Candle in the Wind was written by Elton John (music) and Bernie Taupin (lyrics) in 1973 as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, who had died 11 years earlier. It first appeared on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album. The song highlights Monroes short and troubled life, referring to her as Norma Jean, her birth name, and expresses sadness over her life and career being marked by exploitation and personal troubles. Elton John also performed a rewritten ver ... See more [+] sion of this song in 1997, following the death of Princess Diana, titled Candle in the Wind 1997, which became the best-selling single in the history of the charts.