A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions were ballads and dance music.^[1] Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 30s.^[2][3]

Novelty songs are often a parody or humor song, and may apply to a current event such as a holiday or a fad such as a dance. Many use unusual lyrics, subjects, sounds, or instrumentation, and may not even be musical. "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" has little music and is set to a rhythm tapped out on a snare drum and tambourine. One novelty song, a remix of "Axel F" by Crazy Frog, started as a mobile phone ringtone.

History[link]

Novelty songs were a major staple of Tin Pan Alley from its start in the late 19th century. They continued to proliferate in the early years of the 20th century, some rising to be among the biggest hits of the era.

Varieties included songs with an unusual gimmick, such as the stuttering in "K-K-K-Katy", silly lyrics like "Yes! We Have No Bananas", and invocations of foreign lands with emphasis on general feel of exoticism rather than geographic or anthropological accuracy, such as "Oh By Jingo!" and "Nagasaki".

A famous 1940s novelty song was the 1942 "Der Fuehrer's Face", and the 1952 #1 single "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" became notable for extensive play and backlash because the song became annoying. Dickie Goodman, the godfather of the genre, faced a lawsuit for his 1956 novelty song "The Flying Saucer", which used sampling. "Yakety Yak" became a #1 single on July 21, 1958 and is the only novelty song (#346) of the Songs of the Century. Satirists such as Stan Freberg and Tom Lehrer used novelty songs to poke fun at contemporary pop culture in the early 1950s. The first Best Comedy Recording Grammy was awarded to "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", which used a speeded-up voice technique to simulate a chipmunk voice.^[4] In 1964, the Grammy for Best Country and Western Album was awarded to Roger Miller's Dang Me/Chug-a-Lug, which had several novelty songs.

In 1991, "The Stonk" novelty song raised over £100,000 for the Comic Relief charity. In 1993, "Mr Blobby" became the second novelty song to reach the coveted Christmas number one slot in the UK, following Benny Hill's 1971 chart-topper "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)".^[5] After the fictitious composer P.D.Q. Bach repeatedly won the Best Comedy Album Grammy from 1990 to 1993, the category was changed to Best Spoken Comedy Album; when Best Comedy Album was reinstated in 2004, "Weird Al" Yankovic won for Poodle Hat.

Novelty songs were popular on radio through the 1980s, to the point where it was not uncommon for novelty songs to break into the top 40 (for instance, Chuck Berry's "My Ding-a-Ling" went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972). Freeform and album-oriented rock stations made use of novelty songs; some of the best-known work from Frank Zappa, for instance, is his extensive body of novelty music. Beginning in 1970, Dr. Demento's nationally syndicated radio show gave novelty songs an outlet for much of the country; this lasted through the mid-2000s, when the show (mirroring trends in the genre) faded in popularity until its terrestrial cancellation in June 2010. Novelty songs and parodies are fixtures on morning radio.

One of the longest selling novelty songs of "Rock and Roll" is Zane Ashton's whimsical "He Was A Mean Dragon," recorded in 1961 on Lan-Cet Records and still being sold on the internet today. Members of the band on the record include Ray Pohlman, Earl Palmer, and Al Casey, who said, "It was so funny I laughed my way through the whole session." With the recent re-issue of the record by Ace Records in England and entitled "The Dragon", this record is well on the way to actually becoming "The Longest Selling Novelty Record." The record was recently picked up to be sold on iTunes which will further enhance its longevity.

Examples of novelty songs[link]

The embedded lists in this article may contain items that are not encyclopedic. Please help out by removing such elements and incorporating appropriate items into the main body of the article. (February 2010)

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Aquila, Richard, That Old-time Rock & Roll: A Chronicle of an Era, 1954-1963. University of Illinois Press, 2000. ISBN 0-252-06919-6
• Axford, Elizabeth C. Song Sheets to Software: A Guide to Print Music, Software, and Web Sites for Musicians. Scarecrow Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8108-5027-3
• Hamm, Charles (ed.). Irving Berlin Early Songs. Marcel Dekker, 1995. ISBN 0-89579-305-9
• Tawa, Nicholas E. Supremely American: Popular Song in the 20th Century . Scarecrow Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8108-5295-0

Keller Williams
Williams at Langerado Music Festival March 9, 2008 Photo: Steve Moyles
Background information
Also known as	K-Dub, Keller
Born	(1970-02-04) February 4, 1970 (age 42) Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States
Genres	One-man band, rock, jam, progressive bluegrass, dance, funk, folk, alternative rock, jazz, reggae
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocalist, guitar, bass guitar, percussion, theremin, synthesizer, piano
Years active	1991–present
Labels	SCI Fidelity, Basil Leaf Music
Associated acts	The String Cheese Incident with Keller Williams Umphrey's McGee Yonder Mountain String Band Keller and The Keels The WMDs The Rhythm Devils
Website	http://kellerwilliams.net

Keller Williams (born February 4, 1970) is an American musician from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who began performing in the early 1990s. He is also known by the names K-Dub or just Keller, when performing. Williams' music combines elements of bluegrass, folk, alternative rock, reggae, electronica/dance, jazz, funk, and other assorted genres. He is often described as a 'one-man jam-band' due to his frequent use of live phrase looping with multiple instruments.^[1]

Touring[link]

Though primarily a solo artist, Williams has toured with several bands that include Yonder Mountain String Band, The String Cheese Incident, Umphrey's McGee and Ratdog, and has frequently performed at The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, the AllGood Music Festival, Summer Camp Music Festival, and the The Rothbury Festival.^[1] Williams has an audio taping policy of his performances, and for non-commercial trading of the recordings but use of video or flash photography, or any recordings for profit are prohibited.^[2]

Keller Williams Incident[link]

Keller Williams Incident is a collaborative performance between Williams and The String Cheese Incident. They have performed together, and Williams' 1999 album Breathe was released collaboratively as the Keller Williams Incident. Williams and SCI began collaborating after Williams saw the band perform in Colorado; offering to play with the band in exchange for free ski passes.

Larry Keel and Keller Williams jamming on a riverboat, May 25, 2010.

Keller Williams with Moseley, Droll and Sipe[link]

Williams also frequently performs with a backing band as "Keller Williams with Moseley Droll and Sipe". Formed in 2007 as the WMDs, they first played at the Bonnaroo music festival. The group consists of Williams on rhythm guitar, Jeff Sipe on drums, Keith Moseley on bass, and Gibb Droll on lead guitar. They changed their name from the WMDs in 2008.^[3]

Keller & The Keels[link]

"Keller & The Keels" is a bluegrass project consisting of Williams and the husband and wife combo of Larry and Jenny Keel. The trio released Grass in 2006, a collection of both original and cover songs. They released Thief, an album of cover songs, in May 2010.

The Sexy Bitches[link]

Keller played a side project with members of moe. and Umphrey's Mcgee at Summercamp 2009 called "The Sexy Bitches," not Keller McGee, as the group is sometimes named on the internet.

Instruments[link]

A self-taught musician, he usually performs with a variety instruments connected to several synchronized Gibson Echoplex Delay units, which allow him to play a riff once on an instrument, record, layer, and repeat it. This lets him play unaccompanied on stage, helping him to recreate the sound of a full band. He also uses a wide variety of effects, including an envelope filter expression pedal, wah pedal, a Line 6 tap delay, a Roland guitar synth, and a Talk Box.

His main guitars used are a Martin HD-28 and D-35, an Alvarez/Joe Veillette MTB baritone, a Gibson Chet Atkins SST Acoustic Electric Guitar with synth pickup routed to a Roland synth processor, a Fender Precision bass, an Avante baritone acoustic guitar, a Rick Turner baritone 12-string, a Tacoma Thunderhawk, an early 50's tempo and a Gordon Anderson custom 8-string.^[4]

In addition, Williams incorporates a variety of acoustic and electric percussion instruments into his live sets, most notably a Roland Handsonic HDP-15 drum machine. He also frequently performs on piano, a theremin, a Korg Kaossilator, a Macbook, and a set of Boomwhackers percussion tubes.

Other projects[link]

Williams currently hosts the radio show Keller's Cellar which has a live online stream and is pre-recorded at Wally Cleaver's in Fredericksburg, VA.^[5]

Williams recently started the "Once a Week Freak", on his website where every week he had released a new song from his new 2009 album "Odd". Upon release of every single song on the album, he released the entire album in a single download. And due to the large success of this idea, Williams has now chosen to keep the "Once a Week Freek" project going and releases a new song/video or two each and every week, usually on Wednesday. These tracks consist of live performances of previously recorded songs, unreleased covers of other bands' songs, or just different renditions of his own recorded music.

Williams played as a member of the Rhythm Devils with Grateful Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart at the Gathering of the Vibes festival in 2010. Williams then appeared with the Rhythm Devils in 9 July shows on their summer tour.^{[citation needed]}

Kdubalicious is a project involving Keller Williams on bass/guitar, Jay Starling on dobro/keyboards, and Mark D on drums. Kdubalicious is Reggae/ Dub/ Funk. Keller's project Kdubalicious formed in late 2010, and the group continues to play occasional shows. There was a unique winter concert held on a turf field in Fredericksburg, VA featuring Kdubalicous w/ Larry Keel, Jenny Keel, and John Starling in December 2010.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Keller Williams on February 3, 2006 at the Ridgefield Playhouse

• Freek (1994)
• Buzz (1996)
• Spun (1998)
• Breathe (1999) - (with The String Cheese Incident as Keller Williams Incident)
• Loop (live) (2001)
• Laugh (2002)
• Dance (2003)
• Home (2003)
• Stage (double live) (2004)
• Grass (2006) - (with The Keels as Keller & The Keels)
• Dream (2007)
• 12 (2007)
• Rex (Live at the Fillmore) (digital download) (2008) - (with Jeff Austin and Keith Moseley as Grateful Grass)
• Odd (2009)
• Thief (2010) - (with The Keels as Keller & The Keels)
• Kids (2010) (Children's Album)
• Bass (2011)

Compilations[link]

• High Times Presents Rip This Joint - Various Artists (2001

Guest appearances[link]

• The J. Case Show - Julian Casellas (2010)
• Seeds - Martin Sexton (2007)
• Chateau Benares - Sanjay Mishra (2006)
• Collision - DJ Harry (2004)
• On The Road: 04-14-02 Ann Arbor, MI - The String Cheese Incident (2002)
• On The Road: 04-13-02 Chicago, IL - The String Cheese Incident (2002)
• Solar Igniter — Modereko (2001)

Videos[link]

• Sight (2005, DVD)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Live recordings by Keller Williams at the Internet Archive
• Mike St. Thomas, "Keller Calling: An Interview with the King of Energy", Outside Bozeman

Allan Sherman
Sherman as a sheriff on The Loner, 1965.
Born	(1924-11-30)November 30, 1924 Chicago, Illinois, United States
Died	November 20, 1973(1973-11-20) (aged 48) Los Angeles, California, United States
Cause of death	Emphysema
Occupation	Comedy writer, television producer, singer, actor
Years active	1951–1973

Allan Sherman (November 30, 1924 – November 20, 1973) was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer (1962), became the fastest-selling record album up to that time. His biggest hit single was "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh", a comic novelty in which a boy describes his summer camp experiences to the tune of Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours.

Television writer and producer[link]

Sherman created the game show which he called I Know a Secret. Television producer Mark Goodson used Sherman's idea and turned it into I've Got a Secret, which ran on CBS from 1952 to 1967. Rather than paying him for the concept, Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions made Sherman the show's producer. Sherman was reported to be warm and kindhearted to all who worked for him. But sparks often flew between Sherman and anyone who was in a position to try to restrain his creativity.^[1] As producer of I've Got a Secret, which was broadcast live, he showed a fondness for large scale stunts that had the potential to teeter on the brink of disaster. He once released 100 rabbits onstage as an Easter surprise for the Madison Square Boys Club, whose members were seated in the studio. The boys were invited to come up onstage to collect their prize. Although the resultant melee made a good story, it did not necessarily make for good TV. The relationship between Mark Goodson-Bill Todman and Sherman became strained to the breaking point when he finally fought to execute an idea that was destined to fall flat. His plan was to have Tony Curtis teach the panel how to play some of the games he had played as a child growing up in New York City. The problems manifested themselves when it became obvious that Tony Curtis had never actually played any of the games that Sherman had brought the props for. The situation might have been salvaged had the props worked as planned, but they did not. The handkerchief parachute failed to open and land gracefully and the spool "tank" which was propelled by rubber band moved painfully slowly. The spot, which aired June 11, 1958, was a disaster and Sherman was fired as producer. His dismissal did not, however, prevent Mark Goodson-Bill Todman from bringing Sherman back many times as a guest on their shows in subsequent years after he achieved celebrity status following the release of his albums.

Sherman also produced a short-lived 1954 game show, What's Going On? which was technologically ambitious, with studio guests interacting with multiple live cameras in remote locations. In 1961 he produced a daytime game show for Al Singer Productions called Your Surprise Package which aired on CBS with host George Fenneman.

Song parodies[link]

In 1951 Sherman recorded a 78-rpm single with veteran singer Sylvia Froos which included the songs "A Satchel and a Seck," parodying "A Bushel and a Peck" from Guys and Dolls, and "Jake's Song." The single sold poorly and when Sherman wrote his autobiography, he did not make reference to it. Later, he found that the song parodies he performed to amuse his friends and family were taking on a life of their own. Sherman lived in the Brentwood section of West Los Angeles next door to Harpo Marx, who invited him to perform his song parodies at parties attended by Marx's show-biz friends. After one party, George Burns phoned a record executive and persuaded him to sign Sherman to a contract. The result was a long playing album of these parodies, My Son, the Folk Singer, which was released in 1962. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[2] The album was so successful that it was quickly followed by My Son, the Celebrity, which ended with "Shticks of One and Half a Dozen of the Other," fragments of song parodies including Robert Burns' "Comin' Thro' the Rye": "Do not make a stingy sandwich, pile the cold cuts high;/Customers should see salami comin' thru the rye" and "All day, all night Cary Grant," a takeoff on "Marianne."

In 1962, capitalizing on his success, Jubilee Records re-released Sherman's 1951 single on the album More Folk Songs by Allan Sherman and His Friends, which was a compilation of material by various Borscht Belt comedians, such as Sylvia Froos, Fyvush Finkle and Lee Tully, along with the Sherman material.

As suggested by the albums' titles, Sherman's first two LPs were mainly reworkings of old folk songs to infuse them with Jewish humor. His first minor hit was "Sarah Jackman" (pronounced "Jockman"), a takeoff of "Frère Jacques" in which he and a woman (Christine Nelson) exchange family gossip ("Sarah Jackman, Sarah Jackman,/How's by you? How's by you?/How's by you the family?/How's your sister Emily?" etc.) The popularity of "Sarah Jackman" (as well as the album My Son, the Folk Singer) was enhanced after President John F. Kennedy was spotted in a hotel lobby singing the song. By his peak with My Son, the Nut in 1963, however, Sherman had broadened both his subject matter and his choice of parody material and begun to appeal to a larger audience.

Sherman wrote his parody lyrics in collaboration with Lou Busch. A few of the Sherman/Busch songs are completely original creations, featuring original music as well as lyrics, rather than new lyrics applied to an existing melody. The Sherman/Busch originals – notably "Go to Sleep, Paul Revere" and "Peyton Place" – are novelty songs, showing genuine melodic originality as well as deft lyrics.

However, Sherman had trouble in getting permission to record for profit from some of the well-known composers and lyricists, who did not tolerate parodies or satires of their melodies and lyrics, including Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, George and Ira Gershwin, Alan Jay Lerner, and Frederick Loewe, as well as the estates of Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Kurt Weill, and Bertolt Brecht, which prevented him from releasing parodies or satires of their songs. In the early 1960s, Sherman and Busch wrote a musical called Fairfax Lady, a parody of My Fair Lady, without Alan Jay Lerner's approval. However, Lerner and Sherman agreed to a settlement, which permitted Fairfax Lady to be performed under strict conditions: it could only play at one theater in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, no photos or visual record of the show be made, and no cast album could be recorded. The musical received mixed reviews. A previously unreleased recording of Fairfax Lady, featuring Sherman's narration and Lou Busch at the piano, was included in the boxed set My Son, the Box.

Although Sherman believed that all the songs parodied on My Son, the Folk Singer were in the public domain, two of them, "Matilda" and "Water Boy" – parodied as "My Zelda" and "Seltzer Boy," respectively – were actually under copyright, and Sherman was sued for copyright infringement.^[3]

In 1963's My Son, The Nut, Sherman's pointed parodies of classical and popular tunes dealt with automation in the workplace ("Automation," to the tune of "Fascination"), space travel ("Eight Foot Two, Solid Blue," to "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue"), the exodus from the city to the suburbs ("Here's to the Crabgrass," to the tune of "English Country Garden"), and his own bloated figure ("Hail to Thee, Fat Person," which claims his obesity was a public service similar to the Marshall Plan).

A Top 40 hit[link]

One track from My Son, The Nut, a spoof of summer camp entitled "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh," became a surprise novelty hit, reaching No. 2 on the national Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks in late summer 1963. The lyrics were sung to the tune of one segment of Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours," familiar to the public because of its use in the Walt Disney film Fantasia. That December, Sherman's "The Twelve Gifts of Christmas" single appeared on Billboard's separate Christmas chart. Sherman had one other Top 40 hit, a 1965 take-off on the Petula Clark hit "Downtown" called "Crazy Downtown," which spent one week at #40. Two other Sherman singles charted in the lower regions of the Billboard 100: an updated "Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh" (#59 in 1964), and "The Drinking Man's Diet" (#98 in 1965). Sherman's "The End of a Symphony," spotlighting Arthur Fiedler's Boston Pops Orchestra, reached #113 on the "Bubbling Under" chart in 1964, but did not make the Hot 100.

The songs on Sherman's next album My Name Is Allan (1965) were thematically connected: except for a couple of original novelty songs with music by Sherman and Busch, all the songs on the album are parodies of songs that had won, or were nominated for, the Academy Award for Best Song. They included "That Old Black Magic," "Secret Love," "The Continental," "Chim Chim Cheree," and "Call Me Irresponsible." The cover of the album bore a childhood photograph of Sherman. That, and the album's title, were references to Barbra Streisand's album My Name Is Barbra, released earlier that year, which featured a cover photograph of the singer as a young girl.

During his brief heyday, Sherman's parodies were so popular that he had at least one contemporary imitator: My Son the Copycat was an album of song parodies performed by Stanley Ralph Ross, co-written by Ross and Bob Arbogast. Lest there be any doubt of whom Ross is copying, his album's cover bears a crossed-out photo of Sherman. One of the songs on this album is a fat man's lament, "I'm Called Little Butterball," parodying "I'm Called Little Buttercup" from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta HMS Pinafore. Sherman would later parody this same song as "Little Butterball" – with the same subject matter – on his album Allan in Wonderland. The song may have had more poignancy for Sherman, as he, unlike Stanley Ross, was genuinely overweight. Sherman also parodied Gilbert and Sullivan's "Titwillow" from The Mikado, in the song "The Bronx Bird-Watcher" (on My Son, the Celebrity), as well as several other Gilbert and Sullivan songs.

Later work[link]

At the height of his popularity in 1965, Sherman published an autobiography, A Gift of Laughter, and, for a short period at least, Sherman was culturally ubiquitous. He sang on and guest-hosted The Tonight Show, was involved in the production of Bill Cosby's first three albums, appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and sang "The Dropouts' March" on the March 6, 1964, edition of the NBC-TV satirical program That Was The Week That Was.

Also in 1964, Sherman narrated his own version of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf in a live concert at Tanglewood with the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler. The concert, which was released as the album Peter and the Commissar, also included "Variations on 'How Dry I Am,'" with Sherman as conductor, and "The End of a Symphony." In "Variations," Fiedler was the guest soloist, providing solo hiccups. In 2004, Collector's Choice reissued the complete RCA Victor album on CD.^[4]

Sherman's later albums grew more pointedly satirical and less light-hearted, skewering protesting students ("The Rebel"), consumer debt ("A Waste of Money", based on "A Taste of Honey"), and the generation gap ("Crazy Downtown" and "Pop Hates the Beatles").

Sherman was often tapped to produce specialty song parodies for corporations. An album of six paper-cup and vending machine related songs, titled Music to Dispense With, was created for the Container Division of the Scott Paper Company for distribution to its vendors and customers. It consisted of the tracks "Makin' Coffee," "Vending Machines," "There Are Cups," "That's How the Change Is Made," "The Wonderful Tree in the Forest" and "Scott Cups."^[5]

Sherman also created a group of eight "public education" radio spots for Encron carpet fibers, singing their praises to the tunes of old public-domain songs. Entitled Allan Sherman Pours It On for Carpets Made with Encron Polyester, it featured an introduction by Sherman and comprised the tracks "Encron Is A Brand New Fiber" (to the tune of "Shine On, Harvest Moon"), "Put Them All Together, They Spell Encron" (to the tune of Eddy Arnold's "M-O-T-H-E-R"), "There's A Fiber Called Encron" (to the tune of William H. Hill's "There is a Tavern in the Town"), "Encron Alive, Alive-O" (to the tune of "Molly Malone"), "Encron's the Name", "Why They Call It Encron" (to the tune of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart"), "Encron, Encron" (to the tune of "Daisy Bell") and "Encron Is a Great New Fiber" (to the tune of "Take Me to the Fair").^[6]

Decline[link]

Sherman's career success was short-lived: after peaking in 1963, his popularity declined rather quickly. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, impersonator Vaughn Meader vowed to never again do a Kennedy impression, and perhaps because of this ominous shadow – Meader was a very popular parody impressionist of the day – and the resulting reluctance to book such acts, the public saw less of Sherman's type of comedy.^[7] By 1965, Sherman had released two albums that did not make the Top 50 and in 1966, Warner Bros. dropped him from the label. His last album for the company, Togetherness, was released in 1967 to poor reviews and poorer sales. All of Sherman's previous releases had been recorded in front of a live studio audience – or in the case of Live, Hoping You Are the Same, recorded during a Las Vegas performance – but Togetherness was not, and the lack of an audience and their response affected the result, as did the nondescript backup singers and studio orchestra.

In 1969, Sherman wrote the script and lyrics – but not the music, which was written by Albert Hague – for The Fig Leaves Are Falling, a flop Broadway musical that lasted only four performances in 1969, despite direction by George Abbott and a cast that included Barry Nelson, Dorothy Loudon and David Cassidy.^[8] Still creative, in 1973 Sherman published the controversial The Rape of the A*P*E*, which detailed his point of view on American Puritanism and the sexual revolution.

In 1971, Sherman was the voice of Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat for the television special. He also did voice work for Dr. Seuss on the Loose, his last project before his death.

Death[link]

Late in his life, Sherman drank and ate heavily which resulted in a dangerous weight gain; he later developed diabetes and struggled with lung disease.^{[citation needed]} In 1966, his wife Dee filed for divorce and received full custody of their son and daughter.^{[citation needed]}

Sherman lived on unemployment benefits for a time and moved into the Motion Picture Home near Calabasas, California for a short time to lose weight.^{[citation needed]}He died of emphysema at home in West Hollywood ten days before his 49th birthday. He is entombed in Culver City, California's Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy[link]

Sherman was the inspiration for a new generation of developing parodists such as "Weird Al" Yankovic, who pays homage to Sherman on the cover of his first LP. Sherman's hit song, "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" has been translated into other languages. In one notable example, the Dutch-Swedish poet Cornelis Vreeswijk translated the song loosely into Swedish as "Brev från kolonien" (Letter from Summer Camp), which reached fourth on the Swedish popular music chart Svensktoppen in the summer of 1965^[9] and is still popular in Sweden today.^[10]

A Best of Allan Sherman CD was released in 1990, and a boxed set of most of his songs was released in 2005 under the title My Son, the Box. In 1992 a musical revue of his songs titled Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah ran for over a year off-off-Broadway; other productions ran Off-Broadway for four months in 2001^[11] and toured in 2003. A children's book based on the song Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!, with illustrations by Syd Hoff, was published in 2004.

On March 14, 2006, National Public Radio profiled Sherman on All Things Considered.^[12]

In 2010, eight of Allan Sherman's Warner Brothers albums were individually released on CD:

• My Son, The Folk Singer
• My Son, The Celebrity
• My Son, The Nut
• Allan in Wonderland
• For Swingin' Livers Only
• My Name is Allan
• Live! (Hoping You Are The Same)
• Togetherness

Allan's son, Robert, later became a game show producer, producing game shows for Mark Goodson during the 1970s and 1980s, including Password Plus, Blockbusters, Body Language and Super Password.

In popular culture[link]

• Sherman's song "Rat Fink" was covered by punk rock band The Misfits as "Ratt Fink", on their 1979 single "Night of the Living Dead". It was also covered by Ex-Misfits guitarist Bobby Steele by his band The Undead. Sherman wrote the song as a parody of "Rag Mop," originally performed by Johnnie Lee Wills and popularized by The Ames Brothers in 1950.
• In the "Three Gays of the Condo" episode of The Simpsons, "Weird Al" Yankovic makes a guest appearance. When Homer asks Yankovic if he got the two songs he recorded and sent in, Yankovic replies that he did. When Homer asks which he liked better, Yankovic replies, "They were pretty much the same, Homer." Homer then mutters angrily, "Yeah, like you and Allan Sherman." Another reference to Sherman came in the episode "Marge Be Not Proud" when Bart hid an answering machine tape in a copy of his Camp Granada album – "where no one would ever listen to it."
• The group Capitol Steps used "Hello Mullah, Hello Faddah" as a parody in Fools On The Hill (Songs of 1992).

Works[link]

Discography[link]

• My Son, the Folk Singer (1962)
• More Folk Songs by Allan Sherman and His Friends (1962) [pirated album]
• My Son, the Celebrity (1963)
• My Son, the Nut (1963)
• Guys and Dolls, Reprise Musical Repertory Theatre studio recording (1963)--"Sue Me" (duet with Debbie Reynolds)
• Allan in Wonderland (1964)
• Peter and the Commissar (1964)
• For Swingin' Livers Only (1964) (a play on Sinatra's album title Songs for Swingin' Lovers)
• My Name is Allan (1965) (a play on Streisand's album title My Name is Barbra)
• Live!! (Hoping You Are The Same) (1966)
• Togetherness (1967)
• Best of Allan Sherman (Posthumous, 1979)
• My Son, The Greatest (Posthumous, 1990)
• My Son, The Box (Posthumous, 2005)

Musical theatre[link]

• The Fig Leaves Are Falling (1969) – musical – lyricist and book-writer
  • Songs: "All Is Well in Larchmont," "Lillian," "All of My Laughter," "Give Me a Cause," "Today I Saw a Rose," "We," "For Our Sake," "Light One Candle," "Oh, Boy," "The Fig Leaves Are Falling," "For the Rest of My Life," "I Like It," "Broken Heart," "Old Fashioned Song," "Lillian, Lillian, Lillian," "Did I Ever Really Live?" The music was composed by Albert Hague.

See also[link]

• Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah! (musical review & children's book)
• Camp Granada

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Instant Status (or Up Your Image) (G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1964) (tear-out pages of celebrity thank you letters you can address to yourself and leave around your home or office to impress people)
• I Can't Dance! (children's picture book, illustrated by Syd Hoff) (Harper & Row, 1964)
• A Gift of Laughter: The Autobiography of Allan Sherman (Atheneum, 1965)
• The Rape of the A*P*E* – The Official History of the Sex Revolution 1945–1973: The Obscening of America. An R*S*V*P* Document (Playboy Press, 1973) ISBN 0-87216-453-5
  • The title page notes that "APE" stands for "American Puritan Ethic" and "RSVP" for "Redeeming Social Value Pornography"
• Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, (children's picture book based on song) (Dutton Books, 2004) ISBN 0-525-46942-7

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Allan Sherman at the Internet Movie Database
• Allan Sherman at Allmusic
• Allan Sherman: The Internet Site
• Complete Discography
• Allan Sherman discography
• Review of Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh, the Allan Sherman Musical Revue
• Allan Sherman at Find a Grave

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Ray Stevens (born Harold Ray Ragsdale, January 24, 1939^[2]) is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become equally well known for his serious material as he has for his novelty songs.

Early life[link]

Stevens was born Harry Ray Ragsdale on January 24, 1939, in Clarkdale, Georgia. While attending high school, Stevens formed his first band, a rhythm and blues group he named the Barons. Following his graduation from high school, Stevens enrolled in Georgia State University as a music major.^[3]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Capitol Records signed Stevens to their Prep Records division in 1957,^[3] and produced the singles "Silver Bracelet," that Billboard predicted to be a teen favorite, and "Rang Tang Ding Dong," about a Japanese sandman, for which Billboard credited the 16-year-old Stevens' vocals as "strong, attractive."^[4] The latter song was a cover of a song recorded by Manhattan doo-wop group The Cellos in 1957, and written by Cellos bass singer Alvin Williams.^[5]

In 1958, Bill Lowery created the National Recording Corporation (NRC), and brought Stevens on board playing numerous instruments, arranging music, and performing background vocals for its band. Around that time, he had adopted the professional name of "Ray Stevens," which was inspired by his middle name and his mother's maiden name. Lowery was unable to collect debts from his own accounts and was forced into bankruptcy.^[6]

Stevens then signed with Mercury Records^[7] with whom Stevens recorded a series of hit records in the 1960s that included songs such as "Ahab the Arab," "Harry the Hairy Ape," "Funny Man," the original recording of "Santa Claus Is Watching You," and "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving, Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills." The song that introduced Stevens to most of his fan base is "Ahab the Arab," which reached number five on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1962.

In 1966, Stevens signed with Monument Records and started to release serious material such as "Mr. Businessman" in 1968, a Top 30 pop hit; "Have a Little Talk With Myself" and the original version of "Sunday Morning Coming Down" in 1969, which became Stevens' first two singles to reach the country music charts. O.C. Smith covered the Stevens-penned Isn't It Lonely Together while Sammy Davis, Jr. covered Have a Little Talk With Myself. Stevens continued releasing novelty songs, and in 1969 he had a Top 10 pop hit with "Gitarzan." Stevens also became a regular on The Andy Williams Show during the 1969–1970 season, and he hosted his own summer show, The Ray Stevens Show, in 1970. In Australia, Ross D. Wylie reached the top 20 with his cover of the Stevens-penned, Funny Man. Stevens' collection of Hot 100 hits is evenly divided between serious and novelty.

As an A&R man, music producer, songwriter, and music arranger he assisted countless artists in the recording studio during his years at Mercury Records and Monument Records, 1961 through early 1970. Some of the acts he was associated with during that time period were Brenda Lee, Brook Benton, Patti Page, Joe Dowell, Dusty Springfield, and Dolly Parton. Stevens was a writer or co-writer of several songs those particular acts recorded. My True Confession , a Top-10 on the R&B chart in 1963 for Brook Benton, was written by Stevens and Margie Singleton. Stevens was the arranger for an obscure Doyle Holly recording titled "My Heart Cries For You" which had been recorded previously by Stevens during the late 1950s.

1970s[link]

Starting in the 1970s, Stevens became a producer and well-known studio musician on the Nashville scene. He recorded songs for Barnaby Records and Warner Brothers during 1970–1979. Stevens' biggest hit in the United States was his gospel-inflected single "Everything Is Beautiful" (1970). The single won a Grammy Award, was the theme song for his summer 1970 TV show, hit number one on both the pop and Adult-Contemporary charts, and marked his first time in the Top 40 on the country charts, peaking at number 39. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[8] His other 1970 singles were "America, Communicate With Me" and "Sunset Strip," both of which reached the Top 20 on the Adult-Contemporary lists. His novelty song "Bridget the Midget (The Queen of The Blues)" made number two on the United Kingdom chart in 1971 and in the US it reached number 50. Stevens had a gospel/country hit single in early 1972 with Albert E. Brumley's "Turn Your Radio On," reaching the country Top 20. Two more of Stevens' songs in 1971 were also minor pop hits, "A Mama and a Papa" and "All My Trials," but both crossed over to the Top 10 Adult-Contemporary lists. Stevens frequently toured Canada and went overseas to the UK. A rock-infected gospel arrangement accompanied his version of "Love Lifted Me" and it became a hit single in Bangkok in the fall of 1972, finding its way into the Top Five for the week ending September 30.

In 1973, Stevens had a top 40 country hit with the title track of his album, "Nashville," and increased his exposure on television by performing on a variety of prime-time programs of the era. In 1974, Stevens recorded perhaps his most famous hit, "The Streak," which poked fun at the early-1970s fad of running nude in public, known as "streaking." It made number one in both the UK and the US and No. 3 on the country chart. In 1975, he released the Grammy-winning "Misty," which became his biggest country hit (reaching number three on the country charts and number 14 on the pop charts); he also entered the country Top 40 with a doo-wop version of "Indian Love Call," "Everybody Needs a Rainbow," and a ballad version of "Young Love" in early 1976. Stevens' tenure with Barnaby came to an end in early 1976.

Stevens joined Warner Brothers in 1976, where his debut was a strong showing with three hit singles in a row. The first was the up-tempo version of "You Are So Beautiful," which reached the country Top 20, then "Honky Tonk Waltz," which reached the Top 30. He then released a novelty single: under the pseudonym "Henhouse Five Plus Too," Stevens recorded a version of Glenn Miller's "In The Mood" in the style of a clucking chicken; it became a Top 40 hit in the US and UK in early 1977. In 1978 he had a hit with "Be Your Own Best Friend" on the country charts, and in 1979 he had his last Hot 100 hit (to date) with the novelty "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow," which he released from the album The Feeling's Not Right Again. In the US, Stevens' singles would reach only the country chart nationally thereafter. He joined RCA in late 1979, releasing new material in 1980.

1980s[link]

After joining RCA in 1980, Stevens continued having hit singles, but with somewhat less success than in the previous decade. His debut single, the Top 10 "Shriner's Convention" and then the Top 20 love ballad "Night Games" performed relatively well on the charts. In 1981, only one single made the charts, the Top 40 hit "One More Last Chance." In 1982, after he had released a few more singles, notably the Top 40 "Written Down in My Heart," Stevens left RCA and returned to Mercury Records, the label that made him a star in the early 1960s. This resulted in only one album, the 1983 project Me, and only one chart hit, "My Dad," in early 1984.

In 1985, Stevens sung the credits song for Stephen King's "Cat's Eye" (1985).

Stevens then joined MCA in 1984 as a "country comedy" act and thereafter released only novelty song albums. The fan-voted Music City News awards named Stevens Comedian of the Year annually for nine consecutive years from 1986 to 1994. A few of Stevens' commercial singles charted on the Single Sales charts during this time, but only one single, "Mississippi Squirrel Revival," made it to the Top 40. "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" reached the Top 20, making that his final single to hit the Top-40 portion of the country singles chart. "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex" is the only single during his 1984–1989 stint on MCA that came close to reaching the Top 40, stalling at number 41 in 1987. Second to that, the other single close to hitting the Top 40 on the country chart was the number 45 hit "The Haircut Song" in 1985.

His comedy albums were nonetheless enjoying widespread success. His first series of albums for MCA all made the country charts with several of them remaining on the charts for months at a time. His first two albums for MCA reached the Top-5 with I Have Returned hitting the top spot in early 1986. Afterward his albums routinely peaked in the middle of the charts. A 1987 Greatest Hits album became a platinum seller while several other releases achieved gold status. One of the trademarks of Stevens' string of comedy albums were the photo shoots. For example, on one album he's dressed up as Napoleon Bonaparte, on another he's Humpty Dumpty, and on another he's dressed as General Douglas MacArthur. Stevens' lack of airplay wasn't affecting his ability to sell records. National shows like Hee-Haw and a variety of programs on The Nashville Network frequently gave exposure to all forms of country music.

1990s[link]

Stevens left MCA in 1989 for Curb/Capitol Records. His first release arrived in 1990. The two labels split up soon after and Curb Records continued releasing material on Stevens. His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits, a compilation project released by Curb in 1990, became a gold album by mid-decade. Lend Me Your Ears and Number One With a Bullet were released in 1990 and 1991 respectively. The latter featured the satirical hit "Working for the Japanese" in which Stevens sings about the American economy and how dollars are boosting overseas economies instead of its own.

In the 1990s, Stevens took new directions. The most ambitious was the opening of his own theater in Branson, Missouri in 1991. The theater business had been steadily growing in the small Missouri town of Branson for a period of years and by the time Stevens began building his theater the area was reaching its peak. Stevens benefited from the theater boom largely because his stage show was different from others. His reputation as a comedian and as an all-around entertainer meant that for most tourists his show was one of the destination spots judging by the number of sold-out performances he gave at the theater. When crowds reacted favorably to his music videos being played on a large screen at his theater Stevens began selling videos for his fans to take home.

In the spring and summer of 1992, his Comedy Video Classics became a million-selling home video through direct marketing and television advertisements. Commercials for Stevens' home video aired countless times throughout 1992, mostly in the morning hours and often during late-night. Branson was also experiencing its highest commercial peak in the summer and fall of both 1992 and 1993. Ray Stevens was back in the national media once again with his enormously successful home video and music theater. In the midst of all the success, though, Stevens closed down his theater after the 1993 season citing exhaustion and monotony after doing two shows a day, six days a week, for five to six months at a time. Several of his performances at his theater were filmed and surfaced in home video form. Ray Stevens Live! became another home video mail-order success in 1993 following the same path of Comedy Video Classics.

Meanwhile, Comedy Video Classics had become available for retail distribution and it became a big seller again. In 1993, it was named Home Video of the Year by Billboard magazine in their annual end of the year publication which cites the most popular artists, songs, CDs, and video items of the year.

Classic Ray Stevens was issued in the early fall of 1993. This was the first audio release from Stevens since early 1991. The album's title was a reference to the classical-looking photo shoot which features a bust of Ray Stevens mocking Beethoven. The home video of Ray Stevens Live! was released to retail stores in 1994 and it became a Top-5 success on Billboard's Home Video chart. The concert video often ranked above or below Comedy Video Classics on the charts. In the late summer of 1995, the movie Get Serious! was released on home video.

The movie, which runs 1 hour and 50 minutes, offers several plots and a collection of newly-produced music videos which act as commentary to the action. One plot point of the movie centers on a fictional record company for which Stevens records being bought out by a Japanese conglomerate. This is a reference to the consolidation practices taking place in the music industry. Another plot-point deals with Stevens' reputation as a comical singer and how the new executive of the fictional record company, based vocally on Paul Lynde, wants Stevens to change his image from comedy to classical opera. Stevens refuses and this brings to the surface another plot-point of the movie: political correctness. Seeking revenge on Stevens, the executive hatches a plan to ruin Stevens’ career by labeling him politically incorrect. The last plot-point centers on character defamation as numerous characters from several Stevens songs turn out to really exist and they want to sue the singer for defamation. This plot is based on a song that Stevens recorded in 1986 entitled "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol" where a local policeman stops Stevens for speeding and afterward informs the singer that he's in a whole lot of trouble for using easily identifiable people as characters in his songs. The song was re-recorded specifically for the movie as Dudley Dorite is one of the main characters in the movie. He's portrayed by Stevens' long-time songwriting partner, C.W. Kalb, Jr..

The home video became another mail-order success throughout 1995 and was released to retail stores, via MCA, late in 1996. The video hit the Top-5 on Billboard's Home Video chart early in 1997 during a more than 20 week chart run. Stevens had by this point exited Curb Records.

Stevens found a new home with his previous label, MCA. MCA was responsible for the retail distribution of Get Serious! and for marketing Ray as a comical singer for the first time in the mid-1980s.

The reunion with MCA consisted of the retail release of Get Serious! in late 1996 and two new audio CD's in 1997: Hum It and Christmas Through a Different Window, the latter release being a collection of Christmas novelty songs. After the MCA contract ended, Stevens became exclusive to his own label, Clyde Records, for a period of years.

On-line rumors began circulating about his death. The confusion may have arisen in the summer of 1996 following the death of a wrestler named Ray "The Crippler" Stevens. The singer Ray Stevens once recorded a wrestling song entitled "The Blue Cyclone." Stevens, the singer, reported to the media that his office had received thousands of sympathy cards due to the confusion.

In April 1999 Stevens was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer and had to cancel his series of concerts at the Acuff Theatre that summer. Stevens received a clean bill of health upon successful surgery and returned to the stage in time to deliver his Christmas concert series.

2000s (2000–2009)[link]

After the partnership with MCA ended, he remained active on his own label, Clyde Records, until he found another home with Curb Records, returning to the label in 2001. Early in 2002, "Osama Yo' Mama" was released. It made the country Top 50, reached the Top-5 on the country single sales chart, achieved Gold selling status, and the album of the same name reached the country Top-30. After the release of this album Stevens returned to Branson, Missouri and re-opened his theater in 2004. He remained active there for three more seasons. He shut the theater down for good after the 2006 season, selling it off to cable network RFD-TV, which continues to operate it to this day.

An obscure release called "The New Battle of New Orleans" came along in 2005 as a response to the vandals and looters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Many people confused the version of The New Battle of New Orleans by its principal writer, Chuck Redden, with the version by Stevens. The recording by the writer features much more pointed accusations and assertions and it is this version which appears on various web-sites specializing in lyric re-printing. The confusion arises when these web-sites credit Stevens as the singer of that version.

Ray and his songwriter friend Buddy Kalb removed a lot of the original lyrics in the song and supplied new lyrics in a more G-rated setting. In spite of the various lyrical re-writes by Stevens and Kalb, the overall point of the song that the locals expected and demanded too much from their government, is still clear. The song was issued as a single-only in 2005.

Curb Records, in the meantime, continued to release DVD music video collections on Stevens during this time. The music videos featured limited animation.

Stevens returned to releasing music once again in 2007, firstly in July 2007, with the single-only "Ruby Falls," a combination of jazz, blues, and country music, and secondly with the CD New Orleans Moon, released on his own label. This CD contains various songs in tribute and honor to New Orleans and Louisiana. Stevens covers "Louisiana Man," "Louisiana," "The Battle of New Orleans," "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans," "New Orleans," and several more.

The following year Stevens issued the album Hurricane, also on his own label. It was released in February 2008 at Stevens' on-line music store at his website then was released nationally in November of that year to a wider audience. This CD featured a wide array of comical songs including a pair of redneck anthems, "Hey Bubba, Watch This!" and "Bubba the Wine Connoisseur." The CD also marked the debut of "Sucking Sound," a political/economic song about Ross Perot and how his warnings of the flaws in a global economy, which were mocked in 1992, became somewhat of a reality by 2008, resulting in massive lay-offs and job losses.

Concurrently in 2008, a tribute to the songs of Frank Sinatra that Stevens recorded was also being offered at the web-site store during the latter half of 2008. The album is titled Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What?? and it became nationally distributed in February 2009. Stevens did not promote or publicize the tribute album. Later in 2009 he released One for the Road, a CD aimed primarily at truckers. It was sold exclusively at the Pilot truck stops for several weeks prior to its release nationally. The CD contains a mixture of material ranging from truck driver oriented songs to somber ballads. There are also several re-recordings of his greatest hits added into the equation. There are fifteen tracks featured on the trucker CD in which the first three tracks, in addition to track seven, specifically deal with situations while on the road: "Concrete Sailor," "Convoy," "Right Reverend Road Hog McGraw," and "Hang Up and Drive." "Mary Lou Nights" and "Oh, Lonesome Me." "Retired" originated as a duet between Stevens and Brent Burns but for this CD it is delivered solo.

In 2009 Stevens was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and he appeared on the PBS series Legends and Lyrics. A television show that Stevens stars in, We Ain't Dead Yet, became available to subscribers at his web page. The subscription is to an exclusive section of his web-page called "Ray Stevens Backstage" and each month a different episode becomes available. The series focuses on senior citizens and it usually features a special guest each episode stopping by the main set, a retirement home, to perform songs.

In the early fall of 2009 Stevens released a holiday collection of songs titled Ray Stevens Christmas. Late in November an EP became available featuring a couple of his serious Christmas songs but the main attraction was his cover of Seymour Swine's (a fictional group that recorded a stuttering rendition of "Blue Christmas") "Blue Christmas," complete with stutter. Stevens had also recorded a non-comical version of this song for his Ray Stevens Christmas release. The stuttering version can only be found on the EP release.

In December 2009, Stevens issued the single and on-line video "We the People," which quickly became a viral video and surpassed a million unique views in a month's time on YouTube. The video is critical of health care reform. Stevens followed this music video with "Caribou Barbie" in March 2010. This music video is supportive of Sarah Palin. The video uses a Palin impersonator and through the help of sight-gags it takes aim at several high-profile personalities on cable television.

2010s (2010–present)[link]

Stevens issued another music video on YouTube, "Throw the Bums Out!," as a direct response to the March 2010 passage of health care reform legislation in the House of Representatives.

In April 2010 Stevens released a collection that includes a CD and a DVD, titled We the People. The project features 22 political songs. The four music videos on the DVD are "We the People," "Caribou Barbie," "Throw the Bums Out!," and "Thank You," Stevens appeared in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2010, as part of the tax day rally associated with the Tea Party. On April 24, 2010 the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum honored the career of Ray Stevens in the recurring series "Nashville Cats: A Celebration of Music City Musicians." The special focused mostly on Stevens' career as a Nashville-session musician during the 1960s and 1970s.

On May 13, 2010, the music video of "Come to the USA" was released. This is a song dealing with the hot button issue of illegal immigration. The song uses exaggeration and small doses of satire to comment on illegal immigration acceptance internationally compared with the United States’ more passive policy. The song was written and recorded before the Arizona illegal immigration bill, SB 1070, was introduced to the nation. The music video became Stevens' second to surpass a million unique views on YouTube; the first being "We the People." Following the release of the "Come to the USA" music video Stevens found himself being spotlighted again on the Fox News Channel and then by The New York Times. Stevens' We the People CD made its Top-10 debut on the Billboard Comedy Album chart for the week ending June 26, 2010, and it moved into the Top-5 for the week ending July 3, 2010. Meanwhile, a new music video, "The Global Warming Song," had become available on YouTube on June 29. The song, the sixth release from his We the People CD, is a broad exaggeration on the global warming topic, drawing inspiration from the concept of the Earth's temperature rising beyond control. The song depicts a couple of brothers who hold fort in a frozen wasteland with a money-making scheme of awaiting the arrival of climate change. The song is purposely silly and plays on the fears of global warming.

Starting in July 2010 and running through August most PBS stations aired a special titled Marvin Hamlisch Presents the 1970s: The Way We Were during pledge drive fundraisers. The special celebrates the music of the 1970s and Ray Stevens participated in the proceedings. Stevens' contributions include "Everything Is Beautiful," "The Streak," and "Misty." On July 31 Stevens made a guest appearance on the Grand Ole Opry.

On August 4, 2010 a new music video from Stevens made its debut on YouTube. This time around the subject matter is the Federal Government of the United States and the on-going war of words with Arizona over immigration. The song, "God Save Arizona," criticizes the policies of the Federal Government and it questions the competence of Eric Holder, the United States Attorney General with regards to the Federal lawsuit brought against Arizona. The beginning of the song starts out as a tribute to the U.S.S. Arizona during World War II before switching to a look at a modern-day verbal war between Arizona's State Government and the Federal Government.

Given the overall on-line popularity of his music videos on YouTube it enabled Stevens to reach a milestone in early September 2010. This milestone refers to the collective number of plays that all of his music videos had obtained up until that point in time. When the play totals for each officially-released music video were tallied the collective total reached ten million. "Come to the USA" obtained over four million YouTube unique views while "We the People" had obtained over three million.

Stevens returned to Branson, Missouri once again in mid September to kick off a nearly month-long engagement at The Welk Resort which ran through October 23. On the last date of his concert series at the Welk Theatre he participated in a Tea Party rally held in Branson earlier in the day. The rally was billed as 'the Pre-Election Pink Slip Rally and Concert' and it took place throughout most of the morning and into the afternoon. Stevens performed "We the People" and "Throw the Bums Out!" at the rally and that night wrapped up his concert series at the Welk Theatre.

On November 3, the day after the 2010 mid-term elections, Stevens uploaded a new music video on YouTube entitled "Nightmare Before Christmas." The song has nothing to do with politics or elections but instead deals with political correctness gone amuck as Santa Claus gets arrested and is charged with crimes against a politically correct society. In the video Stevens portrays himself, Santa, the prosecutor, and the Judge. Political correctness and the mockery of liberal-progressive special interest groups is at the crux of the song.

On November 29 Stevens alerted his audience via the social network site Twitter that he would be recording ten new political comedy songs. Several days prior, on November 23, Stevens announced on his Facebook page that he's in the process of recording a huge project of one hundred songs to be released at some point entitled The Encyclopedia of Musical Comedy Recordings. On December 2, "Bad Angel," a song that Stevens published and his daughter, Suzi Ragsdale, co-wrote, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Country Collaboration category. The song's trio of artists are Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, and Jamey Johnson. It is available on Bentley's CD Up on The Ridge.

On January 19, 2011 via Twitter, Stevens announced that he would take part in the annual CPAC gathering in Washington, D.C. The event takes place during February 10–12. On January 24 Stevens turned 72 years old and showing no signs of slowing down he embarked on what he referred to as a radio call-in tour. The first program that Stevens called was the Charlie Brennan radio show on KMOX in St. Louis on January 28 to promote a brand new recording about airport security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Next, on February 2, Ray called in to KWEL in Texas to promote his TSA song and the latest happenings in his career.

Stevens called-in to the Jim Bohannon radio program on February 4 resulting in an interview that lasted about one hour. On February 7 he called-in to the Martha Zoller program and a radio program that aired on Minnesota's KLTF. On February 8 a CD single along with an Mp3 single of The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore became commercially available. On February 9 Stevens was spotlighted on the XM and Sirius satellite radio program Cruisin' with Cousin' Brucie which spotlights 1960s pop songs.

Stevens performed three songs while at CPAC on February 10, 2011. The airport security/TSA song entitled The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore kicked off the performance while he followed it with "We the People" and concluded the appearance with a song entitled "Mr. President-Mr. President" which takes a comical look at how President Barack Obama is viewed by a segment of the population amidst domestic and foreign turmoil. On February 17 Stevens called-in to WSGI radio's Steve Jarrell program, "Big Daddy-o on the Patio." Later that same day Stevens uploaded the much-anticipated music video of "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore."

On February 18 Stevens called radio stations KSCJ and KDWN to promote the music video and to talk about politics in general. By February 24 "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" soared past the 52,000 play mark on YouTube.

On February 25 Stevens gave an interview on radio station WPTF's Bill Lumaye program and later the same day appeared on the Fox Business Network program, Freedom Watch, hosted by Judge Andrew Napolitano. In the television interview Stevens offered his opinions of the current political climate, the TSA, and announced that his next single would deal with President Obama's budget plan.

On February 27 the RFD-TV network reran a 1972 episode of Hee-Haw which featured Stevens as one of the guests. He performed Turn Your Radio On and Along Came Jones. On that same day, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" had amassed over 70,000 unique views on YouTube in a span of ten days. Continuing the mostly talk radio station promotion of his TSA song Stevens called the Daybreak USA program on February 28 and on March 2 he called in to Ed Morrissey's radio program. On March 17 one of Stevens' previous music videos, "Come to the USA," reached the five million mark on YouTube. On March 25, via Twitter, Stevens announced that he taped a performance for an upcoming television show hosted by country singer Ronnie McDowell titled Music City Late Night.

On April 14 Stevens decided to end his subscription-based web-site, Ray Stevens Backstage, after a two year run. The site was aimed at providing the most ardent of fans with exclusive content. Upon its cancellation it was revealed that elements of the Backstage site would be incorporated into the main Ray Stevens web-site. A classic music video from Ray uploaded on YouTube in 2009 but taped in 1992 entitled The Mississippi Squirrel Revival surpassed a million on-line views. This became the third music video from Stevens to obtain at least a million on-line views. On April 25 Stevens uploaded a new music video onto YouTube entitled "The Obama Budget Plan." A video clip was highlighted on The O'Reilly Factor. The same day, April 25, Stevens released his latest collection of songs, The Spirit of '76, which contains the previously mentioned "Obama Budget Plan," "God Save Arizona," and "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore."

The collection was available in its earliest weeks of release in digital download format. By May 1, Stevens' "Obama Budget Plan" on-line music video had generated over 95,000 unique views in less than a week's time. Later that same night news broke on the death of Osama bin Laden and as a result Stevens' music video from 2002 entitled "Osama Yo' Mama," which was uploaded on YouTube in 2009, experienced a resurgence in on-line activity. The video had received more than 990,000 unique views prior to the news of bin Laden's death and in the aftermath it received more than 20,000 additional plays causing it to surpass a million on-line views and as a result it became his fourth music video to surpass a million plays.

On May 5 Stevens called the Lars Larson show on radio station KXL to discuss current events. On May 11 he appeared at a conservative rally in Franklin, Tennessee billed as Conservatives on the Move. Stevens made the rounds of the Fox Business Network in early June during a trip to New York to promote the Obama budget music video and his Spirit of '76 collection. On June 2 Stevens made an appearance on America's Nightly Scoreboard, an economics program hosted by David Asman on the Fox Business Network. The following day, June 3, Stevens made an appearance on Freedom Watch hosted by Judge Napolitano.

On June 4 Stevens appeared on Huckabee, which airs on the Fox News Channel and is hosted by Mike Huckabee. It was on the latter program that Stevens performed "Obama Budget Plan" for the first time on television. On June 27 Stevens appeared at a star-studded reunion at the Quonset Hut Studio. Legendary session musicians and artists gathered to celebrate the studio's history, perform songs, and tell stories about the recording sessions.

After a low-key July, Stevens kicked off the month of August being interviewed on WSM radio. The interview took place on a program hosted by WSM DJ and Grand Ole Opry announcer, Eddie Stubbs, titled Intimate Evenings. The interview aired on August 1. The 2-hour series airs from the Country Music Hall of Fame. The host played several of Ray's songs and often mentioned how packed the venue was and how electric the atmosphere felt. A lot of time was spent on Ray's past (his career, after all, goes back to 1957) but yet there was also discussion of Ray's current recordings and activity. Ray offered his opinions on politics and other topical issues...bringing chuckles and cheers from the host and from the audience. Several days later, on August 9, the CD copy of his digital release from April, Spirit of '76, was released to wider distribution. Previously the CD copy had only been available at the singer's web-site store.

On August 12 the "Obama Budget Plan" music video surpassed half a million views and by the middle of September it had surpassed 700,000 on-line views. On September 27 Stevens uploaded the music video, "Mr. President - Mr. President," and it quickly amassed more than 200,000 unique views in a little more than a week's time. A snippet of the video, during the first days of its YouTube availability, was previewed on The O'Reilly Factor. On October 7 the song was heard on Mark Levin's nationally syndicated radio program. On October 10 Stevens announced that his upcoming novelty song encyclopedia will consist of nine CDs and will be released in January 2012. In December his music video, "Obama Budget Plan," obtained 1,000,000 on-line views. It happened on Christmas Eve.

The release date for The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music was pushed back one month from January 2012 to February. The release date was February 28, 2012. Publicity for the collection started a week earlier when Stevens made an appearance on the GAC news/video program, On the Streets, on February 21. Stevens gave an interview for the radio series, American Country Countdown, hosted by Nashville songwriter and half of the Brooks and Dunn duo, Kix Brooks. The interview is part of a segment known as The Back Forty.

On February 27 Stevens uploaded a brief video on You Tube promoting the collection. In the video clip Stevens appears on camera and talks about the collection. There is also footage of him performing at his recording studio. On February 29, just a day after releasing the 9-CD encyclopedia box set, Stevens' on-line music video, "Mr. President - Mr. President," passed the half a million mark in YouTube views. On March 8 Stevens appeared on the RFD-TV series, Larry's Country Diner, and performed four songs: The Preacher and the Bear, I Still Write Your Name in the Show, Get a Job, and Mississippi Squirrel Revival. The songs are part of The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. Also on March 8 an article on Ray by a writer named Chuck Dauphin appeared on Billboard.com detailing the Encyclopedia's contents. The article also included Ray's feelings about the lack of an abundance of comedy songs on contemporary radio stations, the comedy song's lack of respect, and the unfounded stigma that exists about comedy songs.

April 5 saw the You Tube release of a live version of "We The People" recorded in Branson, Missouri during one of his series of concerts. The video's gotten more than 7,500 views with hardly any promotional hype behind it. A day later on April 6 a fast-paced four minute commercial was uploaded onto YouTube promoting the Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. The commercial features Buddy Kalb, one of Ray's business associates and songwriters, as well as Ray giving detail about the box set. On April 10 Stevens appeared on Fox and Friends and performed a brief medley of some of the songs on the Encyclopedia. Afterwards he appeared on their "After the Show show", and discussed more about the Encyclopedia and performed "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" in its entirety. Later that evening Stevens was a guest on the Fox Across America radio program hosted by Spencer Hughes. On April 14 Stevens was featured on the country music interview and lifestyle program, Crook and Chase. The syndicated series airs on Saturdays.

On May 6 comedian/actor George Lindsey passed away at the age of 83. A long-time friend of Ray's, Lindsey appeared at Ray's CD release party on February 28th when the 9-CD box set became available. Lindsey had also appeared with Stevens at the Country Music Hall of Fame during the induction of Sonny James in 2006. Stevens and Lindsey dressed up as Indians and performed the song, Running Bear, which had been a big hit for James. Prior to this, Lindsey made a cameo appearance in Stevens' 1995 direct-to-video movie, Get Serious!. Stevens attended George Lindsey's funeral on May 11th and performed "Everything Is Beautiful".

Videos[link]

Stevens' songs have been showcased in several videos. "Gitarzan" was featured on Disc 1 of "The Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection." Stevens videos were frequently offered via television commercials. 1992's "Comedy Video Classics" contained 8 music videos, winning the Home Video of the Year in 1993 as well as other awards. Two videos filmed at his Branson, Missouri theatre "Ray Stevens Live!" and "More Ray Stevens Live!" were released in 1993, although the second collection was only available to fan club members at the time. In 1995 he released a movie, "Get Serious!," which contains ten music videos sandwiched within an actual movie. The film runs 110 minutes. The video collection "Latest and Greatest" was released in 1996. In 2000 he released "Funniest Video Characters" including the video to his 1985 song "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone." In 2004 "Greatest Video Characters" was released...this was a large all-encompassing collection of music videos from Stevens that had been released on previous collections. Stevens' video albums are released by mail order on his own label, Clyde Records. Beginning in late 2009 Stevens began releasing new music videos directly to YouTube. A lot of the music videos released by Stevens since December 2009 are political in nature. The music videos, many of which have obtained more than half a million unique views, have helped establish Stevens as a legitimate political entertainer.

Grammy Awards[link]

Stevens has 11 Grammy nominations and won two Grammy Awards: one for "Everything Is Beautiful" and one for the arrangement of his country and western version of the jazz standard "Misty" (1975). Stevens was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 as well as the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

Other awards and accomplishments[link]

• 1969: Gold Single — "Gitarzan"
• 1970: Gold Single — "Everything Is Beautiful"
• 1970: Grammy — "Everything Is Beautiful" (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance)
• 1974: Gold Single — "The Streak"
• 1975: Grammy — "Misty" (Best Arrangement of the Year)
• 1980: Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
• 1980: Georgia Music Hall of Fame
• 1984: Gold Album — "He Thinks He's Ray Stevens"
• 1985: Gold Album — "I Have Returned"
• 1986: Music City News Comedian of the Year
• 1986: #1 Country Album Plaque from Billboard — "I Have Returned" (week ending March 15, 1986)
• 1987: Music City News Comedian of the Year
• 1987: Platinum Album — "Greatest Hits"
• 1987: Gold Album — "Greatest Hits, Volume Two"
• 1988: Music City News Comedian of the Year
• 1989: Music City News Comedian of the Year
• 1990: Music City News Comedian of the Year
• 1990: Gold Album — "All-Time Greatest Comic Hits"
• 1991: Music City News Comedian of the Year
• 1992: Music City News Comedian of the Year
• 1992: #1 Home Video Plaque from Billboard — "Comedy Video Classics"
• 1992: Ten Times-Platinum Home Video — "Comedy Video Classics"
• 1993: Billboard Home Video of the Year
• 1993: Music City News Comedian of the Year
• 1993: Platinum Home Video — "Ray Stevens Live!"
• 1994: Music City News Comedian of the Year
• 1995: Platinum Home Video — "Get Serious!"
• 1995: Country Weekly Golden Pick Award "Best Comedian"
• 2001: Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame
• 2002: Gold Single — "Osama Yo' Mama"
• 2009: Christian Music Hall of Fame

Music City News was a monthly subscription magazine which reported on the latest happenings among country music celebrities. The magazine's subscribers for the most part voted in the annual awards. Years later fans from all over the country could call and vote for their favorite acts in addition to the subscribers who used voting ballots. The winners of the fan voted awards were showcased nationally in an awards gala broadcast on CBS and later, The Nashville Network. Stevens won in the Comedian of the Year category nine consecutive years and performed on their awards telecasts on a consistent basis.

Stevens was the recipient of several publisher awards from BMI Music for songs he either wrote, recorded, or published. Some of the recordings that received these citations were Everything Is Beautiful, The Streak, Shriner's Convention, Gitarzan, and several songs recorded by Sammy Kershaw and published by Stevens.

In July 2009 Stevens began uploading music videos onto YouTube for the first time. Many of the uploads were of music videos that were made in the early and mid-1990s. His user name, raystevensmusic, has since released quite a few music videos on YouTube and by late summer of 2010, a combined total of 10,000,000 unique views was obtained.

Discography[link]

• See Ray Stevens discography

References[link]

• Roy, Don (1998). "Ray Stevens." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music, Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 507.

External links[link]

• Official website
• Video magazine and subscriber's website