Princess Diana’s death surely took the world by storm. It devastated the people when they learned of her death because of a car accident in 1997. She was just 36 then, and people didn’t expect this news. Although everyone was mourning the huge loss, many people felt that at some levels, things were getting “over the top.”
Elton John, the world-famous singer, revealed his feelings towards this topic in his autobiography “Me: Elton John.” He revealed that his friend’s death saddened him, but the success of his song “Candle of the wind” felt a little bizarre. Elton performed a re-recorded version of this song at her funeral and later released it as a single. He didn’t want to play the song again, and he couldn’t understand the reaction of the public towards the song. He originally wrote the song with Bernie Taupin in 1973. The song was a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, who died in 1962.
When the funeral version of the song released, it became the biggest selling single. Elton said he couldn’t understand why people wanted to listen to the song. He couldn’t get where the public would play the song. He never played the song himself. Apart from listening to it once at the studio, he never listened to the song again. Gradually, he started feeling uncomfortable about the song’s popularity.
He felt as long as the song stayed on the charts; his friend’s funeral would be on TV even weeks after the incident. It started getting out of control because Elton felt Diana wouldn’t have wanted that. He didn’t want to contribute to anything that would prolong the process further. Therefore, Elton never included that single on his Greatest Hits albums after her death. He also didn’t release the song for the second time.
Even though Diana suffered a premature death, Elton still maintains close relations with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.