Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is the ninth studio album and an autobiographical account of Elton John's early career (Captain Fantastic) with lyricist Bernie Taupin (the Brown Dirt Cowboy). It was released in May 1975 by MCA Records in America and DJM in the UK and featured as a Time Magazine cover story in the same year, when Elton made the cover of the June issue for the first time. The album was produced by Gus Dudgeon and was certified gold before its release, reaching No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 in its first week. It sold 1.4 million copies within four days and remained at the top of the chart for seven weeks.