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.
