A teleprompter helped him to remember the new words

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Elton's Song Set to Raise £10m

His specially dedicated version of Candle in the Wind captured the imagination of the world during the funeral service at Westminster Abbey.

Elton John:

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As he finished the moving rendition, which he had put together just a few days before as a personal tribute to Diana, tens of thousands listening to the song being relayed outside by loudspeakers, burst into applause.

Elton, who also revealed in a BBC interview with David Frost that he and Diana had briefly fallen out earlier this year, went straight from Westminster Abbey to a recording studio where he reworked the song, originally dedicated to Marilyn Monroe.

Beatles producer George Martin worked with Elton

He recorded the song with Sir George Martin, the man responsible for producing the best of the Beatles songs.

"He suggested I did a piano and a voice live and I did two takes. The second take was really, really good. I did some harmonies on it and he added some string quartet and some woodwind," said Elton.

"The record will be out on Saturday [September 13] or Monday. I just thought people might want a reminder of yesterday. We could raise a substantial amount of money for the Princess's Foundation, I hope between £5 - £10m," he told David Frost.

Elton said singing the song during the service was probably the most nerve- racking moment of his life.

"When I started singing and playing, I suddenly realised this was it. I was fairly composed all the way through and I sang it well. But at the beginning of the last verse my voice cracked and I was really chock-full of emotion and I had to close my eyes and grit my teeth and get through it," he said.

"She had beautiful eyes"

Elton praised the way people had reacted to Diana's death, and he hoped ordinary people would help carry on her work.

"She won't be here any more but she will be in our hearts. It's up to everybody now not just to grieve publicly for a week and then to forget about it, but to try to carry on what was she was all about and try and help people, and try to give up time to assist people who need help and attention," he said.

"The thing that has been the most impressive throughout the whole week has been the way the British people have conducted themselves and their emotions," added Elton.

'We Fell Out But Never Stopped Loving'

Elton spoke of his abiding memories of his friend: "Her sense of humour and her wicked laugh and her teasing and her flirting - but also her compassion and her sincerity."

He said one of the princess's favourite songs was Your Song and one of the lines, "yours are the sweetest eyes", would always remind him of her.

"I think her greatest physical attribute were those eyes. They flirted with you, they were sorrowful and they were laughing. She had those beautiful eyes," he said.

But the singer revealed that the couple had fallen out over a charity event, but had made up during the funeral of Italian dress designer Gianni Versace earlier this year.

"We did have a little falling out earlier in the year over a charity event. We did write each other letters which neither of us responded to. It was only after the tragic death of Gianni Versace that we actually spoke," he revealed.

"But we never stopped loving each other...I think it was a test of friendship but every friendship goes through a rocky period," he added.