Beschreibung:

TAUPIN, BERNIE. Autograph Manuscript Initialed twice ("BJT"), 2 pp, 4to, January 14, 1973, here titled "Marilyn Monroe" in block print, written in blue and green ink on blank typing paper, small paper clip rust stain to upper left corner, otherwise very fine. Provenance: Collection of Maxine Taupin. ORIGINAL FIRST DRAFT OF CANDLE IN THE WIND — THE MOST POIGNANT OF ELTON JOHN'S HIT SINGLES. Titled here "MARILYN MONROE" by Taupin, with the first line amended from "Goodbye Marilyn Monroe" to the now famous "Good bye Norma Jean." Bernie Taupin said that Marilyn was "just a metaphor for fame and dying young... The song could have easily have been about Montgomery Clift or James Dean or even Jim Morrison. But it seemed that she had a sympathetic bent to her, so I used her. And she was female, and that was more vulnerable. But it was really about the excesses of celebrity, the early demise of celebrities...." This draft, written in blue and green ink, is a palimpsest, revealing Taupin's careful wordcraft (and his famously inconsistent spelling), including a number of important changes, beginning with: Goodbye Marilyn Monroe Norma Jean. / though I never knew you at all / You had the grace to hold yourselves / While those around you crawled, and Lonliness was a part of life the toughest role That you ever played Hollywood made you play You could have been a superstar but you preferred to hid away but Hollywood created a superstar And pain was the price you payed So goodby again Norma Jean from a young man in the 22nd row Who sees you as more than something sexual More than just a Marilyn Monroe The final, chilling lyric of the above stanza is appended at the end of the second page of the manuscript: Pressmen, newsmen hounding you even when you died the press still hounded you All the papers had to say was that you were Marilyn was found in the nude In a testament to the strength of the album, "Candle in the Wind" was never released as a single in the US in 1974, although it reached #11 on the UK charts when it was initially released. However, time has proved its poignancy and relevance. In 1986 a live version of the song, stripped down to just piano and synthesizers, was recorded in Sydney, Australia and released. The song's lament of a young life cut short took on new meaning at the height of the AIDS epidemic, and the song reached #6 on the US Billboard Hot 100. And again, in 1997, Bernie Taupin reworked the lyrics for "Candle in the Wind" for Elton John's performance at the funeral of Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales. This version, titled "Goodbye England's Rose," again captured the angst and grief of a world grappling with the untimely death of a beloved icon. The 1997 edition hit #1 on the charts in the US and the UK and today the song is one of the best-selling pop songs of all time. "It's a wonderful thing the young have when they get on a roll. We were running on momentum and adrenaline..." -Elton John, in Rolling Stone, on recording Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Elton John and Bernie Taupin are one of the most successful and prolific songwriting teams in the history of music, as well as one of the most unconventional. Taupin writes all the lyrics on his own, and then gives them to Elton John, who composes the music. According to John, in "Elton John and Bernie Taupin Say Goodbye to Norma Jean," a 1975 documentary about the making of their multiplatinum double-album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, "He [Bernie] comes down to London and hands me a batch of lyrics... It's very, very uncomplicated... usually I sort of putter around until I find a chord sequence I like, it doesn't take me very long, really...." Somewhat like Beethoven setting Schiller's "Ode to Joy" I suppose. Remarkably, they had met when they both responded to an NME ad for Liberty Records, "Talent Wanted." While theirs apparently weren't, Ray Williams at NME put the two in touch and they began one of the most fruitful collaborations in the history of rock-and-roll. Accor