Tiny Tim's real name was Herbert Khaury. He was born in 1932 and died in 1996 after suffering a heart attack onstage at a gala benefit show in Minneapolis. He was in the middle of his umpteenth rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in his familiar falsetto singing voice with simple ukulele accompaniment.
In the early sixties he was part of the Greenwich Village music and arts scene in New York City and was friendly with Bob Dylan who had just blown in from Minnesota. Later he met John Lennon who said of him, "He’s the greatest ever, man!… the greatest fella on earth!”
I first encountered Tiny Tim in the late summer of 1970. I had never heard of him before and there he was on stage at The Isle of Wight Festival singing incongruously and joyfully his most famous song and the vast crowd joined in with him. "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" was first a hit in 1929 after featuring in the film "Gold Diggers of Broadway" but Tiny Tim claimed it as his own...
Truly awful.
ReplyDeleteOkay - Let's hear your version on "A Yorkshire Memoir"!
DeleteI prefer the original version. It must have been an entertaining performance for you?
ReplyDeleteOh yes. That sunny afternoon with 600,001 people. It was perfect.
DeleteI always get a creepy vibe seeing his photo, but he left a mark on pop culture.
ReplyDeleteHe also knew Leonard Cohen.
DeleteNot one of my favourites I have to say.
ReplyDeleteProbably a little too high brow for you JayCee.
DeleteHe was an ice breaker to nowhere but amusing at the time. I didn't know of his death or the circumstances. I am now a little more educated.
ReplyDeleteI like to dish out education.
DeleteSeeing the title of this post in my sidebar, I wouldn't have guessed what it was about in a million years even though I know who Tiny Tim was and his famous song. But I guess I learned about his manner of death which I had not heard about until now.
ReplyDeleteIf you bought yourself a ukulele you could soon learn to sing that song Ed.
DeleteIt's a hard song to listen to in its entirety yet I've cheerfully sung that famous line many times as I've strolled past a tulip batch. It's a song that takes you back...
ReplyDeleteCan you reach the high notes that Tiny Tim reached?
DeleteHe was an odd duck, wasn't he?
ReplyDeleteA typical American in my view.
DeleteStrangely enough, neither the face nor the name or the song are familiar to me. Why did he come to call himself Tiny Tim?
ReplyDeleteHe used to appear in a variety show in which there was a dwarfish performer. Herbert was 6 feet 1 inch so it seemed a good joke to call him Tiny Tim in comparison with the small guy.
DeleteI gotta say, I never understood Tiny Tim's appeal -- musically or otherwise. It is truly bewildering that "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" was any kind of a hit, even at a time when people were taking massive amounts of hallucinogenic drugs.
ReplyDeleteTo me he just seemed like a typical American.
DeleteHey now!
DeleteI always felt bad for him, it felt like everyone was laughing at him. I felt embarrassed for him.
ReplyDeleteI think he was very aware of that. He was a born entertainer.
DeleteMy sister and I saw him at the Tulip Festival in Ottawa, Ontario in about 1983. He did a great show.
DeleteI'd forgotten him and his real name and don't even know what other songs he must have sang over the years.
ReplyDeleteDon't know what to say. Never heard of him and probably glad I haven't but I suppose he would have done well in a cathedral choir.
ReplyDeleteI think I saw his wedding when he got married to Miss Vicky on the Johnny Carson show. He was amusing, I thought, and played a funny character. I wonder what he was really like when he wasn't singing like that?
ReplyDelete