Lydia, the Tattooed Lady is a 1939 song written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. It first appeared in the 1939 Marx Brothers movie At the Circus and became one of Groucho Marxs signature tunes. In 1950 Groucho famously stopped trading at the New York Stock Exchange by commandeering a microphone and singing the song before telling jokes for 15 minutes, during which time traders suspended their work to watch him perform. The lyrics made many contemporary references to topical personalities such as Grover Whalen, who opened the Worlds Fair in 1939. The complex lyrics written by Yip Harburg with clever rhymes such as Lydia/encyclopedia were inspired by W.S.Gilbert. Among the items, persons, and scenes tattooed on Lydias body are the Battle of Waterloo (on her back), The Wreck of the Hesperus (beside it), the red, white and blue (above them); the cities of Kankakee and Paree, Washington Crossing the Delaware, President Andrew Jackson, Niagara, Alcatraz, Buffalo Bill, Picasso, Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon, Lady Godiva (with her pajamas on), Grover Whalen, the Trylon, Treasure Island, Nijinsky, Social Security Number and a fleet of ships (on her hips). youtu.be/n4zRe_wvJw8
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 07:10:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015