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Classic FM's More Music Breakfast with Tim Lihoreau 6am - 9am
25 weird and wonderful classical music tattoos
From inexplicably burning Beethovens to awkward singing hamburgers, here's a selection of the most musical tats of all time.
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1. De-composing Mozart
Nothing says "I love Mozart" like getting his zombified head indelibly inked on your arm.
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2. Leg-up for Beethoven?
Where to start? Beethoven's giant face. An oversized cello scroll. A wonky keyboard. And is that a chicken's eye we can see on the right?! Bravo, sir. Bravo.
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3. Mozart art
It's not a traditional place to put lyrics from a Mozart aria, and nor are they usually accompanied by shiny white boxer shorts, but we'll go with it.
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4. The Flaming Beethoven
This is Beethoven pictured after death, on a roller coaster, with missing teeth, possibly on fire. Why wouldn't you want that on your bicep?
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5. Composer poser
Oversized bling? Check. Tight white vest? Check. The next logical step is to get a giant composer-inspired floral sleeve complete with Chopin crying blood. Obviously.
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6. Key-bald
"Maybe no one will notice my bald patch if I tattoo a keyboard with the wrong number of black keys on my scalp?"
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7. None shall sleep
No one's going to be ABLE to sleep after catching a glimpse of this creepy Pavarotti. Also, someone get this guy some Savlon. That looks raw.
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8. Leg-ato?
Props to this music lover who's replicated a bassoon, to scale, all the way up his leg. Just don't ask to see the mouthpiece.
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9. Johann Sebastian Back
What happens when you decide you're more a Vivaldi kind of girl?
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10. The world's quietest piano
Keyboard and headphones not good enough for you?
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11. The Tweeter
OK, points available for anyone who can name all the musical symbols in this one. Just a small point, though - that fermata has been italicised slightly too much for our taste…
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12. 4'33"
Surely the best tribute to John Cage's famously silent piece would've been not to get a tattoo at all?
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13. Lanky
Is that a subtle musical tribute to John Dowland's 'Flow My Tears'?
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14. Giving Chopin a hand
Seeing your favourite composer's upside-down head on your hand as you practise the piano is bound to be a little distracting.
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15. Trombone-a-saurus
This is the happiest purple dinosaur we've ever seen. And why woudn't he be? He's playing the trombone on someone's midriff and disguising a huge bruise!
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16. No strings attached
It's the world's smallest violin, and it's playing just for you. At least, it would be, if it had any strings.
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17. No bar lines
We're hoping this is work-in-progress - we'd be tempted to ink in some bar lines so we could actually play whatever piece that is.
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18. So accurate
"Look, I know the real Bach probably didn't have Satan's chin nestling on his head, but look how close to the picture it is!"
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19. Poor Beethoven
Beethoven may have burst into flames, but at least this considerate chap's looking out for his rapidly declining hearing with a massive pair of ear defenders.
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20. Piano mishaps
Don't you just hate it when your piano stool falls over and you can't sit at your 11-keyed piano with no strings and blood exploding out of the corners?
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21. No wonder he was deaf
It's considerably more difficult to hear the fruits of your labour when your hairline actually goes underneath your ears.
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22. Beethoven's Pastoral Tattoo
So, now that we're all comfortable with the idea of Ludwig Van Beethoven being immortalised in medically administered ink injections, it's about time someone took the concept to the next level and gave him a fox's head. Also, someone needs to warn John Suchet about leaving his personal snaps lying around.
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23. Welcome to Classical Burger World…
What kind of burger would you like? Franz Schuburger? Hector Burgerlioz? Alban Berger? Leonard Burgerstein? Anton Weberger? Arnold Schoenburger? OK, OK, we'll stop now…
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24. Moonlight Sonat-arm
What's the point in carrying sheet music around when you can have the Moonlight Sonata permanently inked on your arm? Those broken chords can be tough to remember... (Credit: Neil Potter/Facebook)
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25. Keyboard confusion
"Where's the time signature? Why are the sharps in the wrong place? How am I supposed to play this?!" No wonder this cute little keyboard looks confused.
