ELTON John believes the “mourning got out of hand” after his friend Princess Diana’s tragic death.
The superstar singer insists the global scale of public grief was not “what she would have wanted”.
Writing in his memoirs, serialised by the Daily Mail, Elton also reveals he has never since listened to his performance of Candle In The Wind.
He performed an adapted version of the heart-wrenching song at Diana’s historic funeral that became synonymous with her death.
He writes: “The funeral version of Candle In The Wind became the biggest-selling single since the charts began.
“There was part of me that couldn’t understand why anyone would want to listen to it.
NEVER LISTENS TO SONG
“Under what circumstances would you play it? I never did.
“I listened back to it once at the studio to OK the mix and that was it: never again.”
Diana was 36 when she was killed in a horror car crash in a Paris tunnel in 1997 – leaving Britain and the world in anguish.
But Elton, 72, admits he started “feeling really uncomfortable” with the longevity of the track.
He and songwriting partner Benie Taupin had originally written it in 1973 in honour of Marilyn Monroe – who died 11 years earlier.
Elton writes: “Its success meant there was footage of Diana’s funeral week after week on Top Of The Pops — it almost felt like wallowing in her death, as if the mourning for her had got out of hand.
“I really didn’t think that was what Diana would have wanted.
“And I didn’t want to do anything to prolong it any further.
“So when Oprah Winfrey asked me on her talk show to discuss the funeral, I said no.
“The Diana version of Candle In The Wind has never been included on any Greatest Hits album I’ve put out, and it’s never been re-released.”
But he adds that his decision to forget the song is not because he wanted to forget Diana.
“I just wanted life to get back to some semblance of normality,” Elton writes.
As many as 2,000 people – including global celebrities and politicians – attended Diana’s funeral at Westminster Abbey on September 6, 1997.
The ceremony was broadcast around the world and was viewed by an estimated 2.5billion people – making it one of the biggest TV events in history.
Elsewhere in his memoirs, Elton reveals for the first time his terrifying secret cancer battle in 2017.
The singer, who underwent a successful op for prostate cancer, writes: “The doctors told [Elton’s husband] David I was 24 hours away from death.”
Me: Elton John Official Autobiography by Elton John is out on October 15.
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