A Single Man

by

Elton John

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A Single Man is the twelfth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1978, 2 years after his intended last album Blue Moves, and 1 year after the release of Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume II. It is the first album John created without his longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin. As Gary Osborne was an unknown at the time, many people have misinterpreted the album's title to imply that Elton wrote the entire album himself.

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 United States and Canada, where Elton's label, MCA Records, didn't feel that it had hit potential, due to the recent success of "The 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.

The photo for the front cover was taken in the Long Walk, which is part of Windsor Great Park in Berkshire. It was also the first album without his glasses.