In a 2006 interview with Cameron Crowe, John said, "I've always thought that "Captain Fantastic" was probably my finest album because it wasn't commercial in any way. We did have songs such as 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight,' which is one of the best songs that Bernie and I have ever written together, but whether a song like that could be a single these days, since it's than six minutes long, is questionable. "Captain Fantastic" was written from start to finish in running order, as a kind of story about coming to terms with failure—or trying desperately not to be one. We lived that story."