1963 Songs: Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (A Letter From Camp)

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Happy Resurrection Sunday to all the Christians throughout the world and myLot land! I hope your day is blessed. I’m continuing to celebrate my birth month by looking at songs that aren’t quite as old as I am but are in the same general vicinity…60 years! Here’s one you probably don’t remember….or maybe wish you could forget. Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah A Letter From Camp) - Allan Sherman You remember Leonard Skinner He got ptomaine poising last night after dinner I’m happy to report that Leonard recovered and got a job in Jacksonville, where he kicked Ronnie Van Zant out of school for having long hair! There was a camp thing going on in those days. We had “The Battle of Kookamunga,” this, and the TV series Camp Runamuck. (Worthless trivia: future Partridge Family manager Dave Madden was in that TV show.) I never went to camp, and based on the songs I didn’t want to. As you all know, my knowledge of the more refined music styles is pretty limited. I know most of my classical and opera from Bugs Bunny. This song helped. The melody is “Dance of the Hours” from La Gioconda. The lyrics are pure Allan Sherman insanity. Sherman was a parodist, much like Weird Al although way before Weird Al (I think Weird Al was in preschool when this was a hit). He was quite popular in his time, mixing Jewish humor (“My Zelda”) and general insanity for a string of successful comedy albums. Unfortunately, the success was fleeting and Sherman quickly fell by the wayside. He died at the young age of 48 of respiratory failure and other ailments brought on by alcoholism and obesity. Thanks to Doctor Demento, Sherman’s music lived on for new generations to discover. Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (A Letter From Camp) Written by Allan Sherman and Lou Busch Melody by Amilcare Ponchielli Recorded by Allan Sherman From My Son, the Nut, 1963 They’re about to organize a searching party: