This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Goodbye England's rose;
may you ever grow in our hearts.
You were the grace that placed itself
where lives were torn apart.
You called out to our country,
and you whispered to those in pain.
Now you belong to heaven,
and the stars spell out your name.
And it seems to me you lived your life
like a candle in the wind:
never fading with the sunset
when the rain set in.
And your footsteps will always fall here,
along England's greenest hills;
your candle's burned out long before
your legend ever will.
Loveliness we've lost;
these empty days without your smile.
This torch we'll always carry
for our nation's golden child.
And even though we try,
the truth brings us to tears;
all our words cannot express
the joy you brought us through the years.
Goodbye England's rose,
from a country lost without your soul,
who'll miss the wings of your compassion
more than you'll ever know.'
may you ever grow in our hearts.
You were the grace that placed itself
where lives were torn apart.
You called out to our country,
and you whispered to those in pain.
Now you belong to heaven,
and the stars spell out your name.
And it seems to me you lived your life
like a candle in the wind:
never fading with the sunset
when the rain set in.
And your footsteps will always fall here,
along England's greenest hills;
your candle's burned out long before
your legend ever will.
Loveliness we've lost;
these empty days without your smile.
This torch we'll always carry
for our nation's golden child.
And even though we try,
the truth brings us to tears;
all our words cannot express
the joy you brought us through the years.
Goodbye England's rose,
from a country lost without your soul,
who'll miss the wings of your compassion
more than you'll ever know.'
Lyrics submitted by Novartza
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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Great version of a great song,
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some of you people obviously don't know very much about who Princess Diana or John Elton were/are. Yes, the original is a very very good song about an amazing woman who was pressured by many people around her, and who died far before her time. Diana probably liked that song very much because she felt somewhat similar to Marylin Monroe. Elton John wasn't being cheap in any way. If you listen to the song, you can feel his emotion, for the death of a very close friend of his. He took a song that she liked and was somewhat similar to her life, and rewrote it for her. It was a tribute to her. Why would he write a new song to make money? Yes, we still have landmines in the world and AIDS but she helped tremendously with that and so much more. Some of your comments are very inmature, because i doubt you would be thinking the same thing if you had been in her position.
In any case I'm pretty sure all proceeds were donated to charity. It's got nothing to do with being 'cheap'.
I think you are all extremely negative. Elton John wasnt actually writing a song in tribute to Princess Diana with the luxury of time, he was doing the best with what he had. He was adapting a song so that he could show his respects at her funeral. No one expected her to die at that point in her life so full points to him for adapting, and singing while he was in a very low point and obviously grieving!!!
I love that song at its sad to me because Princess Diana was extremely good person.
you all are really immature about things like this. it's right, di loved this song, and i think she would proud to have it changed for her. go spread your conspiracy theories somewhere else where no one will appreciate them. this is a beautiful song, just as the orignal version was.
This is a piece that will forever live in the hearts of Princess Diana's countrymen. Thank you to Elton and Taupin for a piece of such calibre..
You'd think he could write her a new song if she was so special. This just seems like a cheap knockoff of his own work.
It's like Carlos Mencia said.. you can't write a song and then say "No wait a minute! I meant it about her!" or something along those lines. It was pretty funny.
Bernie writes the lyrics to ALL the songs I believe. Princess Di and Elton John were very close friends and she loved this song. I'm sure it wasn't him being "cheap", it was her favorite. He just changed the words a bit to suit the ocassion and make it personal! I'd like to know if Funeral for a Friend was written back when Bernie and Elton were thinking of breaking off their relationship? Can't find the song with comments.
Obviously he did not do this for money or a career boost. As someone said, they were close. He wanted to do something special.