I'm re-buying some of the significant music of my life to populate my MP3 player and because I don't have a turntable any more. Tonight I listened to "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy", by Elton John, which is kinda sorta the story of him and Bernie Taupin getting into showbiz. It's the album I've maybe listened to the most in my life, a lot when it came out, but then I played it constantly in 1983. (The only other contender is Joe Jackson's "Big World" which I listened to every day for a couple of years when I worked at Bean's.) Anyway, I'd forgotten the part where Elton, before becoming weak-eyed superhero Captain Fantastic, according to the comic that came with the album, felt trapped by his engagement to a woman and considered suicide. Listen to how he decided not to, according to the lyrics of "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" and explain to me how we didn't know he was gay: "Sweet Freedom whispered in my ear, 'You're a butterfly'/And butterflies are free to fly/Fly away. High away, bye, bye . . ." And no, the clothes and capes and glitter glasses didn't tip us off, either. I also remember a serious conversation with my cousin a couple of years before this when we heard "the guy who wrote 'Crocodile Rock' said he was high when he wrote it". We refused to believe this ugly rumor. I'm serious, people, that's how I grew up.

A question, about these compact disk thingies. Does bonus tracks always equal sucks?