Music / Caribou

Although I search myself
It's always someone else I see

I was justified when I was five
Raising cain I spit in your eye
Times are changing now the poor get fat
But the fever's gonna catch you when the bitch gets back

Eat meat on a friday that's alright
Even like steak on a saturday night
I can bitch the best at your social do's
I get high in the evening sniffing pots of glue

—"The Bitch is Back"

Caribou is the eighth studio album recorded by British pop rock musician Elton John. It was released through DJM Records in the United Kingdom, and MCA Records in the United States, on 28 June 1974.

Compared to his blockbusters of 1973, this album was rushed, being developed over barely more than a week in January 1974. With some work in London and Los Angeles, it was largely recorded at Caribou Ranch in Colorado. Elton and his band were being rushed to tour Japan.

Even Elton doesn't think it's his best work. Tom Nolan of Rolling Stone referred to it as "dispiriting", and lacking focus almost throughout. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic recalls it as a disappointment besides its two singles.

Those two singles were "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and "The Bitch is Back". Respectively peaking at #2 and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, they helped drive the album to be Elton's third consecutive number-one studio album on the Billboard 200 album chart. They both faltered in the teens on the UK pop chart.

The album itself would ultimately go double-Platinum in the United States, and Gold in the United Kingdom. It would stand in the top half of the year-end Billboard 200 album chart in both 1974 (#65) and 1975 (#77).

Tracklist

Side One

1. "The Bitch Is Back" (3:44)
2. "Pinky" (3:54)
3. "Grimsby" (3:46)
4. "Dixie Lily" (2:55)
5. "Solar Prestige a Gammon" (2:52)
6. "You're So Static" (4:53)

Side Two

7. "I've Seen the Saucers" (4:48)
8. "Stinker" (5:20)
9. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (5:36)
10. "Ticking" (7:34)

"Someone troped you something satanic:"

• Blatant Lies: Elton claims to be sober in the chorus of "The Bitch is Back", but comments on sniffing glue in the first verse.
• Epic Rocking: "Ticking" goes 7 1/2 minutes.
• Face on the Cover: Well, in this case, a photo of Elton full-height.
• "I Am" Song: "The Bitch is Back"
  I'm a bitch, I'm a bitch, yeah, the bitch is back!
• Meaningful Name: Much like Honky Château, this album was named after the place where it was recorded, Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado (northeast of Boulder).
• Precision F-Strike: The term "bitch" is used quite a few times in "The Bitch is Back", both in the pronoun (self-descriptive) and verb sense.
• Rotten Rock & Roll: "The Bitch is Back" is this in spades.