Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Well remembered, July 2, 2009
My parents had this album - along with a few other comedy classics like the Smothers Brothers and Bill Cosby - and probably 30 years later, I still remember most of the words to these songs. I'm sad that I can't get this particular album on CD or download (unless I spring for the whole boxed set, which I might do) because it's the only one that has the songs I really remember - Pick a Dress of Cotton stands out in my memory. I also Love Sarah Jackman - that song made me ask my mother what a Lolita was. It was many years before I got a satisfactory answer I think.
Hello Mudda, Hello Faddah is the quintessential Sherman song - we still sing it at the summer camp where I've worked for many years. That song is easy to get lots of places though. The other stuff on this album is great, but alas, not as easy to come by.
When I grew a bit older, I discoverd Dr. Demento when I slept over my friends' houses on the weekends, and we'd be exposed to more of this type of entertainment. But this is the album where I cut my teeth, combining two of my loves - folk music and comedy - in one place. The title is great, the album is better!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Mrs. Sherman's son, the parodist, May 17, 2009
Another one of my rare "personal" reviews here.
Unlike most pre-teens of the mid-60s, my earliest musical influences were Broadway soundtracks... and Allan Sherman. Just as I knew every lyric to MY FAIR LADY, BYE BYE BIRDIE, THE PAJAMA GAME or YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN, I also committed to memory all the songs of this zany parodist. Over 40 years later, I can still sing these wonderful ditties from start to finish.
His WARNER's debut, MY SON, THE FOLK SINGER is the only Sherman LP I own in stereo. Mine is apparently a very rare album, for even a web encyclopedia claims it as a mono-only work-- nonsense! What is this I hold in one hand while typng with the other? Says STEREO and plays the same! It is true however that all six of his records issued between 1962 and '69 are generally only found in mono. (BTW, if you'd like to own every one of Allan's original recordings in stereo, check out RHINO's spectacular 6-CD set, MY SON, THE BOX).
"My Son, the Folk Singer" was #1 on Billboard's Pop charts, all without benefit of any "singles," although "Sarah Jackman" did receive substantial airplay back then on non-rock AM music stations. Album highlights.... Hey, it's all good! If you remember this one from way back, I'm preaching to the choir here. And I'd wager that --you-- know all the words, too!
We'll close with a bit of sage advice, taken from "Schticks and Stones":
Never make a stingy sandwich
Pile the cold cuts high
Customers should see salami
Comin' t'ru da rye!
PLAYLIST--
SIDE ONE:
The Ballad of Harry Lewis ["Battle Hymn of the Republic"]
Shake Hands with Your Uncle Max ["Dear Old Donegal," aka "Shake Hands with Your Uncle Mike"]
Sir Greenbaum's Madrigal ["Greensleeves"]
My Zelda ["Matilda"]
The Streets of Miami ["The Streets of Laredo"]
SIDE TWO:
Sarah Jackman (with Christine Nelson) ["Frere Jacques"]
Jump Down, Spin Around (Pick a Dress o' Cotton) ["Bale of Cotton"]
Seltzer Boy ["Water Boy"]
Oh Boy [Chiapanecas aka "The Hand Clapping Song"]
Shticks and Stones
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