Who originally inspired the Elton John song ‘Candle in the Wind’?
“Goodbye Norma Jean, though I never knew you at all,” is perhaps one of the most iconic opening lines Elton John ever uttered. But the irony was that it was never meant to be inspired by poor old Norma Jean in the first place.
It’s one of the most famous tidbits in rock history that the sentiment of ‘Candle in the Wind’ was inspired by the tragic life and times of one Marilyn Monroe, but this was a ruse that lyricist Bernie Taupin could only go along with for so long before he finally spluttered out the truth after all these decades of acclaim.
The harsh reality was that he was never particularly bothered by Monroe or her story, but had to find a well-known figure that encapsulated the heartbreaking tale he wanted to recount through the song, and she just so happened to fit the bill. At the other end of this brutal swap shop was actor Montgomery Clift, whose premature passing was all too startlingly similar to Monroe’s, albeit with the notable absence of the glaring spotlight.
After watching Clift’s 1961 film The Misfits and learning of his tragic demise only five years later, at the age of just 45, Taupin was perhaps intrigued by this devastating story and the juggernaut nature of life and death that occurs within the walls of Hollywood. So, like any songwriter worth his salt, he took out his pen and paper with John in mind.
But he soon encountered a problem. “I saw The Misfits and was fascinated by Montgomery Clift who died young. But then I wondered how many people would know who he was,” Taupin explained during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. He needed someone whose fate had played out in a similar way, but essentially possessed far more star power. There was only one real answer.
Why did Bernie Taupin use Marilyn Monroe?
“Even though I didn’t care for Marilyn Monroe, people would think her a much more fragile character and more indicative of the ‘candle in the wind’, so I am glad I went with her. Otherwise, history would have been very different,” Taupin confessed. He was certainly right – the song is almost as entwined with her legacy as the shots of her filmography itself.
But let’s not forget that there is an arguably even more prolific version of ‘Candle in the Wind’, the one that axed out Norma Jean and instead paid tribute to the “English rose”, which John performed at the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997. It turns out that, from Taupin’s end, the iconic words didn’t have much more care put into them, even the second time around.
“I re-wrote it in half an hour, it wasn’t difficult,” he explained. “I’ve only actually heard it a couple of times – once at the funeral and once in the studio so I don’t remember a word of it!” It does somewhat dampen the illusion, no matter how much you try to change the view – one of John’s most emotional and resonant hits came from the hand of a man who didn’t much care for it.
That admittedly paints Taupin in a much harsher light than he perhaps deserves, but it’s also indicative of the juggernaut production line of songs that it takes to make a hit. There’s no point in poring over it for hours, but somewhere in the starry midst of Clift, Monroe, and Princess Diana, ‘Candle in the Wind’ was always destined for greater things.
