Speaking of Jewish humor, those of a certain age will remember Allan Sherman, the parody songwriter and Jewish comedian. My parents had his albums when I was a kid. Here’s my favorite of his songs: “Seltzer Boy”, which, as YouTube notes, is
Allan Sherman’s great 1962 Jewish parody of folk singer Odetta’s recording of the African-American “Water Boy,” which she performed in concert with Harry Belafonte in 1960.
This is sheer genius:
Don’t bring me water
I rather have seltzer,
‘Cause water don’t bubble
And water don’t fizz;Water I hate it
‘Cause it ain’t carbonated,
But a glass of seltzer
On the other hand is.
There’s something about that last line, and the words “on the other hand”, that crack me up.
Addendum: Someone said it’s funnier if you know the original. Well, here it is, by Odetta:
That is clever writing!
Glad to see he finally escaped Camp Granada.
The ur-Weird Al Yankovic.
I had an album of Mr. Sherman’s as a kid.
I find parodies like this are much funnier if you know the original. Ken mentions Weird Al. I think his “Yoda” funnier for knowing “Lola” first. Or Chicago’s own Steve Dahl’s “Ayatollah” for “My Sharona.” I don’t know “Water Boy,” but “The Dance of the Hours” is one of my favorite pieces of light classical music, and “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadda” is awesome.
My father had a number of his albums and we loved to listen to them. I’d totally forgotten this one!! Thank you for reminding me. 🙂
Is it “I” or “I’d”?
I think “I’d rather” works better…
I hear it as “I”.
Grammatically should be “I’d” but the ‘d’ is hard to pronounce and, if emphasised, ends up either as an awkward catch in the rhythm, or else as “I drather”, so Sherman’s mild transgression is legitimate. IMO.
cr
I’m fonder of God Test Ye Murray Gittleman and My Zelda,
At catholic school we used to say “Hail Mary, full of grapes…” until the brother realised and caned the lot of us.
Still worth it.
I’m literally drinking Perrier at this very moment (and typing with one hand so it is literally literally true).
Amusing…. but for Jewish musical satirists nobody, and I mean absolutely NOBODY can match the breadth and intellectual depth of the great Tom Lehrer
Mentioning those Belafonte concerts reminds me of “The Ballad of Sigmund Freud” sung by the Chad Mitchell Trio. The lyrics struck a chord with a young social science enthusiast half a century ago:
“It all started in Vienna not so many years ago
When not enough of folks were getting sick
Then a starving young physician tried to better his position
By discovering what made his patients tick
He forgot about sclerosis and invented the psychosis
And a hundred ways that sex could be enjoyed
He adopted as his credo “down repression of libido!”
And that was the start of Doctor Sigmund Freud
Well, Doctor Freud, oh Doctor Freud
How we wish you had been differently employed
But the set of circumstances
Still enhances the finances
of the followers of Doctor Sigmund Freud
Well, he analyzed the dreams of the teens and libertines
Substituted monologue for pills
He drew crowds just like Will Sadler
When along came Jung and Adler
And they said by God, there’s gold in them darn’ ills!
They encountered no resistance
When they served as Freud’s assistants
As with ego and with id they deftly toyed
But instead of toting bedpans
They wore analytic deadpans
Those ambitious doctors Adler, Jung and Freud!
Well, Doctor Freud, oh Doctor Freud
How we wish you had been differently employed
But the set of circumstances
Still enhances the finances
of the followers of Doctor Sigmund Freud
Now the big three have departed
But not so the code the started
No, it’s being carried on by a goodly band
And to trauma shock and force us
Someone’s gone and added Rorschach
And the whole thing’s got completely out of hand!
So old boys with double chinsies
And a thousand would-be Kinseys
They discuss it at the drop of a repression
And I wouldn’t be complaining
But for all the loot I’m paying
Just to lie on someone’s couch and say confession!
Well, Doctor Freud, goes marchin’ in!
How we wish you had been differently employed
But the set of circumstances
Still enhances the finances
of the followers of Doctor Sigmund Freud
But the set of circumstances
Still enhances the finances
of the followers of Doctor Sigmund Freud”
This is rather long; can you just give a link to the lyrics next time? Thanks.
It is long
BUT
Lyrics websites … I mean, have you seen any? They are awful.
I request an excepofor lyrics. I posted lyrics here before that were long but the site source was probably terrible to touch and look at.
Before I pushed the button, I didn’t really remember how much of it there is, with the refrain and all 🙂 But you are right about those sites in general.
Sherman was great at this. On his albums, he tried hard to use only Public Domain melodies, but in the pre-Internet age, he nailed himself twice and had to settle, once for “My Zelda” and another time for “Seltzer Boy” (if memory serves).
My favorites include “My Zelda,” “Al and Yetta,” “The Ballad of Harry Lewis” (classic!), “The Bronx Bird Watcher” and “Shake Hands with Your Uncle Max.”
Oh! And how could I omit the inimitable “The Streets of Miami”?!
I wonder how Mickey Katz would cope with the 2018 copyright regulations.
Oh dear, I forgot “Shake Hands with Uncle Max”; what a trip! Here’s the link.
“Hello Muddah, Hello Fadda” was a hit even here in Australia. Sherman was funny.