Candle in the Wind 1997
by Elton John
An elegy, so the register is high and the vocabulary abstract: grace, compassion, loveliness, legend, truth. Look at how the third one is built — loveliness is the plain adjective lovely plus -ness, and that suffix converts almost any English adjective into a noun. Knowing it doubles the vocabulary you can produce rather than merely recognise, which is a different and more valuable thing. There is a superlative in greenest, and a phrasal verb in you called out, where the small word after the verb changes the meaning entirely. B2 reflects formality rather than speed: the delivery is slow and every consonant is audible. A good card to read aloud.
How to study this song
“Candle in the Wind 1997” carries 32 English words, 6 adjectives and 8 verb forms — 46 study entries in all, graded B2. Work through the glossary first: candle, child and compassion are the words you will lean on most. The vocabulary is broad for a single song, 32 words, which makes it a good source of everyday nouns. At this level the words on their own are not the problem — it is the way they are put together that takes the work.
The words of this song, in several languages
Every word below is taken from this song and translated by us. Nothing here is the lyric itself — these are the individual words you need in order to follow it.
Vocabulary
| EN | ES | IT | FR | PT | NL | DE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| candle | vela | candela | bougie | vela |
What this song teaches you
Level · B2
- Vocabulary words
- 32
- Adjectives
- 6
- Word combos
- 11
- Expressions
- 10
- Verb forms
- 15
- Quiz questions
- 35
Background
About the song
“Candle in the Wind 1997” is the version of Elton John’s classic that he performed at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.
His long-time lyricist Bernie Taupin rewrote the words — originally a tribute to Marilyn Monroe from the 1970s — into an elegy for Diana, and Elton performed it live at Westminster Abbey before a worldwide television audience of hundreds of millions.
Released as a single for charity, it became a global moment of shared mourning. George Martin, the Beatles’ producer, recorded and produced it at Townhouse Studios in London immediately after the funeral on 6 September 1997, and Elton John has never performed this version again.
Did you know?
The single sold in staggering numbers, with more than thirty-three million copies worldwide, and is recognised by Guinness World Records as the best-selling physical single of all time.
Elton John chose to perform this specific version only once, at the funeral, and its proceeds were donated to charities associated with the late princess.
Charts & streaming
With over thirty-three million copies sold, “Candle in the Wind 1997” topped the charts around the world and stands as the biggest-selling physical single in history. Its extraordinary sales raised vast sums for charity and made it one of the most significant record releases of the twentieth century.
In Britain it sold 658,000 copies on the first day and more than 1.5 million in the first week, the fastest start in the history of that chart; in the United States it entered at number one and stayed there fourteen weeks, selling 3.5 million in its opening week.
It won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1998.