Lydia the Tattooed Lady

Today is the birthday of the great songwriter Yip Harburg (1896-1981). I wrote a little more about him here. To mark the day here’s one of his best songs (above). I sang this once in high school for a class assignment but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out the right lyrics, so I did a lot of mumbling during the unfamiliar phrases! Unfortunately I didn’t fool the teacher, who knew the song very well.

To find out more about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.