Background
On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris, France. The news immediately shocked Elton John, as he and the Princess had been very good friends. He had also lost another good friend, the fashion designer Gianni Versace, earlier in the summer, and had attended his funeral with Diana where she was seen comforting him.
I thought it was very important to project it from a nation's standpoint. I wanted to make it sound like a country singing it. From the first couple of lines I wrote, the rest sort of fell into place
“ ” Bernie Taupin on writing the lyrics for "Candle in the Wind 1997"As a result of these deaths, John sank into a deep depression, and to cope with grief quickly decided he wanted to pay a tribute to Diana. With that in mind, he contacted his veteran writing partner, Bernie Taupin, asking him to revise the lyrics of his 1973 song "Candle in the Wind" to honour Diana, and Taupin rewrote the song accordingly. George Martin was contacted to help produce the song, and added a string quartet, (Peter Manning, Keith Pascoe, Levine Andrade and Andrew Shulman), and woodwind (Pippa Davies, oboe) to help balance the recording. Elton John met Martin at Townhouse Studios in West London to record the song.
John publicly performed "Candle in the Wind 1997" only once, at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in Westminster Abbey on 6 September 1997. Though he continues to sing the original 1973 version of the song at his concerts, John has repeatedly turned down requests to perform the 1997 version. He refused even when asked to do so for the memorial Concert for Diana in July 2007, having vowed never to perform it again unless asked by Diana's sons. The song has never been released (or re-released) on any of his other albums or compilations, not even on the 1997 Diana Princess of Wales: Tribute album (an official 2-CD release sanctioned by Diana's family that included other artists such as Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Queen, Celine Dion and Rod Stewart).
Read more about this topic: Candle In The Wind 1997
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