If we were to tell you that one of Elton John's absolutely most iconic, timeless tracks of all time, Tiny Dancer, has a music video from 2017, would you believe us? Well, you should, because why would we lie.
Turns out there wasn't really a music video for Tiny Dancer, perhaps on account of it having been made in the early 70s. It was a different time.
Granted, there have been live versions – and this wonderful insight into a very young Elton John picking out "just one" from a pile of lyrics and notes of songs he'd been writing. "This one called Tiny Dancer" he then adds, is about "Bernie's girlfriend, [...] and that was the one I fancied writing".
He goes on to just so casually perform and talk through the songwriting process "see it had to be slow here you see, because it says 'ballerina' there", "see, it changes the tempo now"... and he ends by explaining "it's the way you have to build it" as if he was explaining something as basic as the minor chord and not how to write one of the biggest songs of his career. His career as the Top 5 best-selling record artist in the world. Easy. Ehh.
Presumably, because Tiny Dancer was never released as a single and its success was more gradual, there was just never a video for it – although it does exist in more 'formal' live versions than the one where he is talking over it.
And if you're not born like, before 1960 – so you don't remember Tiny Dancer's slow burn up the charts and into all of our souls and it has just always been a song you've heard in your dad's car as a kid, or at weddings, in the background IRL or maybe even in movies... especially after the song's second wind after its prominent feature in the much loved Almost Famous bus scene... maybe you always just assumed that of course there was a music video for Tiny Dancer.
But there never was – perhaps because MTV hadn't been invented yet.
To celebrate his 50-year songwriting partnership with Bernie (Taupin, whose girlfriend Tiny Dancer is about), Elton John in collaboration asked for independent filmmakers to enter into a competition for getting to produce the video.
The result is a stunning, modern perspective into the everyday life of LA residents that somehow makes the song resonate today while also recognising its legacy. Honestly, if you give yourself a few minutes to watch with an open mind – I bet you'll find the result stunning and touching. And if you don't want to take my word for it, even the normally chaotic (and cruel even) YouTube comments absolutely cement this rush of emotion while watching.
I lived in L.A. for nine years, and moved with my family to the Sacramento area last December. This video brings back so many memories, and I see myself back there, the place where I bought my first car, earned my PhD, got married, lost a baby, and watched another one be born. It didn't really hit me until I saw this video just how much I miss it, and how much this big, beautiful, crazy, wonderful city full of freaks and weirdos never made me feel unwelcome. I was born and raised in Missouri, but L.A. will always be my home.– Matt Luckett (on YouTube)
