"Daniel" is a soft rock song with music by Elton John and lyrics by Bernie Taupin. Taupin wrote the words after reading about a wounded Vietnam veteran who wanted to escape attention on coming home. John recorded it at Château d'Hérouville in France on 10 June 1972, produced by Gus Dudgeon, and it opens the album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player. Released as a single on 26 January 1973 (MCA in the US, DJM in the UK), it reached No. 4 in the UK and No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, where McCartney's "My Love" kept it from the top. It runs 3:54 and is in the key of C.
It spent two weeks at No. 1 on the US Easy Listening listing in spring 1973, topped the Canadian listing, and was certified platinum in the US. John and Taupin won the 1973 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and John was nominated for the 1974 Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male. The song features on the soundtrack of the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Later versions include covers by Marie Laforêt (1974), Wilson Phillips (1991), Fuel (2000), Bonnie "Prince" Billy with Tortoise (2006) and Sam Smith (2018).
