Throwback To 1971: Elton John Explains How "Tiny Dancer" Came To Be

A still from the music video for "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John. The song
was released in 1971, but didn't get an official music video until 2017.

One of my very favorite Elton John songs is among his very first hits: "Tiny Dancer."

The blog Laughing Squid found a YouTube video in which Elton John, in 1971, then roughly 23 years old, explains the musical mechanics of the song,and why he chose the music the way he did for the lyrics, penned by his longtime co-writer Bernie Taupin.

The song is about Taupin's girlfriend and eventual wife Maxine Feibelman.  The tune has a rather gentle musical score. Elton John said that decision was based on the lyric, "Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand."

Hard, driving rock does not fit well with ballerinas, John explained.

"Tiny Dancer" was never a huge hit on the Billboard charts, but man, has it had staying power! It has become a classic in every sense of the word.

This song never had an official music video until 2017, when Elton John participated in "The Cut" a video contest for up and coming videographers.  Filmmakers made music videos for three of Elton John's early classics, including Tiny Dancer.  I do think the California breeziness of the song is captured well in that 2017 video.

But you be the judge. First video is the throwback to 1971, when Elton John explains the song's construction, and the second video by Max Weiland, which uses a wide range of Los Angeles characters to demonstrate how much this song has kind of united us.

New Music Videos For Old Elton John Classics Are Awesome

A scene from the brilliant new music video for the
Elton John classic, "Rocket Man."

The early hits in Elton John's extensive, awesome, Captain Fantastic music catalog came before music videos were a thing.  

As Rolling Stone reports, Sir Elton John and his lyricists Bernie Taupin rectified that situation by working with YouTube for a global competition to get music videos up for three great, iconic early 1970s hits:

The songs are "Bennie And The Jets," "Tiny Dancer" and "Rocket Man."

John and Taupin revealed the winning videos recently at the Cannes Film Festival recently. The videos are awesome and are viewable below. (You might have to click on "Watch on YouTube" to actually seem them.

All the videos are awesome, but I'll show them below ranking them from my least favorite to favorite. (Although my least favorite one is pretty awesome.)

The first one is "Bennie and the Jets"

In this one, Director Jack Whitley and choreographer Laura Brownhill, imagine the protagonist in the song, Bennie, forming the members of the Jets, her band. Rolling Stone says the pair were inspired by Busby Berkeley's old Hollywood musicals and "Metropolis," the memorable 1927 Fritz Lang movie.


The second video is for "Tiny Dancer." I have to say this is one of my favorite road songs and every time I hear it, I have an image of me driving around on a sunny, gorgeous spring afternoon.

In this video, Director Max Weiland creates a series of compelling mini-stories of eclectic people in Los Angeles driving around and singing along to "Tiny Dancer." You only get glimpses of all these people, but you really end up caring about them by the end of the video, and want to know more about them.



The best video, in my opinion, is Majid Adin's animated video for "Rocket Man."

I totally agree with Rolling Stone's review of this video:

"(Adin) brilliantly re-contextualizes Taupin's lyrics about a lonely astronaut with a visual tale that draws on his past experience as an Iranian refugee traveling to England.......Taupin's words take on a more melancholy spin in this vivid setting, particularly the line, 'I think it's gonna be a long, long time,' repeated as the protagonist dwells on his uncertain future."

I could not take my eyes off this "Rocket Man" video and I want to watch it again and again: