Today's episode is all about Elton John and his popular song, Tiny Dancer. The song came out in the 70s, but it was not very popular. In fact, it wasn't even released as a single in the United Kingdom and in the United States, it went only as high as number 41.

Flash forward to the year 1996 and the wildly popular TV show Friends. Season 3, episode 1 finds Phoebe Buffay talking with Ross and Rachel about super romantic songs. Phoebe, played by Lisa Kudrow, says that she loves the song about Tony Danza. Ross and Rachel, played by David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston, exchange puzzled glance with each other and kindly tell Phoebe (Lisa), "I don't think that's how the song goes."

Suddenly the millions of viewers tuning in are asking t themselves about this Tony Danza song.

Flasch forward four years and Cameron Crowe writes and directs a movie called Almost Famous. One of the most popular, pivotal, and heartwarming scenes involves the members of the band Stillwater singing Tiny Dancer.

This episode of OG'S and WANNABE'S tells you more about the song, how it came to be made, the inspiration (or inspirations) and how It's been honored by other artists since its release 50 plus years ago.

Below you'll find helpful links that will show you videos that I reference in this week's episode as well as some articles pertaining to the song.

As always, follow me on IG at OG'S and WANNABE's or follow me here on Podbean.

And of course, have a musical day!

LINKS TO VIDEO CLIPS

https://youtu.be/UroApoVbKn0?si=tsZ11XmkNjBMCT_D (Elton John performing “Tiny Dancer”)

https://youtu.be/VCfFCFkVSss (“I am a Golden God!” scene from Almost Famous

https://youtu.be/4o2u2RjEFHo (Friends season three, episode one)

LINKS TO ARTICLES / REFERENCES

https://youtu.be/_qW9wqUI4Lg?si=VoRwg2cfxMZ58_vA (Almost Famous “Tiny Dancer” clip)

https://classicsdujour.com/classic-rock-landmarks-tiny-dancer/

https://www.grunge.com/305469/the-true-story-behind-elton-johns-tiny-dancer/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/elton-john-tiny-dancer-1970-interview-804645/

LINKS TO SONGS

Tiny Dancer by Elton John

https://youtu.be/UroApoVbKn0?si=__n10__wzR4gqpOa

Tiny Dancer by Red Hot Chili Peppers

https://youtu.be/AfvIvI8uDiY?si=Wwxh4eBZf_rtv3Y6

Tiny Dancer by Florence and the Machine

https://youtu.be/YcP3yag-xko?si=aaXZTFT2uQT1pM0b

Tiny Dancer by Tim McGraw

https://youtu.be/nBrXjcmNyhg?si=PN1sT0jHhTnbh1EC

https://www.podchaser.com/search/all/q/OG'S%20and%20WANNABE'S

Do you love music? Do you find yourself hearing a song and thinking, "This sounds SO familiar?" Well, chances are you have heard that song before, but in its original form. More often than not, artists today sample music from other artists and give it new life.

In today's episode, listen as I play excerpts* from the hit song "Super Freak," by the OG himself, Rick James. This song was sampled by MC Hammer, Jay Z, Nikki Minaj, and Gucci Mane, among others. I call them the "Wannabes."

Rick James may not have won a Grammy for this hit song, but MC Hammer won two for his song "U Can't Touch This!" Because of that, Rick James also got a Grammy since his was, you guessed it, the original singer, the OG!

Nikki Minaj also won a VMA for best hip hop song and video of the year in 2023 for her version, "Super Freaky Girl."

Gucci Mane and Jay Z also sampled the epic "Super Freak" in their songs "Freaky Girl" and "Kingdom Come."

Keep listening as you'll also hear a "Special Segment!"

*I do not own the copyrights to these songs, this is all for fun and a bit of learning, dare I say, educational!

What do Beethoven, James Brown and Alicia Keys all have in common? Well, you'll just have to listen to this episode to find out! Alicia Keys released "Fallin'" in April 2001. On this inaugural episode of OG'S and WANNABE'S (OGW) we'll talk about whether Alicia Keys sampled Ludwig Van Beethoven's popular song and James Brown's when she came up with "Fallin.'" And we will dig a little deeper into the songs "Moonlight Sonata" (Beethoven) and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (Brown) that Keys (our "Wannabe") may or may not have sampled from those esteemed OG's.