Who did Elton John initially write ‘Candle In The Wind’ about?
Have you ever heard anything more obnoxious than the words “Elton John’s Oscar viewing party?” The very idea of dressing up in your finest getup, to sit on a golden sofa and watch something you could view from the comfort of your own home with a cold beer in your hand? And all in the pursuit of A-list backslapping?
Either way, Elton John has created something that makes him the centre of who’s who discussions. Not that he needed to throw elaborate parties and be papped with the trendiest actor to stay relevant, he’s one of the most influential musicians of all time, but for some reason there’s still a modicum of insecurity that needs A-list attention to cure it.
Granted, there’s an important flipside to my argument. For someone like Elton, who has experienced the soaring heights of global fame, the boundaries within which you can make genuine friendships, without ulterior motives undoubtedly shrinks and naturally, it’s easier to rub shoulders with people who swim in equally as exposed circles.
So it was unsurprising then, that Elton and Princess Diana struck up a close relationship in the 1990s. The Princess of Wales was about as heavily a papped celebrity as history had ever seen in the middle of the decade, weaving in between media scrutiny, monarchy imposed pressures and motherhood. Her relationship with Elton became somewhat of a safe space for them both, as their friendship could flourish in the shelter of understanding.
And so when she died in 1996, and the fatal consequences of media intrusion were thrown into question, Elton’s hit ‘Candle In The Wind’ became somewhat of an anthem for the late princess. Bernie Taupin subsequently altered the lyric from ‘Goodbye Norma Jeane’ to ‘Goodbye England’s Rose’, making it a fitting track for Elton to then perform at her funeral.
But the reason why the song could be so seamlessly altered to Diana’s story, was because of the true genesis of the song. Originally written in 1963, Elton and Taupin wrote the song as a broad reference to the untimely death of global megastars, with Marilyn Monroe as the primary reference point.
Although Taupin is quick to refute the track being solely about her. He said, “I think the biggest misconception about ‘Candle In The Wind’ is that I was this rabid Marilyn Monroe fanatic, which really couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s not that I didn’t have a respect for her. It’s just that the song could just as easily have been about James Dean or Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain. I mean, it could have been about Sylvia Plath or Virginia Woolf.”
He continued: “I mean, basically, anybody, any writer, actor, actress, or musician who died young and sort of became this iconic picture of Dorian Grey, that thing where they simply stopped ageing. It’s a beauty frozen in time. In a way, I’m fascinated with that concept. So it’s really about how fame affects the man or woman in the street, that whole adulation thing and the fanaticism of fandom.”
What songs has Bernie Taupin written with Elton John?
While Elton enjoys deafening screams from dedicated fans and backslaps from his Hollywood contemporaries, his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin has largely existed in the shadows and gained a reputation as one of music’s greatest unsung heroes. And besides the Lion King soundtrack and large parts of Elton’s album A Single Man, Taupin’s stamp of influence has been on every single track.
His absence on Elton’s aforementioned 1978 album was only down to a brief spat between the pair, driven by a brutal work schedule that was imposed on Taupin due to Elton’s growing stardom. While Elton too experienced the strain, he famously coped with it through excessive substance abuse, pushing him and his relationship with Taupin to the very brink. But before the decade concluded, the pair had reunited and agreed on a new relationship that was less demanding.
The pair simply couldn’t deprive themselves of what was a truly magical collaboration, which Taupin believes is best showcased on the song. “‘Candle in the Wind’, I think, is probably, it could be the closest the closest we’ve come to a perfect song”, he once said when asked what his and Elton’s finest moment was.
