Customer Reviews

My Son, the Celebrity

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With the release of My Son the Celebrity, Allan Sherman proved he was more than just a bright but quick flash in the pan. These were songs Allan wrote with Lou Busch's musical arrangements; and the result was an amazingly funny album that went gold fairly quickly. Allan Sherman once again enjoyed an excellent rapport with his audiences who loved the lyrics he made up to well known old folk songs, ballads in the public domain and other songs, too. In addition, the quality of the sound on this CD is excellent and the artwork uses the original record album artwork.

The album is full of very humorous songs; but of course everyone will have their personal favorites. I really like the opening number, "Al 'N Yetta" which is followed by the excellent medley of "Barry Is the Baby's Name/Horowitz/Get on the Garden Freeway;" "Get On The Garden Freeway" really does sound just like those directions my parents would have to follow when traveling to visit relatives way, way before the GPS was invented!

"The Let's All Call Up A.T.&T. and Protest to the President March" pokes fun at how the telephone company, then a monopoly, changed phone numbers from names of neighborhoods or other similar places with some numbers to simply using a string of numbers--and sometimes even longer numbers when people had to also dial the area code. "Harvey and Sheila," a takeoff on "Hava Nagila," turns out to be about Jewish people climbing the socioeconomic ladder in the United States; and one of my personal favorites, "Won't You Come Home, Disraeli?" is a outstanding parody of "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?"

"No One's Perfect" makes fun of choral groups which were popular at that time; and "When I Was a Lad" has quite a punch line at the very end of the song! "Me" is very funny and the album concludes with Allan Sherman performing the medley entitled "Shticks of One and Half a Dozen of the Other."

This album is a must-have for any Allan Sherman fan who doesn't have the box set entitled "My Son, the Box;" and it's also very good for anyone who appreciates Jewish humor in general. Allan Sherman's parodies of songs remain truly timeless; they are still being released to this day! This is also a great starter CD for anyone just discovering the incredible talent and wit of the incomparable Allan Sherman.

Recorded only a few months after his debut album brought a surprising burst of public acclaim, writer/producer Allan Sherman recorded his second album of song parodies. As on his first, Jewish-American characters and life are primary subjects of his humor, but he also branches out in multicultural parody on the album's cleverly written and popular "Mexican Hat Dance," and winningly recasts the Dixieland "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey?" as the intellectual "Won't You Come Home, Disraeli?" As with his debut, this was recorded in front of a small, hand-picked studio audience in an intimate party-like setting. Sherman and his conductor Lou Busch play the live audience as much as the songs, leaving space for the uproarious laughs and hanging onto punch lines for maximum effect. Also similarly to the debut, Sherman's everyman voice is backed by Busch's serious arrangements, giving the humor of the lyrics an extra measure of silliness. This second helping isn't as deeply clever as the debut (which, to be fair, was refined over several years in impromptu performances that Sherman made at parties), but it shows that Sherman wasn't a one-hit wonder and set the stage for his third and greatest album later the same year. Collectors' Choice straight-up reissue includes new liner notes by Dr. Demento. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]