Elton John and Bernie Taupin's Cande in the Wind

The first time I read through Elton John and Bernie Taupin's song “Candle in the Wind” I was quick to draw conclusions based on my own assumptions. These assumptions lead me to perceive an image of Marilyn Monroe that was greatly different from the writer's intent. The song describes different stages of Monroe's life. It also describes in the beginning how Monroe had courage and composure during the beginning stages of her career. Her path to stardom was anything but easy due to the rumors and gossip. Others were quick to envy and joined the bandwagon on how they thought Monroe should be living her life. Monroe soon found she were adrift with no true friends to help. Her life and career was short-lived but, the image she projected was immortalized into a legend. New perceptions of an old image can be seen through the use of research. This research shows how one person could have a different view point than originally reflected. My initial perception of the song tells a story much different from the writer's point of view.

The song starts out by addressing Monroe by her real name Norma Jean. It then goes on to describe that he never knew her personally and mentions that Monroe's self-respect helped her find the path to fame. An idea that Hollywood fabricated the notion of Monroe and transformed a quiet girl into an instant star is heavily suggested in the song. At times it seemed that my limited knowledge of John, Taupin and Monroe’s background allowed me to speculate the wrong conclusions. I thought part of the song was referring to Monroe's loneliness and by “never knowing who to cling to” was insinuating that possibly she never married or did not have any true friends (AZLyrics., 2014). Further research will ...

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...oint forward we all grew to admire such perseverance. Monroe soon became one of the most recognized icons of her time and still is today. Monroe is imitated by girls everywhere. Females who idolize Monroe have the same dream of one day seeing their name in lights and fulfilling a childhood dream. Our amazingly talented blond legend has forever changed the face of Hollywood.

Works Cited

Donnelley, P. (2001). Marilyn Monroe. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/

MusicBrains. (2014). Elton John. Retrieved from http://musicbrainz.org/

MusicBrains. (2014). Bernie Taupin. Retrieved from http://musicbrainz.org/

Marilyn Monroe. (1998). In J. S. Baughman, V. Bondi, R. Layman, T. McConnell, & V. Tompkins (Eds.), American Decades. Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com/

AZLyrics. (2014). Elton Johns lyrics. Retrieved from http://www.azlyrics.com/