Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

Yeah, I know. There’s nothing less hip than Elton John, but while walking through Toronto last month, my iPod randomly landed on “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy,” and it was, at that moment, the single greatest song I had ever heard. Context is everything, I guess. The chorus is too sing-songy for my tastes, but I love the chord changes through the verses. I have this thing for songs that move directly from a major chord to a minor form of the same chord. I wonder how Elton would be remembered today if he hadn’t written another song after, say, 1976.