That utterly bizarre song playing on the new episode of Fargo this week as masked men break into Dot’s house was a cover of the classic Sonny and Cher song ‘I Got You Babe‘, performed by American singer and musician Tiny Tim.
The song begins playing right at the beginning of the episode, as we see Dot in the kitchen and men in Halloween masks peering through the windows.
‘I Got You Babe‘ carries on playing as they walk into the house, and search it room by room looking for her.
It ends right before Dot jumps out of a room, maces one of the men and then pushes him down the stairs.
Who was Tiny Tim and why ‘I Got You Babe’?
If you didn’t grow up in the 1960s or 70s like many of us, you probably won’t be familiar with Tiny Tim.
An eccentric musician who sang in a falsetto voice, played a ukulele, and became famous after his song ‘Tiptoe Through the Tulips‘ became an enormous worldwide hit in 1968.
Throughout his almost 35 year career Tiny Tim, aka New York native Herbert Butros Khaury, released songs sung in the same falsetto, many of them cover songs, including ‘I Got You Babe’.
That song was first performed by him for the experimental film Normal Love, when Tiny Tim sang what were originally Cher’s vocals while the Cake member Eleanor Barooshian sang Sonny’s part.
The singer’s own version of ‘I Got You Babe‘ was also released on Tiny Tim’s debut studio album God Bless Tiny Tim in 1968.
It was an album that was praised by critics, and was the precursor to his Grammy Award nominated third album For All My Little Friends, which came out a year later.
Yep, he might have sounded strange and odd (and kinda cool, really), but music critics loved him.
Sadly, Tiny Tim died in 1996 at the age of 64 after collapsing on stage at a gala benefit in Minneapolis while performing ‘Tiptoe Through the Tulips‘.
Listen to Tiny Tim’s version of ‘I Got You Babe‘ as humorously heard on this week’s Fargo in the video, and via the American singer’s God Bless Tiny Tim album on Spotify.
You will find more information about other songs played on Fargo here on Leo Sigh.