A Tribute To Allan Sherman

One day around the year 1975 I went over to my best friend's house, Larry Osman.  I think we were in high school.  He played the guitar and he sang me part of a song he wrote called, "Jersey Traffic." He told me that the music was from a popular song. I thought it was pretty good and the idea of writing something to other music was a pretty cool thing to do.

It may have been that day he told me about a Jewish singer, Allan Sherman, who wrote a bunch of songs or parodies of other songs in the sixties. He played me the album he had. I thought it was so good that I asked him to put the songs on a cassette tape for me and I still have that tape today.

Between 1980 and 2024 I have written well over two hundred songs/parodies and Larry and Allan definitely deserve some of the credit and blame. I recently found out that Allan Sherman wrote the below autobiography and I bought it and read almost all of it flying to New Jersey recently.  Who was Allan Sherman and what incredible journey in life did he have?

They say that Allan Sherman was a comedian, a writer, a musician, and a television producer.  He created a television show, "I've Got A Secret" that was on the air for fifteen years. He produced it for six years. At the same time he struggled with bad health being overweight, an alcoholic, and a diabetic.  Before the Beatles became famous in February 1964 on the Ed Sullivan Show, Allan Sherman for a year and a half was almost as popular as The Beatles were in 1964.

He once lived next to Harpo Marx, one of the Marx brothers. He once lived in the exclusive Brentwood section of Los Angeles. He also  moved into a neighborhood that three weeks later ninety-one of the ninety-seven houses burned to the ground, but not his. He knew comedians and singers, but he really had no musical talent. He was fired as the producer of a television show for Steve Allen, before the show started.  

His life went up and down and being unemployed with a wife and two kids, he was on unemployment. He used to sing songs at parties for friends for free and sent Capital Records a bunch of songs, but he was turned down.("We don't think there's a market for this kind of thing.")

A friend got him an audition at Warner Brothers and they decided to record a comedy album of his songs called, "My Son, The Folk Singer." Quotes on the album were from friends who loved his songs, famous people like Harpo Marx, Steve Allen, Jack Benny, and Jerry Lewis. 

On October 7, 1962 the album was released and here are some of the ridiculous highlights:

1. The album became the fastest selling record album of all-time as of that date.

2. The Warner Brothers New York distributor ordered 100 copies on Monday and 30,000 more on Wednesday.

3. Frank Sinatra bought 25 copies to give out to all his friends.

4. The week before he was on unemployment and the first week the album was out it sold 65,000 albums and he made $23,000 that week. (In 1962)

5. He released three albums in 1962-1963 and they all went to number one on the charts.(A total of eight albums in his life)

6. His first single from his first album was "Sarah Jackman" and President Kennedy was overheard a number of times singing some of the words. (Parody of "Freres Jacques")

7. The Sam Goody record store in New York put up a sign, "Limit 12 To A Customer". 

8. It is said that he sold over 500,000 albums the first month and there is no definitive amount on how many millions he sold of that first album.

9. He turned down performing on The Ed Sullivan Show twice because he was terrified of performing, but he eventually did perform some concerts.

10. He guest hosted for Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" a number of times including once for an entire week.

11. The sudden death of President Kennedy in November of 1963 and The Beatles coming to America in February 1964, some say led to his popularity decreasing.

Most of his songs were parodies of other songs, but he did write and perform some original songs.  Many of the parodies on his first albums were filled with Jewish humor.  My favorite song he did was "The Ballad of Harry Lewis." Some others were: "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" (about going to Day Camp), "My Zelda", "Oh Boy", and "In Sherwood Forest There Lived a Knight."(Sir Greenbaum) He also did a song called, "Pop Hates the Beatles," in 1964.

It was a terrific book to read and his sudden success was absolutely incredible. You can look up these songs and hear some terrific lyrics. His first album was performed in front of a very amused and entertained crowd in  a studio and his songs are still very good sixty years later.