Lydia the Tattooed Lady Wreck of the Hesperus" (beside it), the red, white and blue (above them); the cities of Kankakee and "Paree", "Washington Crossing the Delaware", President Andrew Jackson, Niagara, Alcatraz, Buffalo Bill, Captain Spaulding (Groucho's character in Animal Crackers) exploring the Amazon, Lady Godiva (with her pajamas on), Grover Whalen, the Trylon, Treasure Island, Nijinsky, Social Security Number and a fleet of ships (on her hips). Alternate lyrics imply that Lydia's buttocks have tattoos of a globe (or a map of the world) and a caricature of Hitler (that she sits on). In 1950, Groucho famously 'stopped' trading at the New York
Tattooed Lady becoming a 'self-made freak'. In a greater sense, the act of exposing their bodies for pay, and even operating independently without subordinating themselves to a male boss, defied traditionally held social expectations concerning a woman's bodily autonomy. True to their career-driven investment, tattooed ladies kept covered to not only prevent free shows, thus keeping their exoticism fresh, but to also prevent the wear and tear tattoos suffer over the course of aging and through regular sun exposure. Tattooed ladies strategically placed their tattoos in such a way that allowed them to dress modestly in public and to function in their