Tiny Tim - (Nobody Else Can Love Me Like) My Old Tomato Can
A one-of-a-kind performer, vocalist, and unrivaled authority on turn of the century music, Tiny Tim sought to emulate the gritty, tinny sound of the wind up phonograph during his stage shows and on recordings throughout his entire career. The artists – Billy Murray, Henry Burr, Byron G. Harlan, Arthur Collins, Ada Jones – from the era of cylinder records (1888-1915) were of particular interest to Tiny. The tunes from that era made up the majority of his 2,000+ cerebral library of songs that he could perform.
After recording two songs – “School Days” and “Goodbye Boys”- on re-purposed Edison cylinders at an Edison museum in 1977, Tiny pitched the idea of releasing a song on a wax cylinder record to several producers right up until his death in 1996. The idea was rejected on the grounds that, albeit interesting, releasing a track on a virtually dead medium was not a smart business move.
In 2013, with a renewed interest in Tiny Tim’s legacy and the ability to include a digital version of the recording with the release, Ship To Shore PhonoCo. issued a limited edition cylinder record featuring Tiny Tim's 1974 rendition of "(Nobody Else Can Love Me Like) My Old Tomato Can."
Though the wax cylinders have long since sold out, the digital version of Tiny Tim's only wax cylinder release is now available as a download here! If you have ever wondered how Tiny Tim would have sounded on turn of the century recording equipment, you shall wonder no more...
