# tiny dancer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-dancer/38971 "2000-10-30T20:52:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fatcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fatcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fatcat)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-dancer/38971/1 "2000-10-30T20:52:04Z")
You all know that Elton John song, Tiny Dancer. What the hell is it about? I have engaged in many a drunken debate over this, but nothing is ever settled. In fact, no one I ask seems to have any clue. Please help! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-dancer/38971/2 "2000-10-30T20:55:48Z")
THAT’s it??? I was SURE it was “Hold me closer, Tony Danza” and it was a reference to, well, you know … (Apologies to Ben Stein) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2000, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-dancer/38971/3 "2000-10-30T21:09:05Z")
Just asking, buuuuttt… Have you ever had any of your nefarious schemes thwarted by 2 cartoon chipmunks, 2 mice (1 boy, aussie; 1 girl, blond/inventive) & oh yeah, a small fly? Say, during the Disney Afternoon? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Timothy\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Timothy\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timothy_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-dancer/38971/4 "2000-10-31T04:39:40Z")
What don’t you get about that song? I thought it was obvious: a man with his band are on the road and he has a relationship with a woman who sort-of takes care of everybody in her way. Possibly she was a dancer, but perhaps that’s just the way he sees her. Where’s the confusing part? ---
**Author:** ![KevInVegas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@KevInVegas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KevInVegas)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-dancer/38971/5 "2000-10-31T07:18:20Z")
I think I read somewhere that the Tiny Dancer is actually the costumer on a road trip. I don’t know, but I’d guess it was Bernie who wrote that one, but that’s just a shot in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-dancer/38971/6 "2000-10-31T11:20:16Z")
I should probably go listen to the song before i post this considering i havent heard it in about a decade but…when i was a kid i always thought that it was the ‘tiny dancer’ that can be found inside old jewelry boxes (they dance and play music when you open them). ---
**Author:** ![Asmodeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@Asmodeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asmodeus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-dancer/38971/7 "2000-10-31T14:46:11Z")
Taupin wrote all the lyrics to Eltons early work. His best work IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-dancer/38971/8 "2000-10-31T17:14:26Z")
A friend of mine once told me that the ‘Tiny Dancer’ was a reference to David Bowie’s wife at the time Elton John & Bernie Taupin wrote the song. Why her, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-dancer/38971/9 "2000-10-31T17:40:23Z")
I concur with the sentiment that Elton’s best work was his early stuff. Recently, while listening to _Goodbye Yellow Brick Road_ I got to reading the lyrics in the liner … and, by Cecil, I was in for a shock. Is the “Love Lies Bleeding” part of “Funeral for a Friend/Loves Lies Bleeding” about a murder? I don’t have the lyrics handy, but it sure seems like the narrator killed his friend, and is writing about the subsequent funeral. So much for it being an elegy. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-dancer/38971/10 "2000-10-31T20:23:45Z")
Again, i havent heard ‘Love lies bleeding’ in years upon years but i seem to remember the lyrics being ‘…love lies bleeding in my hands/i cant help to think of you with another man…’. Thats the only line i even remember from the whole song (the instrumental part was much better.) But just line line tells me that its probably about a break up rather than a murder. BTW - come to think of it maybe the line is ‘i cant stand to think of you with another man’ you get the idea though 😛