As a long-time member of Active Rain, I have written posts and articles about a variety of topics. Real estate of course was the original reason for joining AR. I also wrote at times about my travel experiences, or sometimes the current events happening in the Scottsdale area.
For those of you who followed me over the years, you will recall I wrote a series of articles under the title Soundtrack of a Lifetime. There I discussed the music and songs that impacted my life in some way. The song may be a fond memory from a live performance or a favorite record I played over and over as a boy.
The Soundtrack contained more than 150 articles over a period of five years. I suspended that series after 2022.
For this September's challenge, I thought I would reprise my Soundtrack, this time with a little twist. I have chosen to write about popular novelty songs that took a comedic topic and made them big hits.
In my first entry, I chose a song from Allan Sherman. Sherman was a television producer, who helped create popular shows like I’ve Got a Secret and The Perry Como Show. He is probably best known for his parodies of classic songs.
In 1963 Sherman released a record album called My Son, the Nut. On that album was a song titled “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah”.
“Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah” is a story about a young man who was sent away to summer camp. His initial impressions were negative. The weather was bad, the food terrible and the environment scary. He wrote a letter to his parents begging to be allowed to return home. But during the story, things at camp improved. He was having fun. In the end, he cancels his demands and decides to stay.
Despite being silly, the song climbed to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1963. Remarkable for a song of this type.
It is no surprise that as a young boy, I would find the song hilarious. I knew lots of boys who went away to summer camp. But the interesting thing was the song spanned generations. People young and old found it funny. I remember my father and uncles all laughing and talking about the song. It isn't often a twelve-year-old boy, and his father enjoy the same taste in jokes.
I doubt that today, in 2023 many people would find Allan Sherman funny. Comedy has changed a lot since the 1960s
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So, for my first 2023 re-entry to my Soundtrack of a Lifetime and the first Chapter in this challenge, I offer you a video of Allan Sherman singing his biggest hit “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah”. Enjoy.
Note: I was only able to find one public domain image of Allan Sherman and didn't want to pay Getty Images $400. So This one picture is the best I can offer.
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