Music videos weren’t exactly the biggest thing when Elton John released “Tiny Dancer” back in 1971. But the biggest Young Thug fan among the Order of the British Empire isn’t going to let that stop the classic song from having some visuals. John shared a new music video for the song earlier this week, which shows a bunch of people interacting with the song in the same way that we all do in 2017: Via the radio while in traffic.
In the same way that all tapes, if left in the car, will become a greatest hits collection for Queen, any car ride of longer than an hour is guaranteed to contain at least one encounter with “Dancer” on the FM dial. The science is settled. Even Marilyn Manson — who appears in the clip — agrees.
“Dancer” was merely one of three classic Elton tracks to get new music videos. “Rocket Man” and “Bennie And The Jets” also received fan-made videos via a contest sponsored by the singer called The Cut. The competition was started in part to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of John’s partnership with songwriter Bernie Taupin. It asked creators to make an animated “Rocket Man” video, a live-action “Tiny Dancer” video and a choreographed dance routine for “Benny And The Jets.” Filmmaker Max Weiland got the top slot (and $10,000 toward a future project) with his car-centric clip.
“I’ve been moved and amazed by these re-imaginings of our songs and pretty humbled by the process overall,” John said in a statement about the contest. “The future of creativity is clearly collaborative, fusing art and technology and it’s been fantastic to open up our work to the next generation of creative talent and to share that process with the world.”
Check out the other winners at Elton John’s VEVO.
