Wednesday, April 20, 2005

"Tiny Dancer"

This song has undergone a bit of a renaissance in recent years, perhaps due to its climactic "appearance" in the film "Almost Famous", but almost certainly because millions of music fans have realised that, before he dove head-first into high camp and Liberace-like excess, Elton John really could pen a fantastic tune. He's not quite a singer-songwriter, given that the lyrics were almost always by Bernie Taupin, but he had a gift for finding the killer hook or the aching chorus. And lyrically, too, here's an aching chorus for you: "Hold me closer tiny dancer/Count the headlights on the highway/Lay me down on sheets of linen/You had a busy day today". Wonderful. Like Billy Joel, Elton John has/had a knack for writing a chorus so high and wide you could drive an 18-wheeler through it. There's an almost-hippy air to this song, as if he's chronicling something he remembers from a decade or so earlier, but at heart it's a song about the music business, touring, groupies. Which is probably why it was a shoo-in for the "Almost Famous" soundtrack.

2 comments:

Nicolette said...

I think there is a whole generation that didn't know Elton John every really had musical chops, and was more than crazy outfits.

Between *Almost Famous* and *Moulin Rouge* (Your Song), I think he was given a chance to redeem himself - but I think he's busy fighting with Taiwan or dating Eminem. (Both?)

Anyhow, the geeky part of me likes some of *The Lion King* stuff, too!

Anonymous said...

At risk of sounding utterly blasphemous, I can no longer listen to this song without hearing the take on it supplied by the "Friends" character Phoebe, who thought it was:

"Hold me closer, Tony Danza.."

Heee