Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Tiny Tim - The Ice Caps Are Melting

Whether you liked his music or not, there is no denying that Tiny Tim was a true original - honest, well-mannered, strange, an expert in early 20th century popular music, friends with the Beatles and Bob Dylan, worked in a circus...

Here is "The Ice Caps Are Melting", from some television program, sometime in the 1960's:



Is it just me, or is there more than a passing resemblance to Gene Wilder's portrayal of Willy Wonka here? Sure, the frizzy hair, and the similar facial features, and "fine" manner of dress...but also the sheer loopiness, the psychedelia, the dark humor, the not-so-hidden undercurrent of malevolence?

Not to mention the bewildered children.

Tiny Tim was SCARY COOL.