Tiny Dancer, Elton John - Song of the Week
This is part of a weekly series where I share a song that I connected with in the past week. Send song suggestions to songoftheweek@colincwilliams.com. I post every Monday so you can enjoy the song over the course of the week.
I first heard Tiny Dancer, by Elton John, was in my grade 12 English class while watching the film Almost Famous. Beyond just being a good song, its use in the movie was perfect.
Almost Famous is a fictional story, set in the 1970’s, about a young journalist trying to document the new and upcoming rock band Stillwater for Rolling Stone. he leaves home to follow the band, finding himself along the way. The Tiny Dancer scene happens when the group has hit rock bottom.
Bernie Taupin wrote Tiny Dancer “to capture the free spirits of the women he met in California on his first visit to America in 1970”. In Almost Famous, that lighthearted tone brings the group out of their dreary mood, letting them have a fresh perspective on the situation. It’s a pivotal moment in the story, and is portrayed perfectly along with Tiny Dancer. As a viewer, I immediately connected with the scene and the song, remembering it ever since.
I’ve embedded the full scene from Almost Famous below, however Tiny Dancer starts at 1:23.
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