The second track on Elton John’s 1973 double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Written by Elton and his fellow co-songwriter Bernie Taupin, “Candle in the Wind” focuses on the life of Norma Jeane, AKA Marilyn Monroe, the world-famous actress from the 1950s. It chronicles her rise to fame and tragic death.

This song was later re-written and re-recorded in 1997 as Candle in the Wind 1997, this time as a tribute to Princess Diana of Wales, who died in a tragic car accident that year. Incidentally, the original version was one of her favorite songs in life, for she identified with the sentiment expressed in the song regarding how the press always hounds about big public figures like her, even after death.