hi!
ich hab mal gesucht und herausgefunden, dass es in dem fehlenden teil um einen vietnam veteran (daniel) geht, der sein augenlicht verloren hat im krieg. in einer anderen quelle stand noch, dass der vietnam-veteran zurückgekehrt ist nach dem krieg un sich entschied in spanien zu leben. ein bruder oder eine schwester erzählt davon (daniel my brother) http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2350
hier ist die andere quelle:

"Elton later admitted in interviews that because of time reasons, he
omitted lyricist Bernie Taupin s last verse of this song, which
explained that it was about a Vietnam Vet who lost his eyesight in the
war."

und hier ist der grund dafür, elton hat das halt gekürzt, weil es sonst einfach zu lang gewesen wäre, dadurch ist auch die kalre bedeutung des textes verloren gegangen, also das mit dem vietnam veteran.
hier ist die quelle:


"The next caller was Mark from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He asked
Elton to play Daniel, but not before asking him to explain the meaning
of the song. As all Reg Heads know, the song is about Daniel, a blind
Vietnam War veteran as sung by Daniel's sibling (the song never
suggests that the sibling is male). Elton further explained that in
their early days of writing songs together, Bernie would submit lyrics
that were composed as a bunch of words on a page with no regard to
lyrical form (verse and chorus). At times, these 'lyrics' tended to
go beyond a reasonable length. So, Elton would editorialize to reduce
the song to a standard timing (for radio play no doubt). Such was the
fate of Daniel. The original third verse explained the meaning of the
song, but Elton felt that a 6 minute version was too much to bare, so
he deleted it ('I'll just take this bit out.') Thus, the meaning was
lost forever to the general public. On this fine evening, however,
Elton breathed new life into 'Daniel' to the point that the missing
third verse really didn't matter that much anymore because it would
not be 'Daniel' if it had been presented any other way."

wie schon gesagt, der ist unwiederbringlich verloren. schade