Sunday, Aug 29th, 1976

Big day! I spent the afternoon on studying Spanish (not that much really) and then writing two chapters on my comics history!

Mom went out and bought me a lot of new shirts and pants and as a going back to school present, she asked if there was a record I wanted s I got CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY, Elton's musical autobiography with his songwriting partner!

Hard to choose between Johnny Cash and yet another unseen ELLERY QUEEN so I chose Johnny and a McCLOUD rerun. Then I was up late watching a Python episode I hadn't seen before!

NOTES: Yes, at 17 my mother was still buying my clothes for the most part. I liked to use my money instead for books, comics and movies!

Can't believe I chose Johnny Cash over ELLERY QUEEN. I had a big thing for Johnny back in 1969-70 when he had his great TV series and I still liked him at this point but I LOVED Jim Hutton's Ellery! Ah, well. I have 'em all on DVD now so I saw it eventually!

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY is a marvelous album by Elton John that had debuted at # 1 when released a year earlier. Even though Elton at that time was a hit machine, the only single released from it was SOMEONE SAVED MY LIFE TONIGHT which, expectedly, was a hit. The songs on the album told the autobiographical story of the two English kids who wanted to be songwriters, the other being Bernie Taupin, "Elton's songwriting partner." It remains my favorite album by Elton with all of the songs being memorable if not well known. The cover, seen above, is by Alan Aldridge, a British pop artist who also illustrated THE BEATLES ILLUSTRATED LYRICS as well as THE PENGUIN BOOK OF COMICS.

Side One

1. "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy"
2. "Tower of Babel"
3. "Bitter Fingers" – 4:35
4. "Tell Me When the Whistle Blows"
5. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"

Side Two

1. "(Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket"
2. "Better Off Dead"
3. "Writing"
4. "We All Fall in Love Sometimes"
5. "Curtains"