Tiptoe Through the Tulips in the key of F with ukulele chords included in the video. The chords aren’t difficult, but a chord change in almost every measure of the song makes it a little difficult. If you’re learning it, you might want to take a short section at a time after listening to it a few times. As far as strumming, you can follow what I’m doing or use your favorite 4/4 time strumming pattern… that’s up to you. In the video, I played one verse fingerstyle as an instrumental at about 1:15. It was standard Travis Picking like in the first three examples in my Fingerstyle Tutorial.

Update 2012:

As I write this (11/25/12), I’m just getting back into doing some videos after over five years of not doing anything, so I have to relearn how to use my software. Yes, I know that my white hat looks green, but I didn’t want to have to do everything over again, so I was stuck with the green screen bleeding onto my hat. Gotta work on getting the proper lighting for future videos.

I just retired last month (October 2012), and I’m planning on devoting a lot of time to the ukulele going forward, so if there are any songs you’re interested in that I might be able to do on the uke, let me know… I’m open to ideas. Most of the songs I do will be traditional folk songs in the public domain, but I’ll also do some more modern songs for YouTube. I have quite a few free ukulele tablatures for songs I’ve arranged on my website (ezfolk.com), and I’ll be adding many more, so check it out if you’re interested.

Update 2025:

Oh wow… I saw my comments on this song from 2012 and decided to keep them for posterity. I had forgotten that I retired in 2012, and occasionally someone asks, so now I’ve got this to remind me. As I write this update (February 26, 2025), I’ll be 73 tomorrow. I haven’t posted any new videos in two years and lost interest in playing, but as fate would have it, I ran 17 half marathons in 2024, and it turns out that wasn’t a great idea for me at the age of 72. I ended up with a nonhealing stress fracture in my right tibia and nerve root impingement at L4, causing so much pain that I ended up in a wheelchair for 3 months. I’m just now getting back on my feet, but when I couldn’t walk, I decided to dust off the old uke and bring the ezFolk website back to life (I had closed it down a year or two ago but retained the name). So that’s where I am now, and I’m hoping I can still create some decent videos once I have all of my old videos straightened out. This has nothing to do with the song, but since I’ve started somewhat of a time capsule on this page, I figure I might as well keep going. If I make it another 13 years, I’ll do another update if I run across this page. I’ll be 86 then, so it’s not likely. As they say, “Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.”

But I digress.

About the Song

“Tiptoe Through the Tulips” is a song originally published in 1929, composed by Joe Burke with lyrics by Al Dubin. It was first popularized by Nick Lucas, whose version became a big hit that year and was featured in the film Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929). The song is a lighthearted and whimsical tune about love, with lyrics inviting a romantic partner to walk through a field of tulips together.

Tiny Tim, an eccentric musician known for his distinctive falsetto voice and ukulele playing, revived “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” in 1968. His high-pitched, almost surreal rendition became a novelty hit after he performed it on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, a popular TV variety show. The song was included on his debut album, God Bless Tiny Tim, and became his signature song. His unique persona and theatrical performance style turned the song into a cult classic, often associated with a quirky, nostalgic charm.