Rock of the Westies Rock of the Westies Rock of the Westies, released in October 1975, is the tenth studio album release for Elton John. As with "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy", "Rock of the Westies" debuted on the US "Billboard" 200 chart at No. 1, the only two albums at that time to have done so. It was less successful in the artist's home territory of the UK, where it reached No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart. Robert Christgau ranked it as No. 7 on his list of the best albums of 1975. The title is a play on the
Denmark Street publisher in the street in 1963, and Taupin wrote the lyrics while sitting on the roof ("I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss") while waiting for John one morning. They mentioned the street in their 1974 song "Bitter Fingers", on the semi-autobiographical concept album "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy". Also in 1970, a song named "Denmark Street" appeared on the Kinks' album "Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One". Manager Malcolm McLaren asked architect Ben Kelly to refurbish a basement rehearsal room he had bought from Badfinger. The Sex Pistols rehearsed in this room,