most part playing with other artists until rejoining John for his 1982 Jump Up! Tour. Until 1983's Too Low for Zero, this was the last album on which Elton John and his classic band played together.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 158 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list.