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Tiny Dancer Lyrics

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must have 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 have seen her dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand
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
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170 Meanings

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Cover art for Tiny Dancer lyrics by Elton John

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.

...

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@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:

http://americansongwriter.com/2013/12/behind-song-tiny-dancer-elton-john/

@kangaroofeet4 thank you

Cover art for Tiny Dancer lyrics by Elton John

"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.

Memory
Cover art for Tiny Dancer lyrics by Elton John

Elton John's long time songwriting partner Bernie Taupin wrote this song about his then wife. "Your Song" is also about her.

Cover art for Tiny Dancer lyrics by Elton John

"hold me closer tony danza" anyone else got any mis heard lyrics?

hah i assume you got that from Friends

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@eldermcguigan I didn't before but now I do... Thanks alot..lol

@eldermcguigan haha! Yes

Cover art for Tiny Dancer lyrics by Elton John

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.

Cover art for Tiny Dancer lyrics by Elton John

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.

Cover art for Tiny Dancer lyrics by Elton John

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...

Cover art for Tiny Dancer lyrics by Elton John

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.

of course, 'the words she knows, the tune she hums.....'

it's one of the shining gems of taupin's love songs.

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Cover art for Tiny Dancer lyrics by Elton John

One of the things I love about music, is just when I have forgotten about its power, it creeps up like some exotic spice, and just brings something completely alive. That something can be anything, a movie, a memory, a stifled emotion. And the spice can interact with different things in so many original, creative ways, and it doesn't have to mean anything. I only come to this site when a song hits me like that, and I want to see "the experience" from other perspectives and share my own.

I was watching an episode of Big Love (season 2, episode 4), the song plays at the end of the episode where a girl is running away...

As I listened, the vision I had was of an orphan, who learned to survive on her own. While many others grow up, and look for meaning or a place to belong in life, the orphan was thrust into the world early on and has an uncommon, hard, self found wisdom that she had no choice to find. While others may turn to religion or some other group appropriated means of feeling safe (Jesus freaks out in the street Handing tickets out for God Turning back she just laughs The boulevard is not that bad). It's not a spiteful laugh. She just knows. She sees reality for what it is. This is ironic since others may not find this simple truth until late in life (or never), or after having dreams shattered or experiencing the many disappointments that life can bring. But it's not bad that she was an orphan. She learned to float and thrive upon the magic of life..the hard times also brought out the real beauty and ability "to see"...the same thing many creatives strive for. But in a way, the orphan never sought out to grab that ability, to be famous, or be seen as creative, or have "the experience" that life can bring. It happened as a result of tragedy, and became a quiet saving grace...really, the hardest way to come to the experience of enlightenment or peace.

As Elton John sings the song, I hear him, or any nameless character who is famous and regarded as a superstar, for their ability to articulate such beauty, realizing that the glory to sing the song or be up on stage is not where the real glory is "Piano man he makes his stand In the auditorium" and that this is kind of sarcasm, and humility vs. the experiences that the runaway/orphan had. She is the real super star in the grand experience.

Well, the orphan grows up. She is ok. She is in the background, naturally attracted to the life of creativity of the musician, although maybe not particularly talented in that regard herself. It is the only place that really defines her. She is in the shadows, behind the limelight, in appreciative servitude...and the beauty of this song, is that her love for the experience, is more beautiful to the singer than his attempt to put the experience into words. It is the singer who is regarded as the enlightened, who turns to the orphan for comfort and to feel safe. This is the irony: The orphan, the unwanted, the discarded...becomes the central figure, or a saving angel, in a quiet unnoticed miracle behind the face of the power (the man singing the song). He sees how hard she has really had to work. What makes it better is that she is ultimately with him, but he really feels how high she really is above him. It is truly beautiful.

My Interpretation

After reading other posts, the end of the image for me is that maybe she is not ultimately "with him". For is anyone ever really with you, always? Maybe he was "with her" once, but this sort of union never lasts as long as one would like...and that the relationship as it exists in the realization of her, is really a fond memory and fantasy of how one wishes it always could be. This thought is comforting when alone.

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