Who did Elton John write ‘Daniel’ about?
In early 1973, ‘Daniel’ became the second successive top-two single from Elton John’s sixth studio album, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player, following the US number one hit ‘Crocodile Rock’. For one of John’s biggest hits, though, the track’s lyrics are unusually obscure.
John never makes it clear to us who exactly the ‘Daniel’ of the title is, apart from being the “brother” of the singer narrating his story. Part of the reason for their obscurity, though, is that a final verse, which provides more of a backstory about the titular character, was lopped off by John when it came time to record the song.
The musician cut the verse at the insistence of MCA Records, who were looking to keep the single to a radio-friendly running time. While he initially protested, the ‘Rocketman’ singer has never been ignorant of the overlap of art and commercialism in the modern age, so he slimmed down his pop hit and saw it race up the charts soon after.
According to fans, the lyrics for the missing verse were briefly made available on Elton John’s official website after the “fully typewritten lyric” was discovered in “Elton’s archives”.
The verse subsequent coda apparently read:
“Don’t forget Daniel when the plane touches land
There’s someone in England who still gives a damn
And I did my best to help you forget
War sure is hell when heroes can’t rest
You’re a book I have read dear Daniel
You’re a test I have yet to take Daniel
And try if you can to sleep tonight
If Spain really helps you then you’ll be alright“.
These words reveal more to us about the specifics of who Daniel is than the rest of the lyrics put together. Particularly the line “War sure is hell when heroes can’t rest”, which indicates the song’s protagonist is a veteran of military conflict, scarred by the perils of PTSD.
However, Taupin made it clear that the nixed verse doesn’t exactly elucidate the whole plot. “We had that whole thing about the missing verse that everybody seems to believe explained the true meaning of the song. I think that’s just an urban legend. It didn’t really explain anything,” he said.
Adding, “Sure, it was cut out. But that used to happen all the time with our songs. I would often overwrite, and Elton felt it necessary to edit somewhat. But believe me, it didn’t say anything that the rest of the song didn’t say.”
So, which war did Daniel fight in?
In fact, Daniel isn’t just a character but a real historical figure. He was the subject of a Newsweek article about a blind Vietnam War veteran that the song’s lyricist Bernie Taupin read in 1972. “The story was about a guy that went back to a small town in Texas, returning from the Vietnam War,” Taupin explained during the making of the 1991 album Two Rooms, which pays tribute to his work with John.
“They’d lauded him when he came home and treated him like a hero. But he just wanted to go home, go back to the farm, and try to get back to the life that he’d led before.” And, based on Taupin’s interpretation, he needed to rest and recuperate following the trauma of warfare he’d experienced.
“I wanted to write something that was sympathetic to the people that came home,” the lyricist added. Indeed, he elicits greater sympathy for Daniel by writing from the perspective of a concerned younger brother. Brotherly affection is an especially rare form of emotional expression in rock music, which only amplifies the emotional resonance of the song’s lyrics.
For John’s most ardent fans, the association between ‘Daniel’ and Vietnam is now inextricable. But this link still passes most casual listeners by. And since no one has recovered the particular Newsweek article Taupin was referring to, we may never know the titular war veteran’s full name, or the little farm in Texas he called home.
Yet through the song he inspired, he serves as a conduit for the post-war experiences of veterans everywhere, who had suffered the horrors of frontline combat. And it says everything about Taupin and Elton John that they were able to turn such a serious subject into a pop hit with mass appeal.
