Infrequently Asked Questions (IAQ)

Did Tiny Tim die in the church?

You have a very nice web site for Tiny Tim. I was wondering if anyone is in the process of collecting recordings of Tiny Tim doing those old standards that he did so well and so touchingly, particularly in a personal one-on-one setting. (He treated me and my wife and another couple to a "concert" in a pickup truck back in 1985, which we recorded on tape. He did "Gardener's Love Song", "Flannigan/Oh Oh Antonio", "Street of Dreams", "All That I Want Is You", "Take the Sweetest Phrases", plus other stuff.)

What's struck me about the recorded albums I've come across is that everyone tried too too many "tricks" - getting him to do Pink Floyd, or coming up with accompaniments, whatever. To me, the essence of what he was about was that solo crooner with a uke. Yet I've never come across anything that appeared to be someone who just said, " OK Tiny, we're gonna turn on the tape recorder, and you just sing, and that will be it."

This is just a long way of saying that if someone undertakes such a project I'd be happy to make my tape available. I bet there are a lot of other people with tapes out there. If someone assembles such a project, maybe the page could advertise for people to send in copies of what they've got, then once a selection is made, the people with recordings of the selected songs could lend their tapes to whomever was putting together the collection.

I'm also curious, did Tiny Tim die in the church? (I'm a convert to Catholicism myself!)

Sincerely,
Wes Young

Reply:

Dear Mr. Young,

I think your idea is great and I will pursue it if people respond by sending tapes. These tapes can be sent to Ernie Clark through this website. Tiny did release a cd of just himself and his ukulele called "Songs Of An Impotent Troubadour".

As for your last question, yes, Tiny was a practicing Catholic in good standing at the time of his death.