Song Interpretations

Candle in the Wind

SONG: Candle in the Wind 
ARTIST: Elton John
ALBUM: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
SONGWRITER: Bernie Taupin

This song is a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, a famous actress and sex symbol who died of a drug overdose in 1962.

The song makes various references to the press coverage of Monroe. The famous opening line, "Goodbye Norma Jean," refers to her birth name: Norma Jeane Mortenson, and how she gave up both her name and her privacy for the sake of celebrity. According to Taupin (the lyricist), the song is more of a take on fame and celebrity than an ode to Marilyn Monroe.

Said Taupin: "This song could just as easily have been about James Dean or Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain. I mean, it could have been about Sylvia Plath or Virginia Woolf. I mean, basically, anybody, any writer, actor, actress, or musician who died young and sort of became this iconic picture of Dorian Gray, that thing where they simply stopped aging. It's a beauty frozen in time. In a way, I'm fascinated with that concept. So it's really about how fame affects the man or woman in the street, that whole adulation thing and the fanaticism of fandom. It's pretty freaky how people really believe these people are somehow different from us."

♪ Goodbye Norma Jeane
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled ♪

He's saying goodbye to the famous actress, even though he never knew her personally. She could hold herself together, even though the press and paparazzi were 'crawling' around her. She was strong.

♪ They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your name ♪

To crawl out of the woodwork means to appear suddenly and unexpectedly. Based on the idea of insects that suddenly come out from under boards in a house where they have been hidden.

The paparazzi came out of nowhere and 'whispered in to her brain' (meaning, influenced her thoughts). They 'set her on a treadmill' (when you are on a treadmill, you keep running and running, and you reach nowhere). Or it could be that the treadmill has been compared to a ramp, because she was a model before she started acting. Her name was changed from Norma Jeane to Marilyn Monroe.

♪ And it seems to me
You lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in ♪

'Candle in the wind' is something that is particularly vulnerable or fragile and likely to fail, perish, or be eliminated at any moment. Also, a flame changes direction with the wind. Likewise, Marilyn was controlled by the influence of Hollywood and the public.

The symbolism of the flame can also be seen when you realize what it is that keeps a flame going. Oxygen builds the fire and oxygen can be resembled as her fame. Marilyn's fame became so large that it eventually blew out her candle and her life ended.

She also depended on other's opinions instead of having a sense of her own being. In the same way, a candle lives and depends on only oxygen to keep going. The expression candle in the wind likens life to a candle flame that may easily blown out by a passing draft or gust. Her fragility of life is thus emphasized.

Although she was a superstar, she was very lonely and had been sexually abused as a child. She had lived with many foster families, and had changed schools many times. So she didn't have anyone to 'cling to' when the 'rain set in'. Rain is often used as a metaphor for troubles or for bad times, while summer is associated with good and happy times.

♪ And I would have liked
To have known you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did ♪

The lyricist, Taupin, was just 12 years old when he wrote this song. He would've liked to get close to the actress, but he was just a kid.

'Your candle burned out' refers to her death. Her legend and fame continued to live on even after her death. She died before the death of her fame.

♪ Loneliness was tough
The toughest role you ever played
Hollywood created a superstar
And pain was the price you paid ♪

She was an actress. She had played many roles, but her being lonely is the toughest role anyone can play.

The last two lines allude to how a superstar is created by Hollywood and how amidst all the excitement they lose who they are. Since Elton John could pertain to the world of fame he was able to put his perspective of Hollywood into the song.

♪ Even when you died
Oh the press still hounded you
All the papers had to say
Was that Marilyn was found in the nude ♪

The press didn't leave her even after she died. The paparazzi flooded her house, took photographs of her body, wrote about her in the newspapers. She died of a drug overdose and her body was found naked in her bed.

These lines make the listener angry at the press because of their shameless behavior and the disgraceful things they wrote about her.

♪ Goodbye Norma Jeane
From the young man in the 22nd row
Who sees you as something
More than sexual
More than just our Marilyn Monroe ♪

The lyricist had realized that she was more that just an actress and a sex symbol. She was more than Marilyn Monroe; she was Norma Jeane. Before being an actress, she was a human.

22nd row refers to the seats in the cinema where Marilyn's movie was playing. 22nd row was the closest he ever got to the actress, although he would have liked to get closer.

♪