Elton John’s Tiny Dancer music video: Its story and meaning

By Alvin Alexander. Last updated: April 19, 2024

Yesterday I watched the very emotional Elton John “Tiny Dancer” music video, and afterwards I wanted to do some research on how the music video was created, the story behind it, and what its meaning is. To that end, here’s a summary of what I found out about the “Tiny Dancer” music video.

The story and meaning of the Tiny Dancer song

The short story behind the Tiny Dancer song goes like this:

Tiny Dancer was written by Bernie Taupin and performed by Elton John.
Mr. Taupin wrote the song, and has said that it is related to he and Elton John coming to America in 1970, specifically California and Los Angeles:
- “We came to California in the fall of 1970 and it seemed like sunshine just radiated from the populace. I guess I was trying to capture the spirit of that time, encapsulated by the women we met, especially at the clothes stores and restaurants and bars all up and down the Sunset Strip. They were these free spirits, sexy, all hip-huggers and lacy blouses, very ethereal the way they moved.”
Elton John, when talking to Mr. Taupin, stated, “It sums up the L.A. you [Bernie] were writing about ... but it wasn’t about the glamorous side.”

The story and meaning of the Tiny Dancer music video

The short story behind the Tiny Dancer music video goes like this:

In 2016, Elton John — in combination with YouTube, AKQA, and Pulse Films — held a competition, asking “undiscovered filmmakers” to create original music videos for three of his songs:
- Tiny Dancer
- Benny and the Jets
- Rocket Man
The winner of the Tiny Dancer music video competition was Max Weiland. Mr. Weiland states:
- “For me Tiny Dancer is a classic driving song and Los Angeles is a driving town. The city’s identity is in its highways, boulevards, cars and people. This video is a bittersweet love letter to the phenomenon of the city, and an attempt to capture its dynamic, elusive energy. We see L.A. through the eyes of its people, their disparate lives unified momentarily as they listen to Tiny Dancer on their radios. It is their shared soliloquy. It connects their stories as we feel their struggle and their joy.”
- The video shows the stories of 12 people who are going through the highs and lows of life: happy, sad, dancing, and struggling.

I’m a little short on time today, so I’ll add more details to this story later, but for now, I hope this helps to explain the story behind the Tiny Dancer video.

Who is the Tiny Dancer song/video about?

As you can see from those quotes, the song is about the women of L.A. that Mr. Taupin and Mr. John saw when they came there, but it’s also in part about Mr. Taupin’s wife. His wife is quoted as saying:

Mr. Taupin stated in a 1973 interview with Rolling Stone that the song was about his wife.
“I knew [the song] was about me. I had been into ballet as a little girl and sewed patches on Elton’s jackets and jeans,” referring to the song’s description of a “seamstress for the band.”

Elton John Tiny Dancer quotes

Here are the quotes I found from Elton John about Tiny Dancer and this video:

“It sums up the L.A. you [Bernie] were writing about ... but it wasn’t about the glamorous side.”
"This one called Tiny Dancer” ... it’s about ...“Bernie's girlfriend, and that was the one I fancied writing."

Bernie Taupin Tiny Dancer quotes

Here are the quotes I found from Bernie Taupin about Tiny Dancer and this video:

“We came to California in the fall of 1970 and it seemed like sunshine just radiated from the populace. I guess I was trying to capture the spirit of that time, encapsulated by the women we met, especially at the clothes stores and restaurants and bars all up and down the Sunset Strip. They were these free spirits, sexy, all hip-huggers and lacy blouses, very ethereal the way they moved.”
“They were just so different from what I’d been used to in England. They had this thing about embroidering your clothes. They wanted to sew patches on your jeans. They mothered you and slept with you. It was the perfect Oedipal complex.”
“Why ‘Tiny Dancer’? Well, I guess that’s just poetic license. It just sounds better than ‘small dancer’ or little dancer.’”

The Tiny Dancer music video

Here’s what I know about the Tiny Dancer music video:

It was created in response to Elton John’s competition.
The competition was held at least in part to celebrate Mr. John’s friendship and songwriting partnership with Mr. Taupin.
The winning video was created by Max Weiland.
Mr. Weiland states, “For me Tiny Dancer is a classic driving song and Los Angeles is a driving town. The city’s identity is in its highways, boulevards, cars and people. This video is a bittersweet love letter to the phenomenon of the city, and an attempt to capture its dynamic, elusive energy. We see L.A. through the eyes of its people, their disparate lives unified momentarily as they listen to Tiny Dancer on their radios. It is their shared soliloquy. It connects their stories as we feel their struggle and their joy.”

Tiny Dancer music videos

In a related note, here are links to several different Tiny Dancer music videos on YouTube:

References

I’ll add more to this page over time, but for now, here are the references I used in researching and writing this article on the Tiny Dancer music video:

If you’re interested in Elton John and Bernie Taupin, I also wrote about the meaning of the Elton John song Levon, and the name Alvin Tostog.

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