Count the headlights on the highway

Continuing my trip up the list of the most streamed songs for each year.  

1972 : Tiny Dancer - Elton John

Well, this is an odd one and no mistake.  I don't mind this song at all but there's a good argument it's not even the best song Elton did this year (I much prefer "Rocket Man") and it has never been released as a single in the UK - so how do we find ourselves here?  Well - let's investigate...

It's a surprisingly long track - at 6:12, it's our longest so far and is longer than a famously long track which is coming up later in the 70s.  It's main component is Elton singing whilst tickling his ivories, but there's quite a bit more to it than I remember.  Wikipedia tells us that BJ Cole provided pedal steel guitar - he's been the go-to guy over the years for that kinda twang for a wide variety of acts including Jerry Lee Lewis, T Rex, Olivia Newton-John, Shakin' Stevens, Deacon Blue, The Orb, The Selecter, Pet Shop Boys, Bjork, Groove Armada, R.E.M., Liam Gallagher and black midi - which is QUITE the mix.  There's also more people singing on there than I remember - there are ten people listed on backing vocals, including two members of Brotherhood Of Man.

It also tells us that Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics about Maxine Feibelman, who was one of Elton's costume department and went on to become Bernie's wife (and then ex-wife).  It was never released as a single over here because of its length - it was released in the US, where it didn't do particularly well but it was responsible for him breaking through in Canada.  All of which doesn't really explain how come it's been certified double platinum here and triple platinum in the US, with combined "sales" of over 4 million (it was only certified gold here in 2018).

Wikipedia suggests some possible reasons for its slow burn to popularity, none of which quite sound to be enough to explain it - it features prominently in Almost Famous (which came out in 2000), there was a DJ Ironik/Chipmunk remix got to #3 in 2009, it was discussed in a Friends episode, it had an official video released in 2019 to celebrate his & Bernie's 50th anniversary of working together and, just last year, he used it to reintroduce Britney to the world.  I also suspect that Ed Sheeran mentioning it in "Castle On The Hill" in 2017 can't have done it any harm - it's probably all a bit of a drip feed into it taking the year, but it still doesn't seem like an obvious winner.  What clearly hasn't made it popular is the volume of cover versions - Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ben Folds, Florence & The Machine and Tom Odell are the only names I recognise from my usual reliable source.

So - what was the competition like in 1972?  Unless you know it, you'd NEVER guess the best selling single in the UK - "Amazing Grace" by The Pipes & Drums & the Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (it was #1 for NINE weeks!).  And the second best selling was "Mouldy Old Dough" by Lieutenant Pigeon - both shifted way more copies than you might expect.  Other songs suggested by the UK charts are T Rex's "Telegram Sam", "Metal Guru" and "Children Of The Revolution" (a pretty good year for them), Donny Osmond's "Puppy Love", Alice Cooper's "Schools Out" (I bet that still gets quite a few streams), David Bowie's "Starman" (spoiler alert - Bowie wins a single year on the list) and Sweet's "Little Willy" and "Wig Wam Bam" (a bonkers pair of tracks!) - all fine tracks but very much of their time, which maybe suggests why Elton has carried it.  From the US charts, we have a selection showing slightly more longevity - Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", Don McLean's "American Pie", Nilsson's "Without You", Bill Withers's "Lean On Me", Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" and Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold".

But, Elton has seen them all off over the years - I can't say I completely understand it, but I'm happy enough with the situation, although I still prefer "Rocket Man" myself.

1971 - I'm not convinced many people stream this
1973 - A fine track from an all-round good egg