Candle in the Wind 1997 is a single by Elton John released in 1997 by Rocket Records on 7 ", single CD and single cassette.


Candle in the Wind 1997, also known as Goodbye England's Rose was composed by Elton John based on a text by Bernie Taupin. This is the adaptation of the song Candle in the Wind in 1997 in honor of Lady Diana Spencer.

The song reached the top spot in the UK singles chart in the same year and had an extraordinary success all over the world, quickly surpassing Bing Crosby's White Christmas in the chart of bestselling singles ever, with about 40 million copies sold. This made it the second bestselling single of all time.

On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana died in a car accident. The news deeply shakes John, who had a strong friendship with Diana. As he also had with the designer Gianni Versace, who died a few weeks earlier, at whose funeral he was present with Diana.

These two sudden deaths caused a deep depression in John, who initially decided not to go to Diana's funeral, because of the shock suffered. Later he changed his mind, thanks also to the support of some friends. At the express request of Diana's family, he also decided to make his own contribution to the memory of the Princess. He then contacted his historic lyricist, Bernie Taupin; due to a misunderstanding (Elton asked Bernie to write a text along the lines of Candle in the Wind, but the lyricist misunderstood the phone, believing that Pinner's pianist was asking him to rewrite the text of that piece for the circumstance) adapted the old classic Candle in the Wind.