Candle In The Wind 1997 or Goodbye
England's Rose is a remake of "Candle In The Wind" by
Elton John that was released as a tribute single to the late
Diana, Princess of Wales. Released in 1997, the song peaked
at number one in the UK becoming John's fourth number one
single. It also peaked at number one in most other countries.
As of 2007, it is the world's best-selling single in history
stated in The Guinness Book of Records 2007.
On 31 August 1997, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash.
The news immediately shocked John, as he and the Princess had
been very good friends. He had also lost another good friend,
the fashion designer Gianni Versace, just weeks before, and
had attended his funeral with Princess Diana.
As a result of these deaths, John sank into a deep depression,
and considered not going to the funeral due to the emotional
trauma. In the end, he decided to attend after receiving
support from other friends. Following the recovery, John
decided he wanted to pay a tribute to Diana. With that in
mind, he contacted his veteran writing partner, Bernie Taupin.
Due to the limited time available, they felt it was not possible
to write a new song, and chose to re-write the lyrics to "Candle
in the Wind". George Martin was contacted to help produce
the song, and added a string quartet and woodwind to help
balance the recording and with the first line now "Goodbye,
England's Rose". Elton vowed never to perform the song
live again due to the emotion envolved and when asked at
The concert for Diana in July 2007 he rejected the proposition.
John sang "Candle In The Wind 1997" in public,
for the first and only time in history, at the funeral of
Diana, Princess of Wales, in Westminster Abbey on 6 September
1997. John swore he would never play that version of the
song again. John has repeatedly turned down requests to perform
the song live and only plays the 1973 version at concerts.
The song has also never been released on any of his other
albums except that one.
