"Tiny Dancer" by Elton John

The introduction for "Tiny Dancer" uses the dominant triad with the seventh plus the tonic triad to have a nice little piano riff for the beginning. After the riff is played a second time, the first verse of the song begins. The first verse is only Elton on piano and singing until the very end when a sort of slide guitar comes in. During a lot of the verse you can here the V-I-V-I chord progression that was used in the introduction. The melody definitly makes use of some non-chord tones, but most of them sound passing and flow very smoothly with the chord progressions. At the end of the first verse the percussion and bass join in with the bass being very steady, staying on one note for the most part aside from some moves to V or little riffs thrown in to the mix. At some point during the second verse, violins came in, but they're very subtle. The chord progressions in the second verse are definitly the same as the first, but this verse has the whole band playing together plus some background vocals instead of just the piano, as in the first verse. The next couple of phrases seem like a little introduction to the chorus and use some chords that were not used in the verses. The chorus itself might use a I-V-VI-V of some kind and it repeats to really get the full sound of the band. After this there is a little instrumental break before going back to the piano introduction from the beginning of the song. This gives a perfect opportunity for the first verse to repeat, along with the introduction to the chorus and the chorus. The end repeats the chorus one last time before the song begins to wrap up with song background singers, some violin, the piano, and a definite V-I at the end for an authentic candence.
Every time that I hear this song it makes me think of the movie "Almost Famous" with Kate Hudson. The made up band Stillwater has just had a huge arguement and their lead guitarist goes off and parties with some locals. But after he has finally returned, they get back on their tour bus and this song comes on. Hudson begins to sing and eventually everyone on the bus joins in. The song talks about life on the road, very fitting for the movie. I enjoy this song because of that image it brings to mind and for other reasons. I like how the beginning is just John on piano and vocals but then the band joins in to make it gain a more rockin feel. I really like the use of the slide guitar, violins, and the one noticeable lead guitar lick near the end of the song. This song is fun to sing along with, especially to/with your pals and I really like the lyrics(by Berney Taupin? however you spell his name). "Pirate smile," "ballerina dancin in the sand," and "jesus freaks" are great images that are equally hard to forget.