''My Son, the Celebrity'' is a musical
comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Origins
Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
album by
Allan Sherman, released in the United States by
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
in January 1963.
The album was the second of three straight albums by Sherman to reach #1 on the
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
album charts. It reached #1 on Billboard's Top 150 Best Selling LPs (Monaural) chart for the week ending March 9, 1963. It was released less than three months after ''
My Son, the Folk Singer'', which reached #1 on the same chart in December 1962.
''My Son, the Celebrity'' followed the same template as ''
My Son, the Folk Singer'', mixing comic parodies of popular songs with cultural references and Jewish humor.
Lou Busch once again provided orchestration.
Track listing
Side One
# "Al 'n' Yetta" ("
Alouette
Alouette or alouettes may refer to:
Music and literature
* Alouette (song), "Alouette" (song), a French-language children's song
* Alouette, a List of The King of Braves GaoGaiGar protagonists#Alouette, character in ''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar' ...
")
# "Barry is the Baby's Name" / "Horowitz" / "Get on the Garden Freeway" ("
Mary is a Grand Old Name", "
Harrigan", "
Give My Regards to Broadway")
# "
Mexican Hat Dance" ("
Jarabe Tapatío")
# "The Bronx Bird Watcher" ("
Willow, tit-willow (On a tree by a river)")
# "The Let's All Call Up A.T.&T. and Protest to the President March"
# "Harvey and Sheila" ("
Hava Nagila")
Side Two
# "Won't You Come Home, Disraeli" ("
Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey
"(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey", originally titled "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please.... Come Home?" is a popular song published in 1902. It is commonly referred to as simply "Bill Bailey".
The words and music were written by Hughie Cannon, a ...
")
# "No One's Perfect" (to the tune of a well-known
alma mater
Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...
, "
Far Above Cayuga's Waters")
# "When I Was a Lad" (to the tune of the same name from ''
H.M.S. Pinafore
''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London on 25 May 1878, and ran for 571 performances, w ...
'')
# "Me" ("
Torna a Surriento")
# "Shticks of One and a Half a Dozen of the Other" (medley)
Chart positions
Songs
As with ''My Son, The Folk Singer'', almost all the songs on the album contain some Jewish reference, or at least a main character or characters with apparently Jewish names.
* "Al 'n' Yetta" - References to TV shows of the day
* Cohan medley:
**"Barry is the Baby's Name"
**"Horowitz"
**"Get On The Garden Freeway"
* "The Bronx Bird Watcher" - A talking / singing bird with a Jewish accent.
* "Harvey and Sheila" - Filled with alphabetical references: IBM, PTA, GOP, USA, etc.
* "When I Was a Lad" - Recast as the story of a young man who succeeds at an advertising agency: ''So I thank old Yale / And I thank the Lord / And I also thank my father / Who is chairman of the board.''
* "Shticks of One and Half a Dozen of the Other" is a stylistic followup to "Shticks and Stones", another medley of short parodies, some Jewish-oriented, some not. For example:
** New words to "
Molly Malone", describing her as "Cockeyed and muscle-bound".
** ''On top of Old Smokey / All covered with hair / Of course I'm referring / To Smokey the Bear'' (
On Top of Old Smoky)
** ''When you go to the delicatessen store / Don't buy the liverwurst'' (
Down by the Riverside)
References
{{Authority control
1963 albums
Allan Sherman albums
Warner Records albums