It is the largest selling single ever.
"Candle In The Wind" 1997 is available in the United States
today.
And, of course, you know this already that all profits from
this song will be donated to the Diana Princess Of Wales
Memorial Fund because Elton John in his charitable way--
he always has been--
did not in any way want to exploit
the memory of the princess.
And so every dime from that goes to her charity.
[APPLAUSE]
Aren't you amazed at the response?
Aren't you?
It's been overwhelming.
I just think, you know, I did it as a one off thing.
We changed the lyrics around.
And we sang it--
I sang it at The Abbey.
And then, I wanted to record it so that people would
have a sort of memory of it.
And then, it could make a contribution
to the charitable program. - So what did you think?
You get-- - Well, you know, I had no idea.
But it's become a phenomenon.
It's just, you know, it's been difficult for me because then
when my next record's released, I'll be going,
what do you mean it's only--
I mean, my last record had an advance of nine million.
But that it-- that-- the fact that
people are lined up to get it--
I think it's brilliant.
And I think people--
the thing that really impressed me most of all
in England when this tragedy happened were the public.
Their dignity, their sorrow, the way they showed their grief,
their silence.
And, you know, they just--
Unusual, the rest of the world said, for the Brits
to be so demonstrative-- - Yes.
--right?
And I think it was a great thing that they were.
Yeah.
I know-- you know, Elton John has issued a press release--
and I have nothing but respect for him for doing so--
saying that he didn't want to talk about it anymore
because he feels that a lot of people
have tried to exploit it.
So I've said to him, we're not going to, like,
spend a lot of time talking about it,
because aren't you now tired of people interviewing people who
knew Diana for four minutes?
Who when she came to Niagara Falls
and passed through the gate, and the guy's now on evening news
talking about it?
But how have you been coping with it?
I mean, everybody has lost.
It's been a terrible year for loss.
Loss for me.
And this summer it's been unbelievable.
And I haven't really had to cope with much loss in my life.
I mean, my grandmother died, but she was very old.
And people who have died in my family have been very old.
So these two deaths were very-- were sudden
and quite unnecessary, really.
So I--
Do you-- I mean, are you a religious person?
Do you meditate?
Do you talk to friends?
Do you-- how have you gotten through it?
I've talked about it all summer with friends.
We have friends coming to stay all summer.
And that was great.
And we had John, his partner Antonio down.
And, you know, we had people there to cheer him up.
And, you know, there are bad moments
and there are good moments.
There-- I like to--
I'm quite a melancholic person.
And I like to cry.
I mean, I do like to cry.
I think it's very healthy.
And there's a record out, not by me, but by a woman
called Beth Nielsen Chapman.
And it's an album called "Sand and Water".
And it's all about her husband dying of cancer.
And her songs about this--
how she's reacted to it.
And I've been listening to that to cope with my grief.
- Really? - Yeah.
And there's a song on it called "Sand and Water,"
the title track.
And I just sit there in the car and I cry
because it just touches me.
And the way she's talked about moving on,
and I will see you when I get to the door in heaven.
And it's beautiful.
One final question about it.
How did you get through the song?
What did you tell yourself?
Where did you go in your head? - I switched off.
I had to.
I mean, I had a teleprompter because I thought
if I am going to sing this song, and I
suddenly sing Goodbye Norma Jeane,
I am going to look such an idiot.
And that would be my career finished.
Off to the tower with him.
I wanted to sing it beautifully for her.
I wanted to sing it beautifully for the public
and for the family.
And, you know, with that amount of audience,
you've got to draw on all your experience.
And you have to just grit your teeth,
and get it, and do it properly.
And I didn't really--
the funeral was beautiful.
And I watched it when I went home.
And then, I kind of broke down when I watched
the funeral when I got home.
But I couldn't afford to do that.
I'm an entertainer.
And my job was to sing it, and it was
to sing it beautifully for her.
So that's why I wanted to do it.
[APPLAUSE]
And so you'll never sing it again.
That's why you can get it now as a memorial to her.