‘Tiny Dancer’: Elton John on the best song he ever wrote
It sometimes takes the benefit of hindsight to see where an artist’s best work truly is. The greatest artists of all time may not get celebrated in the way they are supposed to, and even if they have a wealth of classics to choose from, there tend to be true anthems that get lost in the shuffle from time to time. Although Elton John usually didn’t need to worry about too many of his songs failing to reach the charts, he felt that this tune has held up over time as one of his finest compositions.
But John always seemed to have an innate sense of melody that the public absolutely adored. He may not have been the best lyricist this side of Bob Dylan, but by bringing in Bernie Taupin, John painted pictures in the listener’s mind about what the lives of these characters were like, whether that’s singing a traditional love song like ‘Your Song’ or the story of a man sending himself up to the vast emptiness of space in ‘Rocket Man’.
Because that’s the way that every singer-songwriter was at that time. James Taylor and Carole King were more than happy to twist the narrative of what pop song was supposed to be about, but with the knowledge of classical harmony, John made everything feel that much more sophisticated whenever he sang his songs, usually taking cues from his upbringing and making the kind of music James Taylor could have made had he been studying Beethoven.
For any aspiring songwriter, tunes about the open road and life on tour are always a safe bet for a hit, and ‘Tiny Dancer’ fits that bill to a tee. Even though love songs were nothing new, writing about the love between a musician and the seamstress for the group toes the line between being slightly platonic and hoping that one day they could have something more than just friendship.
While John never thought much of the song after it slipped off the charts, it got a second wind the minute it was used in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. Since the whole movie is shown through the eyes of a younger version of Crowe growing into a seasoned journalist, seeing the band work off each other while singing along in the tour bus was what the song was made for in the first place.
Although the piano legend could still count his millions without the legacy of that song, he now acknowledges it as his enduring masterpiece, saying, “I didn’t really pay that much attention to that song until it was brought back by that movie, which I’m forever grateful to Cameron for. I just love that song so much. Of all the songs I’ve written, that’s the best song.”
The real power of ‘Tiny Dancer’ also comes from the fact that it’s the exact opposite of what a song should be. The fact that the song is six minutes and doesn’t get to the proper chorus for almost two full minutes wouldn’t be looked twice at today, but looking at how John constructs it, the whole track feels like a condensed version of a Broadway show packed in at the front of Madman Across the Water.
Although ‘Tiny Dancer’ may not have received as many accolades, some of the best songs normally have the public come around to them after a while. ‘Rocket Man’ may have sold more in its time, but how is anyone supposed to say no to John when singing along with him counting the headlights on the highway?
