158) Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

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Bernie Taupin, John's lyricist, wanted to make a self-mythologizing album about his and John's rise to fame. The ballad "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," for example, was about a night when Taupin stopped John from committing suicide with a gas oven. While Taupin sweated over every line, John dashed off the music on a luxury ocean liner. "I'd tried to book the ship's music room, but an opera singer had it for the whole five days," John said. "The only time she wasn't there was when she scoffed her lunch for two hours. So every lunchtime I'd nip in there and grab the piano."

Total album sales: 3 million

Peak chart position: 1

Next: Kiss

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