Tiny Tim – Creepy? – The Weird Side of the Internet

Tiny Tim – Creepy? – The Weird Side of the Internet – by Liam Sweeny.

His name was Herbert Butros Khaury. But you may have better known him as the falsetto voiced, ukelele-playing performer Tiny Tim. He was a one-hit wonder, proud coverer of the 1929 song “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” originally written by Al Dublin and Joe Burke for the Warner Bros. musical “Gold Diggers of Broadway.” This song is iconic if you’ve ever heard it. In fact, I’m going to listen to it again on Youtube right now. Come join me.

That was weird, right? Very high, very unique voice. I think I first heard in on Laugh-In when I was a kid. But you might recognize it as something altogether different. Eerie? Creepy? Have you heard it before? If you’re a fan of the Insidious franchise, you know the song, and it may evoke a little fear, maybe a little terror.

The song, and its offshoots, have been used more than once in the Insidious movies, including a cover of it by Cherry Glazerr.

Which brings up an interesting thing about music, or anything creative. Tiny Tim played that song as an expression of lighthearted romance – as the song was originally written in 1929. He just had a weird, possibly eerie voice, even back then. How could he know he’d see his music become a mainstay in horror film? It’s like how “Ave Maria” always ends up in shooting scenes with marble chips or white feathers flying through the room in slow motion. Although Schubert and/or Bach and Gounod wrote that song, and that was about a hundred years before the firs movie monsters.

So Tiny Tim ended up with a creeper. And to be fair, if Tiny Tim was in a shack with a bloody apron, it would actually be a pretty creepy sight. While all accounts are that he was a nice, mild-mannered guy, he did write “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” on a ukelele. He was definitely unique. Maybe horror should use more of his songs.

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