A Single Man (album)

A Single Man (album)

A Single Man is the twelfth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1978, two years after his intended last album Blue Moves, and one year after the release of Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume II. It is the first album he created without his longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin, or longtime producer Gus Dudgeon. As Gary Osborne was an unknown at the time, many people have misinterpreted the album's title to imply that John wrote the entire album himself. The only returning members of his band are percussionist Ray Cooper and guitarist Davey Johnstone; the latter only played on one song on the album.

The hit "Song for Guy" was a tribute to Guy Burchett, a young Rocket Records messenger who was killed in a motorcycle accident. The song was a near-global success, charting high everywhere except the US and Canada, where John's label, MCA Records, didn't feel that it had hit potential, due to the recent success of the instrumental "Music Box Dancer".

The 1998 reissue has five bonus tracks, the first two being the 1978 flop-single "Ego", and its B-side "Flinstone Boy". The next two tracks are the B-sides of "Part-Time Love" and "Song for Guy" ("I Cry at Night" and "Lovesick" respectively), and the last track, "Strangers", originally B-side of his 1979 disco-album title track, "Victim of Love". Some releases of his 1980 album, 21 at 33, also have "Strangers" as a bonus track. Paul Buckmaster would not appear on another Elton John album until Made in England.

The photo for the front cover was taken in the Long Walk, which is part of Windsor Great Park in Berkshire. The inside cover shows John in a Jaguar XK140 FHC. The songs "Return To Paradise" and "Song For Guy" are used in the 1980 film "Oh Heavenly Dog" starring Chevy Chase.

A Single Man was certified Platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA.