Tiny Tim: The Man Behind The Ukulele

[Travelin' Man]

Tiny Tim was about as novel as novelty gets. Believe it or not, I actually met the man when I was a kid. I don't know for certain what year it was, but it was during the height of his popularity (had to be '69 or '70) and not too long after he'd appeared on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. My father was one of the Laugh-In faithful so we watched it every week without exception (do you remember when families used to gather around the television?).

Tiny made an appearance at a local record store (WTF is a record store?!?) that was part of a now defunct (de-FUNK-ed) local chain called Harmony House. My dad asked my sister and I if we wanted to go and meet him and since he was someone that we'd seen on TV, we were more than happy to go. Tiny was sitting at a large desk just inside the entrance to the store and as I remember him, he was warm, friendly and very nice to my sister and I. I liked him immediately. Thus was my first celebrity encounter.

My second reason for remembering Tiny wasn't so warm. He died on my 33rd birthday. That's not to say that it made of mess of the day, but it caused me to remember the day of his death. Tiny was weird, but he was a cool kinda weird. I can still see him sitting at that desk inside of Harmony House, smiling from ear to ear and reaching his hand out to me.

What a nice guy.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Aww that's such a nice story Travlin' Man. It's always cool to meet someone who is some sort of famous and it's even cooler when they're super nice.

 

[METALPRIEST]

Cool story there TM!!

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

I put up one of my favorite Tiny Tim songs on Youtube. This is from late in Tiny's career and I look at it as his equivalent of Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt"...



Also, for the record, this is my favorite rendition of this song.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Anyone who thinks Tiny Tim can't rock should listen to this rendition of a classic...

 

[LG]

^^I never took Tiny Time seriously as a musician, I just always think of "Tip Toe Through The Tulips" as the beginning, middle and end of his career...

I don't mind th 2nd last vid you posted Cosmic, surprised me.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Well Tiny was never really meant to be taken all that seriously. He just happened to be a uniquely talented musician who just so happened to work from behind a mask of novelty.

Glad you listened and even enjoyed a little bit of something in here LG.

 

[LG]

I remember watching him on Ed Sullivan Cosmic,,,that was a Long time before you were even born.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

I remember watching him on Ed Sullivan Cosmic,,,that was a Long time before you were even born.

Well we could say that about most of the stuff around these parts.

 

[LG]

Helps me keep things in perspective, and reminds me I've been around for a while now...