Open Modal
On Air
Monday-Friday: 10AM-3PM

1,2,3 times a Hit

 

Elton John turns 73 today (March 25, 1947)  His song “Candle in the Wind” has had many lives.  It was a single and on the albums Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Live in Australia With the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the years 1973/1987/1997.  The studio version, a hit in Britain, was set to be a single here, but was flipped over when the B-side “Bennie and the Jets” began to get airplay on black radio. The 1986 live version would peak at number-six on the Billboard Hot 100, and the reworked 1997 “Princess Diana” version would go to number-one. Here is Elton John:

 

“I’ve had three different hits with ‘Candle in the Wind.’ I’ve had the original recording, which was never released as a single in America, but was a huge hit everywhere else in the world. Then I had a live version from the Australian album with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, which was a hit in America and then, of course, the tragic death of Princess Diana, which was, y’know, number one throughout the world. So that song’s had a kind of amazing life. It’s been a hit in three different forms.”

Recommended Posts

Loading...