- Oh My Pa-Pa (O Mein Papa)
"Oh mein Papa" is a
German language song about the death of a beloved clown father, written byPaul Burkhard in 1939 for a musical called "Der Schwarze Hecht" (reproduced in 1950 as "Feuerwerk" (Fireworks)),lyrics byErik Charell , Jürg Amstein, and Robert Gilbert.Recordings
The song has been performed and recorded by numerous artists since then, including
Alan Breeze , Annette Klooger,Billy Cotton ,Billy Vaughn ,Connie Francis , Diana Decker,The Everly Brothers ,Harry James , Ken Mackintosh,Lys Assia ,Malcolm Vaughan , Muriel Smith,Ray Anthony & his Orchestra,Russ Morgan & his Orchestra, The Beverley Sisters, The Brasshats, The Radio Revellers, and many others.Under the original German title, an
instrumental version by trumpeterEddie Calvert topped theUK Singles Chart in 1954 and was also a Top 10 hit in the U.S.It was adapted into English by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons under the title "Oh! My Pa-Pa". A recording by Eddie Fisher became a #1 hit on the U.S. charts in 1954. Fisher's version also made the UK Top 10; thus, in the UK, Calvert's version was number one while Fisher's made the Top 10 but missed the top spot, and in the U.S., the roles were reversed.
The opening stanza was momentarily quoted in
Frank Zappa 's "Billy the Mountain " (1972). [cite web
url = http://www.science.uva.nl/~robbert/zappa/albums/Just_Another_Band_From_L.A./01.html
title = Just Another Band From L.A. — Billy The Mountain
accessdate = 2008-06-04
publisher = Robbert Heederik]The song was also in the episode "
Like Father, Like Clown " of "The Simpsons " sung byKrusty the Clown . [cite web
url = http://www.snpp.com/episodes/8F05.html
title = Like Father, Like Clown
accessdate = 2008-06-30
last = Chen
first = Raymond
publisher = The Simpsons Archive]References
Literature
*cite book
last = Flury
first = Philipp
coauthors = Kaufmann, Peter
title = O mein Papa… Paul Burkhard: Leben und Werk
year = 1979
publisher = Orell Füssli/Neue Schweizer Bibliothek
location = Zürich
language = German
oclc = 6787865
isbn = 3280011299
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