The FADER’s transgender charity covers compilation FADER & Friends Volume 1 is out now, available exclusively on Bandcamp until December 1, 2023. 100% of the proceeds go towards the Transgender Law Center, Mermaids, and Rainbow Railroad. Throughout the month of November, we’re speaking to the artists who contributed to the 44-song collection about the songs they covered.
Liz Lehman — the artist who, as The Scary Jokes, makes disarmingly catchy (if often dystopian) cyborg-pop — leans away from pessimistic ruminations on their cover of Tiny Tim’s ultra-positivity anthem, “Livin’ in the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlight.” Their rendition is relatively faithful, though Tim’s vaudevillian warble is replaced here by a self-chorus of polyphonic robots.
Listen to the song below and buy the full album on Bandcamp. Scroll down to read Lehman’s thoughts on the original song and their cover.
What’s your first memory of this song?
Like many people from my generation, the first time I heard this song was in the pilot episode of Spongebob Squarepants. I’ve loved it ever since — the message always meant a lot to me as a “weird kid.”
Why did you decide to record it as your cover?
It really came to me out of nowhere, but once it did, I struggled to think of a better pick. There’s this really vibrant undercurrent of queer joy that Tiny Tim brought out of the track, and that’s what I wanted to bring to this project. My own songwriting often leans into pessimism, but for this I wanted to embrace the confidence and defiance of being openly queer in the world today, and I think that kind of self-love is so central to this song.
What does this song/band mean to you personally?
As someone with a lot of feelings and not a lot of formal training, I’ve been really attracted to “outsider music” for a long time. I love things that people call naïve because I’m a little naïve myself, and I’ve always been a big Tiny Tim defender against people who find his work “creepy.” I doubt his music would have the staying power that it does if he restrained himself more, or tried to conform to a more broadly appealing sound. I’m a huge believer in unrestrained self-expression and Tiny Tim has been a big inspiration.
What’s another song you’d love to cover and why?
For a long time I’ve wanted to do an entire cover album of Daniel Johnston’s Retired Boxer. He is without a doubt one of my biggest influences, and I would love to pay tribute to him. That album specifically has some of my favorite songs of his, but it’s one of his lesser-celebrated albums and probably the one with the most challenging production quality. I’d love to bring more attention to those songs because they’ve really touched my heart.
