I first had the privilege of meeting Tiny Tim in Sydney in March of 1992 at the home of his good friend and Australian producer Martin Sharp. We were to discuss plans for the recording of several studio tracks and a live show in Sydney which was coming up in April. At the time I was the guitarist for a band called His Majesty who had some years earlier worked with Tiny on recordings of ACDC's "Highway to Hell" and Joan Jett's "I Love Rock'n'Roll". Now ten years later Tiny decided to once again team up with the band.

The first thing that struck me upon meeting Tiny Tim was the enormous presence the man could project on a room by simply sitting in a chair and speaking. I was also impressed by the fact that although he was no longer a young man he still possessed a burning desire to create and entertain, not to mention the fact that he carried his ukulele in a paper bag! On several occasions whilst discussing the details for the upcoming dates in Sydney Tiny would pause mid sentence and suddenly burst into song! His inbuilt life long passion for popular music combined with joyful excitement would find him frantically strumming away on his beloved ukulele whilst warbling away at the top of his lungs. It was almost as if he were more comfortable communicating through song than the spoken word. Within 5 minutes of meeting Tiny Tim I had absolutely no doubt in my mind that I was truely in the presence of greatness, a real star. Not just some freaky novelty from a bygone era looking for a way back into the spotlight, but a true and timeless artist who seemed to possess a God given duty to entertain.

The following week, April 6th, we were at Rich Studios in Sydney to record tracks for what would become the album "Tiny Tim Rock".Tiny Tim doing heavy rock you say? Well let me tell you...this is one madcap album! It was completely recorded live to tape, improvised and loose as hell!...Warts and all with a little studio wizardry from engineer Tom Kazas thrown in! It's a crazy over the top album and that's why I love it! Among the 5 tracks on the album there's a 25 minute version of Barry McGuire's "Eve Of Destruction" and an equally long version of Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell". Tiny Tim was in top form that night and the band followed him at every turn.

Tiny didn't like air conditioning, he thought it wasn't good for his voice, so he asked for it to be turned off....it was as hot as a furnace in that studio and the musicians were sweating bullets! We just kept bashing away on our instruments never quite sure where Tiny was going to take us next. The band couldn't see him in the vocal room so we could only use his voice in our headphones as a guide, it was controlled mayhem...loud and mad! I'd have to say that it was the most fun I've ever had in a studio to this day! At the stroke of midnight I realised that it was my birthday! We all cracked open a few beers and before I knew it Tiny was there singing me a personal rendition of "Happy birthday to you". I was deeply touched and I'll never forget it. We recorded some more tracks at Festival studios a few nights later.I just wish my late mother could have been there with us as she was a big fan of Tiny's and she'd have been well chuffed had she known that her son actually played with him.

A few nights later it was showtime at the Paddington RSL in Sydney. The plan was that His Majesty should open the show with 5 or so numbers, Tiny goes on and sings some old favourites and then we join him for the rest of the show doing the heavy rock thing. Once again it was improvised mayhem! A 15 minute version of "Highway to Hell" followed by a raucous rock'n'roll medley which saw Tiny singing odes to all the rock'n'roll greats past and present. The medley rocked on for another 15 minutes! Once again Tiny was in top form! Singing on his back and throwing various pieces of his elaborate costume out into a cheering audience of 400 faithfuls. They yelled for more, but there really was nowhere to go from there..Tiny had given it everything! Everyone had a ball and went home happy that night, us included.

The following year we did it all again resulting in the making of "Tiny Tim's Christmas album" Another beauty! This should be an absolute must in every Tiny Tim fans record collection. My personal favourites are "Come all ye faithful", "Silent night" which features a haunting monologue on the hypocrocies of the world delivered in Tiny's own unique style, and I think the song "Mission bell" came up particularly well also.

I was deeply saddened by Tiny Tim's death in 1996 and I truely believe that the world lost an enormous talent that day. He was a true gentleman and an inspiration and I'm extremely grateful that I was given a chance to have met him. He shone an optimistic and positive radiance that is all to rare in people these days. I'm told that when he died he was performing his hit song "Tiptoe through the tulips" and the last thing he'd have heard in this world was the sound of his audience in his ears.

Rest in Peace Tiny Tim.

John Botica - 2002

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John Botica's Website