Lydia the Tattooed Lady Stock Exchange by commandeering a microphone and singing the song before telling jokes for 15 minutes, during which time traders suspended their work to watch him perform. Lydia the Tattooed Lady "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady" is a 1939 song written by Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen. It first appeared in the Marx Brothers movie "At the Circus" (1939) and became one of Groucho Marx's signature tunes. The complex lyrics by Harburg – with clever rhymes such as "Lydia/encyclopedia" and "Amazon/pajamas on" – were inspired by W. S. Gilbert. Harburg made many contemporary references to topical personalities such as Grover Whalen,
Variations on a Nursery Tune (Dohnányi) Variations on a Nursery Tune (Dohnányi) The Variations on a Nursery Tune, Op. 25, is a piece for piano and orchestra by Ernő Dohnányi. It is subtitled "For the enjoyment of humorous people and for the annoyance of others". Written in 1914, it captures the spirit of Romanticism, and manages to delight and enthrall in its sparkling piano writing and lush orchestral textures, and its wit in the treatment of the theme – the French nursery song "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman", otherwise known as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Like Dohnányi, Mozart also wrote variations on this nursery tune (K. 265/300e).