Lydia The Tattooed Lady
"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 Marx's 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 World's 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 Lydia's 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, Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon, Lady Godiva (with her pajamas on), Grover Whalen, the Trylon, Treasure Island, Nijinsky, and a fleet of ships (on her hips).
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Famous quotes containing the words lydia, tattooed and/or lady:
“of you i
sing: land of Abraham Lincoln and Lydia E. Pinkham,
land above all of Just Add Hot Water And Serve—
from every B. V. D.
let freedom ring”
—E.E. (Edward Estlin)
“Carmen: You’re cute. I like you.
Philip Marlowe: What you see is nothing. I got a Balinese dancing girl tattooed across my chest.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)
“Sweet Suffolk Owl, so trimly dight
With feathers, like a lady bright,
Thou sing’st alone, sitting by night,
Te whit! Te whoo! Te whit! To whit!”
—Thomas Vautor (fl. c. 1590?)