Candle In The Wind

Candle In The Wind

Tribute To Princess Diana

from

Elton John

1. Biography of Elton John and his most famous songs

Reginald Kenneth Dwight, the original name of Elton John, was on March 25, 1947 in Pinner, England.

Elton's mother Sheila used to encourage him to mess around on the piano when he was little to keep him busy. At the age of 4, he picked out the tune to Skater's Waltz, surprising everyone. At the age of 14, Reg Dwight and his friend Stuart Brown formed a band called the Corvettes, named after a brand of shaving cream. The band was never very serious and soon broke up. When he was 16, he got together with Stuart Brown once again and formed Bluesology, a moderately successful band. Elton stayed within this band until he went solo. Elton named himself after Elton Dean and Long John Baldry, two other members of Bluesology.

Elton John met Renate Blauel in 1982 at the studio where he was recording ”Too Low for Zero”. On 10, 1984, he proposed to her, and they were married on Valentines Day in Sydney.

Most famous songs:

Elton's first #1 hit in the United States was ”Crocodile Rock” CASSETTE in 1972. Elton's first #1 hit in the United Kingdom was ”Don't Go Breaking My Heart” CASSETTE in 1976. His first solo hit was ”Sacrifice” CASSETTE in 1990. The albums ”Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy” (1975) and ”Rock of the Westies” (1975) both hit #1 in the US on the very day of their release.

Elton was the first western pop star who stared a tour through Russia.

2. Candle In The Wind: The song

Why did Elton John write this song for his friend Princess Diana although the Queen of England didn't want that? The princess' children asked him personally to sing her favourite song Candle in the Wind which was first written for Marilyn Monroe by Elton John. So he decided to sing that song at her last ceremony in Westminster Abby.

The single Candle in the Wind is sold at about 21 millions times. So it has become to one of the best sold CDґs. Elton John decided not to keep the profit of selling it, but to give it to Dianaґs organisation Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

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2.1. Style and RhythmThe song is characterised by plainness because there is only one instrument used in the song, also there is only one person singing. By the way the piano plays only a background function, so that the text is to the fore of the song and is easily understandable and everyone can think about it.

It has a very slow and sad rhythm so that the song became the emotional high spot of the ceremony.

2.2. Stylistic devices in the song

Here are some stylistic devices which are used in the song Candle In The Wind:

·1 the stars spell out your name: personification of ”stars”

·І like a candle in the wind: comparison for how she lived her live. This means she had a short live because candles go out easily in the wind

·і your candleґs burned out long before: candles are a symbol for Dianaґs life

·4 for our nation's golden child: golden child stands for the person Diana, this is a paraphrase (Umschreibung)