Friday has traditionally been my day off, but now that I have retired – it stil is! And therefore I like to have some fun with my music. So today we travel back to October 1939 to the release of the Marx Brothers movie ‘At The Circus’ and a classic performance of Lydia the Tattooed Lady by Groucho. His rendition of this song is so full of madcap life that I defy anyone to come away from it without at least a smile. Look at the the supporting cast. There is Chico on piano, Harpo dancing on someone’s shoulders and what appears to be the tallest cowboy in history – brilliant stuff.
The song Lydia also appears in ‘The Philadelphia Story (1940) performed by the amazing Virginia Weilder (who was a bigger child star than Shirley Temple at the time.) The movie which stars Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart and Cary Grant, was nominated for a number of Oscars including best picture, is something of a screwball comedy and well worth watching.
It also appears in Breaking Bad as a ringtone and sung by Kermit and Miss Piggy in the Muppets. There is even a dreadful punk version by the Dead Milkmen.
