Allan Sherman

03-17-10 Allan Sherman

I heard the first four Allan Sherman records a lot when I was a kid, when they were recent releases. During summer, ¾ of our family would sometimes hole up in the den (family room), close the blinds, turn on the air conditioner – and play Allan Sherman albums.

I recently found his Rhino Handmade 6CD boxed set.

LP MY SON, THE FOLK SINGER WARNER US WS 1475

1962 10 TRKS

LP MY SON, THE CELEBRITY WARNER US WS 1487

1963 11 TRKS

LP MY SON, THE NUT WARNER US WS 1501

1963 12 TRKS

7" HELLO MUDDAH, HELLO FADDUH! WARNER US 5449

1964 2 TRKS with pic sleeve, "1964 Version"

LP ALLAN IN WONDERLAND WARNER US WS 1539

1964 10 TRKS

LP FOR SWINGIN' LIVERS ONLY! WARNER US WS 1569

1965 11 TRKS

LP MY NAME IS ALLAN WARNER US WS 1604

1965 11 TRKS

LP LIVE (HOPING YOU ARE THE SAME) WARNER US WS 1649

1965 12 TRKS

LP TOGETHERNESS WARNER US WS 1684

1966 11 TRKS

CDx6 MY SON, THE BOX RHINO HANDMADE RHM2-7891

2005 151 TRKS 6CD boxed set

It was almost like watching comedy on TV – listening to these records. They were clever, funny – and they introduced us to some well-known light classics with wonderful parody lyrics. I almost ached as I read that he wrote parody lyrics to many stage shows of the day – which couldn’t be included in the boxed set. I don’t figure he’s going to get a 2^nd boxed set. What they did include were some amusing “My Fair Lady” parodies!

The Allan Sherman LP’s currently in my LP collection aren’t the copies I heard as a child. I got all of these in the 1970’s, when they were all still around in used LP bins – easy to find stereo copies then. Nowadays, you seldom see stereo copies of any of these – and I think I could ‘better’ my copy of “Togetherness” (in stereo).

Hard for me to imagine that I am now older than Allan Sherman was when he died. It was a different time (he died in 1973, just shy of his 49^th birthday).

The 2005 CD boxed set sounds great. I already had the only Allan Sherman CD I ever saw, “My Son – The Greatest” (Rhino R2 75771, 1988 – 19 tracks). I’d love to find other 45’s by Allan Sherman, but…I never see that kind of stuff anymore.