The Captain & the Kid

Background

The idea for a follow-up to Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy came from Elton John's manager at the time, Merck Mercuriadis, who suggested it in 2005. Interscope Records announced that no physical single would be released from the album, emphasizing the album as a complete body of work; this made it John's third album to lack any Top 40 singles on the UK singles chart, though he still reached the US Adult Contemporary chart with a radio single, "The Bridge."

The album's booklet includes photos of John and Taupin throughout their careers and lyrics for two songs not on the album, "Across the River Thames" and "12." "Across the River Thames" was available as a free download when the CD was played on a computer. The song "And the House Fell Down" is metaphorically based on the story The Three Little Pigs. This is the first album by John and Taupin to feature both of them together on the front cover.

It was also the last studio album to feature keyboardist Guy Babylon, who died in 2009, and the last solo studio album appearance of bassist Bob Birch before his death in 2012.

Personnel

The album's core band included Elton John on vocals and acoustic piano, Guy Babylon on keyboards and arrangements, Davey Johnstone on guitars, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and backing vocals, Bob Birch on bass and backing vocals, Nigel Olsson on drums and backing vocals, and John Mahon on percussion and backing vocals. Additional backing vocals were provided by Matt Still. A notable addition was Arthur, John's black and white spaniel, whose barking during a take of "Just Like Noah's Ark" was recorded and kept in the track as sampled "woof-bells" after the dog reacted to a cowbell played by John Mahon.

Production was handled by Elton John and Matt Still, who also handled recording and mixing. Tom Rickert served as assistant engineer, Dan Porter as assistant mix engineer, and Bob Ludwig mastered the album at Gateway Mastering in Portland, Maine. Other personnel included Adrian Collee as studio coordinator, Bob Halley as director of Ops, Rick Salazar as guitar technician, Chris Sobchack as drum technician, Andy Williams as piano tuner, John Antenucci as studio manager for Center Stage, Lucy Lawler as studio administrator, Kent Smith as production manager, Ryan McGinley as cover photographer, David Costa for art direction and design, and management by Keith Bradley, Merck Mercuriadis, and Frank Presland.