D. J. David B. Spins Comics-Tunes: Tiny Tim
Tiptoe through the tulips with Tiny Tim!
I had the pleasure of working with Tiny a few times and he was as weird in person as he appeared on TV. But not in a bad way!
What most people miss is he was really like that. It wasn’t a put-on or a character. He was genuinely interested in the Tin Pan Alley era and old crooners, and did his best to imitate them.
The result was strange, especially in the heyday of rock and/or roll. There was Jimi Hendrix on one end of the spectrum, and Tiny Tim on the other. But here at DJ David B World Headquarters we don’t discriminate against any type of music. It all good!
When I first met Tiny he was dressed in a comic-strip suit. It was an actual tailored suit made of fabric with a comics pattern. What a perfect artist to feature on the Arf-lovers blog!
Although Tim was known for his re-creations of vintage tunes, he made several original records including this rare disco gem, “Comic Strip Man.†Enjoy!
(if no bar appears please click here to listen)
— C. Yoe (in the funny papers)
That first Tiny Tim Album,….”God Bless Tiny Tim” had some great, classic material on it. Produced by,…Richard Perry? (Went on to produce,…Barbara Streisand and the like.) Maybe it was his first production job? He knew how to handle Tiny’s stuff, though. (If ya’ catch my drift.) I remember thinking at the time that there were things on that album that was every bit as good as stuff on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. A neglected classic,…recently re-released in an over priced CD set with his 2nd album. If you are rich,…check it out.
Great post, DJ David B! But, I believe there\’s is a correction needed. That caption under the Comic Strip Man record cover should read: \”WARNING: DON\’T CLICK OR YOU\’LL GET A CLOSER LOOK!\”
That first Tiny Tim magazine cover looks like a Warren magazine that Jim Warren might have brought out to cash in on “Tiny Tim Mania”. Was it?
Yeah, I have two or three of Tiny’s albums. They’re pretty great. It’s too bad the early ones don’t feature comics tunes or I’d have posted a selection.
Yep, that’s Jim Warren at his sleaziest. (And that’s saying something.)
ALL NEW
ALL TRUE
ALL TINY!
…and a giant Tiny poster.
Ya’ gotta’ love that stuff.
I might have extra copies of that Tiny Tim magazine around somewhere. I sold one on eBay, I think. But there could be more in my vast archive, along with the old, weird records.
Here’s a tease of next Tuesday’s tune: Be sure to check back next week when I’ll be presenting an extremely rare rock n’ roll record from the DJ David B. archives that’s all about comic strip characters. Don’t miss it!
All I remembered was the falsetto. Listening to the tremolo on this song, I think Tiny may have influenced early Bryan Ferry.
well done, man