GOD BLESS TINY TIM @ 55

 

Marking its 55th anniversary this month is the debut LP from American songbook walking encyclopedia, Tiny Tim, with God Bless Tiny Tim being released in April of 1968. Along with the single, Tiptoe Through the Tulips, and a few critical TV appearances on Laugh In and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, it would help propel this eccentric outsider artist to novelty act national stardom.

Herbert Butros Khaury was a native New Yorker born to a Jewish mother and Catholic father. Coming from a deeply religious background, he would carry his theological interests throughout his life, but it was music which was his ultimate passion, an obsession which started as a child after his father bought him a phonograph player and 78-RPM record of "Beautiful Ohio" by Henry Burr, which he played for hours on end. This kicked off his collecting of recordings and photographs of sheet music found in libraries, a hobby he continued throughout his life. His interest was predominantly early 20th century popular music, particularly from the period from 1900 to the 1930s. As he delved into this treasure-trove of Americana song craft, he became something of an expert musicologist, despite having dropped out of high school after failing several attempts to graduate his sophomore year.

His passion for music soon lead him to pick up playing violin at the age of 11 and then guitar, mandolin and, what would become his signature instrument, the ukulele, performing for his parents amusement. Once he was old enough, he began to develop a stage act, performing often for free in the East Village of NYC. Throughout his early career, he’d cycle through a variety of pseudonyms, refining his eccentric style and presence, growing out his hair and adopting a pale white clown-like makeup. His mother was initially rather concerned about these changes and tried to get him to see a therapist, but his father dissuaded her against pursuing such concerns. Eventually, while working with a novelty act featuring little people, his manager ironically suggested calling the 6’1” performer “Tiny Tim” and that particular name ended up sticking. In the early 1960s, he began to develop a following for his unique performances and eventually caught the attention of scouts for Reprise Records, who signed him to a record deal.

God Bless Tiny Tim focuses its songs primarily on the obscure early 20th century popular music Tim had become so knowledgeable about, though a version of the contemporary Sony & Cher hit, I Got You Babe, was included to showcase both is baritone and falsetto vocal ranges within the same song, with Tim playing both the male and female roles. Thanks to his recurring and baffling appearances on the hip sketch comedy series, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In, Tim developed a cult following within the hippie & youth audience, appealing to the psychedelic era’s sense of the surreal and absurd-ism. With the success of the single for Tiptoe Through The Tulips, Tiny Tim became a household name, with the peak of his fame being when he had his marriage performed on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, a spectacle which generated phenomenal ratings.

Tim released two more LPs on Reprise before his contract was dropped and he went on to form his own label, but after his peak in the 1960s, his popularity waned significantly. He managed to resurface here and there throughout the ‘70s & ‘80s, most notably with a performance of Rod Stewart’s Do You Think I’m Sexy, which he brought to The Tonight Show and other programs of the day. In the later years of his life, he became something of a cult figure within the Neo-Folk set as artists like David Tibet championed his vast knowledge of vintage songs from the early eras of popular music. They even helped produce records for him and had them released on labels usually reserved for strange avant-garde acts. Tim died in 1996, leaving a legacy as one of America’s most inimitable performers, taking with him a knowledge of early popular music which is incalculable in its significance and overwhelming in its loss.