# How many young people have ever heard Tiny Tim singing "Tiptoe Through The Tulips"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242 "2005-04-26T20:39:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![boofuu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@boofuu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boofuu)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/21 "2005-04-27T01:55:39Z")
I am 27 and have seen him on Laugh-In, and marriage to Miss Vicky. (Not at the time, of course). My daddy used to sing _Tulips_ in this awful falsetto to tease me as a kid. He still traipses around the house singing. It is kind of… weird. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/22 "2005-04-27T02:17:45Z")
I’m 48 and remember watching Miss Vickie and Tiny Tim tie the knot on the Tonight Show. Campy awfulness. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/23 "2005-04-27T02:17:47Z")
I’m 28. Like many people my age, I watched a lot of Nick At Night as a preteen/young teen. Laugh-In was one of the staples of the line up, so I’ve seen him sing it several times. Now ask how many people have heard “Santa Claus Has Got The AIDS This Year”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Amazingrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8edcca/32.png) [@Amazingrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazingrace)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/24 "2005-04-27T03:43:07Z")
I’m 20, and I saw it played on TV after Tiny Tim died. Sheesh. What a creepy song. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/25 "2005-04-27T03:45:39Z")
1. I’ve heard several Tiny Tim songs, but, strangely, not “Tip Toe Through The Tulips”. ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/26 "2005-04-27T07:28:56Z")
24, and own all of Tiny Tim’s albums on vinyl. “On the old front porch,” which comes after Tiptoe on the first record, is _amazing_. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/27 "2005-04-27T11:17:30Z")
I’m 31, and I saw him sing it live, in person, while he was touring with a circus that came to my hometown. My mom loves odd little circuses. She even got his autograph, because he looked so sad, standing there in the ring all alone with no one making eye contact. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/28 "2005-04-27T12:31:35Z")
Saw him on his original Laugh-in appearance. And the song is a pretty good one overall. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/29 "2005-04-27T13:23:32Z")
> [@Freejooky](#): > > 24, and own all of Tiny Tim’s albums on vinyl. “On the old front porch,” which comes after Tiptoe on the first record, is _amazing_. Oh, I envy you! The _only_ two things Tiny and I had in common were huge noses and a love of pop music from the 1910s and '20s. What are some of the selections he sings? (I was Tiny Time for Halloween in seventh grade—1970—and my imitation was uncanny) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/30 "2005-04-27T13:24:36Z")
“Tiny Time?” Oy. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/31 "2005-04-27T14:14:59Z")
Heard it and saw it on television several times. 46. And it is one of my guilty pleasures. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/32 "2005-04-27T14:38:27Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > When I was a kid (I’m 36 now), we had one of those K-Tel albums (yes, on vinyl) of goofy novelty songs, and TT’s TTTT was on there. Did that also have “(Kooky, Kooky) Lend Me Your Comb,” “Transfusion,” “Rubber Ducky” and “My Boomerang Won’t Come Back”? If so I have the same album. Haven’t listened to it in years; I don’t have a turntable any more. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/33 "2005-04-27T14:58:27Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Did that also have “(Kooky, Kooky) Lend Me Your Comb” . . . I have the original 45 of “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb.” The flip-side is the Edd “Kookie” Byrnes version of “You’re the Top”— “You’re the top, you’re a jet that I burn, You’re the top, you’re a Presley sideburn . . .” Un_bear_able. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/34 "2005-04-27T15:11:08Z")
It’s just too damned bad he died without doing an album of **Prince** covers. Arranged for ukulele, of course. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/35 "2005-04-27T16:39:16Z")
Although not singing _Tiptoe_, I’m sure some kids have heard Tiny Tim if they spend their days with a lovable yellow waterlogged fella. Herb Scannell, then-president of Nickelodeon, knew that he had a hit on his hands when he saw a scene in the first episode in which SpongeBob Squarepants makes hamburgers while Tiny Tim sings _Living in the Sunlight, Loving in the Moonlight_. ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/36 "2005-04-27T17:14:50Z")
I’ve seen the footage more than a few times. I caught him in concert (for the opening act, Brave Combo) and by the end of the night I wanted nothing more than to bring him grievous harm. He died within a year, but I’m fairly certain that I had nothing to do with it. Downside is that BC now uses a local band to open for them that makes one understand why World Music should never be inflicted upon anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/37 "2005-04-27T17:33:28Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Me, too, and me, too. > > I also know where he got it: a few years ago I was watching a 1930s movie with Billie Burke (you remember, Glinda from _The Wizard of Oz_? Keep that voice in mind). Billie sat down at a piano and started trilling, “_ooooh_, tip-toe by the window, by the window, that is where _I’ll_ be . . .” > > Light bulb goes on over head–that’s where he got it! He was doing a Billie Burke imitation! ## The voice he got from Billie Burke. The ukulele he got from Nick Lucas. BTW, on his first album Tiny Tim included “Stay Down Here Where You Belong.” That’s the reason I bought it. It’s an anti-war song written by…written by…Irving Berlin. Berlin came to hate the song. Especially since Groucho would sing it a parties when Berlin would show up. Anyhoo, on _his_ version of “Stay Down Here…” Tiny Tim doesn’t use his falsetto. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/38 "2005-04-27T17:48:07Z")
I’m at work now, and don’t have access to the database of my record collection. But I have a Tiny Tim single, the B-side of which is called “The Other Side”. It’s part stunning, part pointless and annoying, but never less than entertaining - and not only for the “WTF?!” factor. He uses his “man” voice on this track for the verses, [he talks about being a fish. Yes, a fish.] Then the instrumentation and melody change, and he does his Tiny Tim schtick _(“the ice caps are melting, oh-oh-oh-oh, all the world is drowning to wash away the sin”)_. It’s a brilliant production and an interesting song. It should have been the A-side, but I can’t remember what the A-side was called. I must have played it and found it less interesting. If anyone in this thread has any TT albums, does this song appear in stereo on any of them? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/39 "2005-04-27T18:07:31Z")
You must try to find Harry Stein’s _Tiny Tim: An Unauthorized Biography_ (Playboy Press, 1976), the only bio of Mr. Tim. I used to think that he was a great, po-mo showman, and I’d love to meet him and discuss the old songs. Then I read this book and realized he was frighteningly insane, and if I ever met him, I would run like the wind. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242/40 "2005-04-27T18:12:32Z")
One of the more disturbing things I’ve ever seen was when Tiny appeared on the Carson show in (I think) 1979. For his second song, he sang Rod Stewart’s “Do You Think I’m Sexy”, and did an _unannounced striptease._ :eek: Much better was when he met John Wayne on ‘Laugh-In’. They shook hands, and Wayne cried out as if in pain, “Pleased to meet you Mr. **Tim!** ”, and fell to his knees as if Tiny was crushing his hand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-young-people-have-ever-heard-tiny-tim-singing-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/301242.md?page=3)