Warner Bros. 1475
Musical Director: Lou Busch
Track listing: The Ballad of Harry Lewis / Shake Hands with Your Uncle Max / Sir Greenbaum’s Madrigal / My Zelda / The Streets of Miami / Sarah Jackman (with Christine Nelson) / Jump Down, Spin Around (Pick a Dress o’ Cotton) / Seltzer Boy / Oh Boy/ Shticks and Stones
December 1, 1962
2 weeks mono
It was at a party that Joe Smith, then head of promotion and artist & repertoire for Warner Bros. Records, crossed paths with Allan Sherman. The comedian had served as a producer of The Steve Allen Show and helped develop I’ve Got A Secret, but on this night he was displaying another talent.
“Allan sat by the piano while someone played Broadway show tunes and he sang great parodies,” recalls Smith. So impressed was Smith that he and Sherman began talking about having the comedian record an album called Golden Moments on Broadway.
Although he was better known for his TV endeavors, Sherman began recording song parodies in 1951 for Jubilee Records. It was in 1956 that Sherman recorded a parody of My Fair Lady drenched in Jewish humor, yet publishers of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s musical would not give the comedian permission to record their music, so the album was never released.
“We found out very quickly that we could never get permission to do those so we recommended that Allan take a lot of public-domain songs and do them,” says Smith. The result was My Son, the Folk Singer. “It was recorded all in one three-hour session after we stopped at the unemployment office, where he picked up a check,” says Smith. Approximately 50 of Sherman’s show business friends attended the session at Western Studios in Hollywood, hence the liner notation, “Recorded live at a big expensive Hollywood party.” Lou Busch played piano and conducted a small band that accompanied Sherman. “We all just cracked up during the session,” says Smith, “because Allan had written these lyrics but nobody had heard them before.”
Material covered on the album included “The Ballad of Harry Lewis” (“The Battle Hymn of the Republic”), the story of a man who died in a fire at a fabric warehouse set to collect insurance money; “Sarah Jackman” (“Frere Jacques”), a tale of a local yenta; and “Shticks and Stones,” a parody that included bits of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O” and several other songs.
Testimonials from such top-notch comedic talent as Steve Allen, Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, and Harpo Marx were featured on the album’s back cover, which may have helped the fast-breaking sales.
“When we put it out, it went berserk,” says Smith. “I don’t think I’ve been involved with an album by a new artist over all these years that sold so fast and so many records.” As a result, My Son, the Folk Singer hit the summit in its fifth week on the 150 Best Selling Monaural LP’s chart, knocking legitimate folk singers Peter, Paul & Mary from the top position. Ironic, perhaps, but Allan Sherman was likely laughing all the way to the bank.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of December 1, 1962
1. My Son, the Folk Singer, Allan Sherman
2. Modem Sounds in Country & Western, Vol. 2, Ray Charles
3. Peter, Paul & Mary, Peterr, Paul & Mary
4. West Side Story, Soundtrack
5. Jazz Samba, Stan Getz / Charlie Byrd