Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must've seen her dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand
Jesus freaks out in the street
Handing tickets out for God
Turning back, she just laughs
The boulevard is not that bad
Piano man, he makes his stand
In the auditorium
Looking on, she sings the songs
The words she knows, the tune she hums
But oh, how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you, and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must've seen her dancing in the sand
Now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand
Oh, how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you, and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must've seen her dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand
Jesus freaks out in the street
Handing tickets out for God
Turning back, she just laughs
The boulevard is not that bad
Piano man, he makes his stand
In the auditorium
Looking on, she sings the songs
The words she knows, the tune she hums
But oh, how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you, and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must've seen her dancing in the sand
Now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand
Oh, how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you, and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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Sorry, but you guys are all wrong. Bernie writes the lyrics and Elton writes the melodies. Bernie wrote this song about his wife, Maxine. She was a roadie like Penny Lane in "Almost Famous". That's why the song was so fitting for that movie.
I'm with Kangaroofeet4. Bernie met Maxine on Elton's (and Bernie's) first trip to the US just before is landmark engagement at the famous Troubadour on Sunset Strip. On their first date they went to the beach with another girl (a date for Elton) while Elton sulked back at hotel room, hence the reference to dancing in the sand. Bernie did go on to marry he rather quickly and she was rather like a roadie as KF4 points out. If memory serves she was also a trained ballerina but never danced anywhere of note and the marriage was over rather quickly.<br /> <br /> BTW - Elton's appearance at the Troubadour brought down the house and got him lots of support from the well connected people in the room that night. Although "Border Song" and "Your Song" were already successes, that appearance put Elton John on the Pop map in the US to stay.
@kangaroofeet4 I honestly thought the same for a long time. But I just did a recent search about it and it turns out we're all wrong. It's not about Maxine! It's actually not about one particular woman, but a type of woman. It's about the women of L.A. Here, read for yourself:<br /> <br /> americansongwriter.com/2013/12/behind-song-tiny-dancer-elton-john/
@kangaroofeet4 thank you<br />
@kangaroofeet4 thank you<br />
@kangaroofeet4 You are right about their job descriptions ...but Penny Lane was not a roadie lol! She was a groupie...And Maxine worked as Eltons wardrobe mistress...she was NOT a groupie....or a roadie....
"Tiny Dancer" is a sexual fantasy. The narrator loves TD, but she is not his girlfriend or wife, as the narrator refers to the music man and the piano man in 3rd person, not 1st person. The narrator loves TD for two reasons: first, he loves her because she is a "ballerina," not literally, but metaphorically in the sense that she loves life and lives naturally and effortlessly, with no trace of awkwardness or worry. second, he loves her because she is a pagan, not burdened by the onerous demands of Jesus freaks or other religious zealots. The narrator's love for TD is more intense due to the fact that he feels inferior to her and therefore cannot really possess her (probably the narrator is awkward, worried, and burdened by life and religion). Thus the only way to possess TD is through fantasy. "And now she's in me, always with me" means that he has grabbed hold of her spirit, but not her body. When the narrator says, "but oh how it feels so real, lying here with no one near, only you," the implication is that it is not real, and she is not really lying there. TD is the narrator's ideal, but their relationship in consummated in masturbation.
Be careful to explain meanings of songs by reference to real life events. Journalism is the means of communicating real life events whereas art is the means of communicating the artist's own reality according to his values. A real life event may trigger the making of art, but that does not mean the event is the art itself, far from it. The art is contained in the actual words, nothing more and nothing less.
@mark2marie Nonsense. Its about Bernies gf. Theres a video of Elton playing this in an interview for the very first time in front of anyone. He says "this is about Bernies GIRLFRIEND."
This song will always get me. I honestly have no idea what it's actually about. I don't know about the reason it was written or the message behind the lyrics. AllI know is that this song will always mean the world to me.
I'm a dancer. I am a dreamer, a writer, a learner. I am going to college and studying, trying hard to make a future for myself. My boyfriend, on the other hand, sings and plays guitar. He tries hard to make a living off of his music, him and the band. Everyone says that I'm too good for him, because I have so much to offer and so much ahead of me, and he's just some boy that could never make it to the college and work, adult world. We stopped caring, though. We stopped caring about what people had to say. This song always reminds me of one night...
It was after my dance recital, he picked me up and we were driving home (It was a pretty long ride) at night, down the highway. We were completely silent, because I was so exhausted. He just stared at me like he couldn't be any prouder. We're both a little bit... well, completely obsessed with "oldies" music. This song came on the radio, and we just started singing it with the top down, riding down the highway. People looked at us like we were insane, but that didn't really matter. He would sing most of it, and then we'd both scream the chorus. It was perfect.
Elton John's long time songwriting partner Bernie Taupin wrote this song about his then wife. "Your Song" is also about her.
"hold me closer tony danza" anyone else got any mis heard lyrics?
hah i assume you got that from Friends
@eldermcguigan I didn't before but now I do... Thanks alot..lol
@eldermcguigan haha! Yes
@eldermcguigan I always thought it was "Handing tickets out for GONG" and wondered about it (that is actually why I looked up this site).
Guess you didn't bother to read our terms? Huh... This site is a community... People come and contribute, it's not our job to give you the meanings... Also, we had some Database glitch some months ago and 6k comments got deleted... This lyric might have had some comments to it. Sorry.
<b>S</b>ong<b>M</b>eanings Mod.
wow. what a wonderful song. i just love the part "But oh how it feels so real Lying here with no one near Only you and you can hear me When I say softly, slowly" elton john's melodies are so amazing. i'm learning how to play piano. i would love to be able to write songs like this.
okay....so i didn't really read any of these comments, so i might just be repeating someone. but on the first page, some "toast" guy says that it's about a car accident (referencing the part about "jesus freaks out in the street handing tickets out for god). i think that part is a complete satire of religion/christianity in general. it's people buying god, selling god...i don't think that god is a significant part of this song. i think he's just making the point that people are radically involved in what they believe. i guess i just hear this song and don't take any of it literally. i mean...the "tiny dancer" probably isn't really a dancer. it's just this girl....he loves her. maybe not even loves her. he just knows he needs to be near her for now. she has grace. she has beauty. this is my second favorite song of all time. i think it captures love. maybe not love when it is most pure, but definitely when it is the most free. life without an agenda.
this song also has has a special meaning with me because my boyfriend is a pianist and when i hear this song, i am reminded of him by the line, "piano man, he makes a stand in the auditorium." he will change the world one day. i know it.
@meena_adore The Jesus freaks line is about something you would actually see in LA around the early 1970's. The hippie times of the 1960's were ending and some young people were searching for something a bit more meaningful than sex drugs and rock and roll. The hippies had sometimes called themselves freaks, so Jesus freaks were those who had been "saved", turned to religion. Walking along LA streets you would sometimes be approached by a young person handing out paper tickets that were the same size as a show or concert ticket, but advertised a religious meeting for the purpose of recruiting new believers.
FYI: The lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin, John's writing partner. They were inspired by Taupin's first trip to America. John and Taupin are from England, and this was the first album they wrote after spending time in the US. The "Blue jean baby, LA Lady, seamstress for the band" is Maxine Feibelmann, Bernie Taupin's girlfriend. She traveled with the band on their early tours, often sewing together the costumes and fixing their clothes. She and Taupin were wed in 1971. This album was much more heavily-produced than Elton's first 4. It was one of his first songs with a lush string section arranged by Paul Buckmaster, who arranged the stings on many of Elton's albums as well as songs by The Rolling Stones, Train, and Leonard Cohen. Ron Cornelius, who played guitar on Cohen's album Songs Of Love And Hate, told us: "Buckmaster is a wonderful string arranger, he's just one of these guys who can make an orchestra talk. In other words, if the strings aren't saying something, it ain't on the record." Rick Wakeman, who later joined the group Yes. This was featured in the 2000 movie Almost Famous. It is used in a scene where the band is mad at each other, but remembers why they love music when they all start singing this on their tour bus. When Tony Danza hosted the ESPY Awards on ESPN, Chris Berman gave him the nickname Tony "Tiny" Danza. He hated it. On the show, he claimed he wanted the nickname Tony "Extrava" Danza. Elton performed this as a duet with Tim McGraw to open the 2002 American Music Awards. McGraw was named Favorite Male Country Artist, but left before he could accept the award.
thank you for saving me from typing all of your accuracies. you dont' mention that the 'piano man' who 'makes a stand in the auditorium' is elton himself, with taupin and gf in attendance. <br /> <br /> of course, 'the words she knows, the tune she hums.....' <br /> <br /> it's one of the shining gems of taupin's love songs.
It's actually not about one particular woman, but a type of woman. It's about the women of L.A. back in that time period. Bernie Taupin explains it all in an interview. Here, read for yourself:
americansongwriter.com/2013/12/behind-song-tiny-dancer-elton-john/
@Billy Pilgrim, unstuck in time Its about Maxine, Bernies gf.