# Elton John's song "Candle in the Wind": a few questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978 "2005-10-06T00:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/1 "2005-10-06T00:33:22Z")
I don’t hear this song much; since the original version’s subtitle was “Goodbye Norma Jean” I assume Elton was discussing Marilyn Monroe. And his “1997” version seems possibly to take up the tragic death of Princess Diana. Is this right? And…what exactly does the similie “Candle in the Wind” _mean,_ anyway, as Elton uses it? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/2 "2005-10-06T00:35:36Z")
Yes (Marilyn) and yes (Diana). I believe the titular line has to do with being too easily extinguished. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/3 "2005-10-06T00:38:31Z")
Not sure there’s been anything definitive stated from Taupin or Elton, but I gather it’s a pretty simple metaphor to translate. The flame on a candle in the wind flickers and flutters this way and that. Implying that the subject is a little unstable and easily pushed to and fro. Also that under that strain it could go out at any moment. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/4 "2005-10-06T00:48:08Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Not sure there’s been anything definitive stated from Taupin or Elton, but I gather it’s a pretty simple metaphor to translate. > > The flame on a candle in the wind flickers and flutters this way and that. Implying that the subject is a little unstable and easily pushed to and fro. Also that under that strain it could go out at any moment. Thanx That kind of reminds me of a line from Roy Clark’s song “Yesterday When I Was Young.” ☹ _The way the ev’ning breeze may tease a candle flame…_ _The candle burned out long before The legend ever did._ ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/5 "2005-10-06T04:24:35Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > And his “1997” version seems possibly to take up the tragic death of Princess Diana. Yes. In fact it was played by Elton John at Diana’s funeral. Personally, I think it would have been better if he’d just written a new song altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/6 "2005-10-06T04:39:38Z")
> [@1920s Style "Death Ray"](#): > > Yes. In fact it was played by Elton John at Diana’s funeral. > > Personally, I think it would have been better if he’d just written a new song altogether. Well, lyrically that’s basically what he did. There’s very little retained from the orginal version, 2 lines from the chorus is all. Musically, of course, it would have been nice, but I’m guessing timing played a role. Not to mention the opportunity for a certain popular appeal. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/7 "2005-10-06T04:43:08Z")
Didn’t Bernie Taupin do the lyric rewrite? Anyway, I understand why it was done that way, it just came across as a little tacky to my mind, nice gesture, but tacky all the same. ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/8 "2005-10-06T05:35:07Z")
> [@1920s Style "Death Ray"](#): > > Yes. In fact it was played by Elton John at Diana’s funeral. > > Personally, I think it would have been better if he’d just written a new song altogether. I had heard that he would have rather done that, but someone in the media speculated that he would redo Candle in the Wind, and enough people picked up on that idea that he was kind of…pressured into doing so. Don’t recall where I heard that, though. Marilyn Monroe is specifically mentioned in the lyrics of the original, isn’t she? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/9 "2005-10-06T07:00:23Z")
Candle in the Wind is the only song to appear on Billboards Top 100 in three successive decades, all by the same performer, each version different from the other, and each re-release vastly more popular than the one preceding it. The original made it to #89 (or something that low), the second, a live version recorded in Australia, made it to #6 in the late 80s, and the Diana song made it to #1 and became the biggest selling single in US history. Go figure. But it makes for a hell of a trivia question - “What’s the only song to appear 3 times on the Billboard hot-100, each time by the same artist but different versions of the same song?” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/10 "2005-10-06T07:16:30Z")
> [@RobuSensei](#): > > Marilyn Monroe is specifically mentioned in the lyrics of the original, isn’t she? The song begins “Goodbye, Norma Jean.” ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/11 "2005-10-06T08:03:24Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The song begins “Goodbye, Norma Jean.” And ends “More than just our Marilyn Monroe” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/12 "2005-10-06T08:34:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The song begins “Goodbye, Norma Jean.” Changed to _“Goodbye English Rose”_. IIRC Elton said at the time that the Diana version would either not be relased commercially or would not be available for radio play in the UK to avoid upsetting “her boys” (ie the Princes wouldn’t be constantly confronted with a song about their mother and her death) but I’m pretty sure this guideline hasn’t been followed. ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/13 "2005-10-06T14:13:37Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > And ends “More than just our Marilyn Monroe” Thanks – I knew I remembered hearing that. Aside: I think it’s amusing that the Google ads threw out a “JFK letters” ad for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/14 "2005-10-06T14:17:20Z")
> [@1920s Style "Death Ray"](#): > > Yes. In fact it was played by Elton John at Diana’s funeral. I remember that morning like it was yesterday. I was a sobbing, blubbering mess throughout the whole procession. That song just finished me off. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/15 "2005-10-06T14:49:02Z")
> [@](#): > > _Ominiscient_ > The flame on a candle in the wind flickers and flutters this way and that. Better yet, it _ **gutters** _. [It burns unsteadily, it consumes itself, it is squalid and degraded.](http://www.answers.com/gutters&r=67) ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/16 "2005-10-06T15:59:25Z")
> [@Cat Jones](#): > > I’m pretty sure this guideline hasn’t been followed. Hmm, just a bit. It was released as “Candle In The Wind 97”, was the fastest selling single ever in the UK, and sold 30 million copies worldwide. As well as making all right-thinking music fans boke. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/17 "2005-10-06T16:34:44Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > Hmm, just a bit. It was released as “Candle In The Wind 97”, was the fastest selling single ever in the UK, and sold 30 million copies worldwide. > > As well as making all right-thinking music fans boke. Just curious; what does “boke” mean? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/18 "2005-10-06T18:09:23Z")
Here’s a contemporary [L.A. Times](http://www.vex.net/~paulmac/elton/articles/19970906_lat.html) article about the rewrite. > [@](#): > > The decision by Elton John and Bernie Taupin to rewrite Candle in the Wind as a eulogy for Princess Diana may seem inspired now, but it was actually the result of a mix-up between the celebrated songwriting team–an indication of how fast the project was accomplished. > > When composer John phoned lyricist Taupin in California from England to say he’d been asked by Buckingham Palace to sing a song at the Sept. 6 funeral, he mentioned that radio stations in England were playing Candle in the Wind as a memorial to Diana. > > "I thought he said, 'Let’s rewrite the lyrics or at least some of the lyrics to Candle in the Wind, ’ " Taupin said last week from his cutting horse ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley, where he keeps a low media profile. > > “What he actually meant, I later learned, was, ‘Could we write something new that was similar to Candle in the Wind?’ I just totally misunderstood him on that initial phone call.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/19 "2005-10-06T18:47:29Z")
> [@hawthorne](#): > > Better yet, it _ **gutters** _. [It burns unsteadily, it consumes itself, it is squalid and degraded.](http://www.answers.com/gutters&r=67) Perfect discription of Norma Jean and Diana. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978/20 "2005-10-06T19:40:44Z")
I don’t know if it’s the origin of the phrase, but “The Candle in the Wind” previously appeared as the title of the fourth and final section of T. H. White’s _The Once and Future King_. So the metaphor doesn’t originate with Elton John. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-johns-song-candle-in-the-wind-a-few-questions/324978.md?page=2)