"Who" applied to things

[Noelia]

This Elton John's song says:


Goodbye England's rose
From a country lost without your soul
Who'll miss the wings of your compassion
More than you'll ever know

And my question is, can you apply "who" to a noun like "country" or was it an exception, to make it sound more emotional, to represent all the people who'll miss Diana?

[sendai]

I personally would say "that", but "who" sounds okay to me. I guess it's okay since a country consists of people.

www.m-w.com says:

who: used as a function word to introduce a relative clause; used especially in reference to persons <my father, who was a lawyer> but also in reference to groups <a generation who had known nothing but war -- R. B. West> or to animals <dogs who...fawn all over tramps -- Nigel Balchin> or to inanimate objects especially with the implication that the reference is really to a person <earlier sources who maintain a Davidic ancestry -- F. M. Cross> -- used by speakers on all educational levels and by many reputable writers, though disapproved by some grammarians, as the object of a verb or a following preposition <a character who we are meant to pity -- Times Literary Supplement>

[Noelia]

Thanks... still sounds weird to me though saying "who" instead of "that" I only heard it in this song. But it makes sense, since the world is full of "who's"

[johnr]

yo también diría 'who'.