Daniel

"Daniel" by Sir Elton John, from his album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player, ranked 48th on the Year-end Billboard Hot 100 chart of my birth year.

Oh oh, Daniel my brother you are older than me
Do you still feel the pain of the scars that won't heal?
Your eyes have died, but you see more than I
Daniel you're a star in the face of the sky

I've once wondered who Daniel, the song's subject was. According to Bernie Taupin, who co-wrote the song:

The story was about a guy that went back to a small town in Texas, returning from the Vietnam War. They'd lauded him when he came home and treated him like a hero. But, he just wanted to go home, go back to the farm, and try to get back to the life that he'd led before. I wanted to write something that was sympathetic to the people that came home.

Some other trivia from the Wikipedia article: (1) that Taupin based Daniel's story from a Newsweek or Time story; (2) that Donatella Versace named her son "Daniel" after this song; and (3) that when the song was first released as a single, on the B-side was "Skyline Pigeon" (which is one of my videoke standards).

I've been posting on liwaliw Sounds a selection of Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers since May. Decided to go through the list and share until the 100th rank is reached.