Just as Elton John was once Reginald Dwight, so Marilyn Monroe was originally Norma Jean Mortenson. Well, actually “Norma Jeane”. But, lyricist Bernie Taupin got it close enough.
“Goodbye Norma Jean”, it was an original opening for a song on a theme. 45 years ago, the price of fame (“and pain was the price you paid“) had not yet been so thoroughly exhausted. Beneath the atrocious rock music rhymes (“all”/”crawled”, “brain”/”name”), Taupin had an interesting point of view. Marilyn Monroe? “I never knew you at all”. How could he? He was just a nobody watching a movie screen:
I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid…
Goodbye, Norma Jean
From the young man in the 22nd row…
Written in 1973 as an elegy to Monroe, it was then hastily pressed into service 24 years later to serve as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, titled Candle In The Wind 1997, or sometimes, Goodbye England’s Rose. Princes William and Harry requested that the song be reprised for the 10th Anniversary Diana Memorial Gala, but Sir Elton had pledged that he would never ever sing it again. Maybe he’s a little embarrassed by it. After all, there’s something unsettling about a personal hymn being so portable it can simply be rewritten for one celebrity death to the next.
The original version is on John’s excellent album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road recorded in 1973. The lyrics of the song are a sympathetic portrayal of the life of Monroe, but Taupin wrote:
“The song is about the idea of fame or youth or somebody being cut short in the prime of their life. The song could have been about James Dean, it could have been about Montgomery Clift, it could have been about Jim Morrison; how we glamorize death, how we immortalize people.”
Taupin was inspired to write the song after hearing the phrase “candle in the wind” used in tribute to Janis Joplin.
The song reached Number 11 on the UK charts, but was not released as a single in the USA, instead Bennie And The Jets was chosen. The Princess Diana version of the song was released as a single and reached Number one in most countries, becoming the second best-selling single of all time, behind Bing Crosby‘s version of White Christmas.
30 years ago, in 1988, a live version was released from the album Elton John Live In Australia With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and as a single it reached Number Five on the UK Singles Chart and Number Six on the US Hot 100.
During a concert in April 1990, at Farm Aid IV, John dedicated the song to Ryan White, who had been suffering from HIV/AIDS. White died the next day.
Goodbye Norma Jean
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your name
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did
Loneliness was tough
The toughest role you ever played
Hollywood created a superstar
And pain was the price you paid
Even when you died
Oh the press still hounded you
All the papers had to say
Was that Marilyn was found in the nude
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did
Goodbye Norma Jean
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
Goodbye Norma Jean
From the young man in the twenty second row
Who sees you as something more than sexual
More than just our Marilyn Monroe
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did
