In the pantheon of American comedy, there's a special corner reserved for the work of song parodists. The form arguably reached its greatest heights under the aegis of Stan Freberg in the 1950s. Freberg and his stable of talented voice artists (including animation legends Daws Butler, Paul Frees and June Foray) knew no sacred cows and their amazing body of work still inspires gales of laughter today. (Any comedy fan unfamiliar with the Freberg oeuvre is advised to seek out Rhino's exhaustive 1999 box set, Tip of the Freberg.  You'll be hooked for life!)

Following in Freberg's footsteps a few short years later and creating some of the 1960s' best-selling LPs was an unusual gentleman by the name of Allan Sherman. The portly, bespectacled Sherman had first tackled a popular song in 1951 with his single "A Satchel and a Seck," recorded with singer Sylvia Froos, parodying Frank Loesser's hit "A Bushel and a Pack" from Loesser's musical Guys and Dolls. Despite the single's lack of success, he continued writing parodies for the amusement of famous friends like Harpo Marx and George Burns. Sherman finally secured a record deal with the still-young Warner Bros. Records label in 1962, and the result was the LP My Son, the Folk Singer. Its familiar melodies outfitted with Jewish-inflected humor turned Sherman into a star virtually overnight, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart and reportedly selling so fast that Warner Bros. had no choice but to start selling the vinyl without its sleeve; the whole package couldn't be produced quickly enough to meet the album's high demand. President John F. Kennedy was said to be a fan. (Ironically, Sherman was persuaded by his label to employ public-domain folk standards for this first LP's source material; eminent composer Richard Rodgers famously called him a "destroyer" while other top names of the day discouraged his parodying their material.)

Sherman's fame hit its epoch with 1963's chart-topping My Son, the Nut which introduced his enduring "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" and stayed at No. 1 for 8 weeks. In all, Sherman recorded eight albums from 1962 to 1967, showing his disdain for rock music with his dry "Pop Hates The Beatles" (from 1964's For Swingin' Livers Only, titled in homage to Frank Sinatra but released at the height of Beatlemania) and with the non-LP single "Crazy Downtown," mocking Petula Clark's hit. His final LP, Togetherness, gave Sherman's comic spin to the New Vaudeville Band's "Winchester Cathedral," reinvented as "Westchester Hadassah," and Fiddler on the Roof's "If I Were a Rich Man," which found new life as "If I Were a Tishman." Not even a young Barbra Streisand escaped Sherman's eye as he spoofed the cover to her My Name is Barbra for, what else, 1965's My Name is Allan, which included "That Old Black Magic" rewritten as "That Old Back Scratcher" and an irreverent "Chim Chim Cher-ee." Late in the decade, Sherman turned his attention to various other areas. He wrote book and lyrics to Albert Hague's music for a Broadway musical (1969's The Fig Leaves Are Falling, which was a massive flop) and more successfully performed voiceover work, creating the voice of the animated Cat in the Hat in 1971. Allan Sherman's story had a tragic ending with his death in 1973 from emphysema, a mere 10 days short of the age of 49.

Yet Sherman's work lives on. He has been frequently remembered by disciple "Weird Al" Yankovic, and his entire Warner Bros. catalog was anthologized by Rhino Handmade in 2005's exhaustive box set My Son, the Box. This 6-CD set also included a number of rarities and unreleased tracks, including Sherman's complete parody of My Fair Lady, which was prevented by the musical's authors from seeing release in 1962; song titles included "With a Little Bit of Lox" and "Get Me to the Temple on Time." Still, Sherman's original LPs have never seen CD release in their original form. Collectors' Choice Music rectifies this on July 6, when all eight of Sherman's Warner Bros. LPs will be reissued by the enterprising label, from 1962's My Son, the Folk Singer to 1967's Togetherness, his only LP recorded without an audience. Titles and links to pre-order with full track listings follow after the jump!

My Son, the Folk Singer (Warner Bros. LP WS-1475, 1962 - reissued as CCM CD 21372, 2010)

1. The Ballad of Harry Lewis
2. Shake Hands with Your Uncle Max
3. Sir Greenbaum's Madrigal
4. My Zelda
5. The Streets of Miami
6. Sarah Jackman
7. Jump Down, Spin Around (Pick a Dress o'Cotton)
8. Seltzer Boy
9. Oh Boy
10. Shticks and Stones

My Son, the Celebrity (Warner Bros. LP WS-1487, 1962 - reissued as CCM CD 21382, 2010)

1. Al 'n Yetta
2. Medley: Barry is the Baby's Name/Horowitz/Get on the Garden Freeway
3. Mexican Hat Dance
4. The Bronx Bird Watcher
5. The "Let's All Call Up AT&T and Protest to the President" March
6. Harvey and Sheila
7. Won't You Come Home, Disraeli?
8. No One's Perfect
9. When I Was a Lad
10. Shticks of One and Half a Dozen of the Other

My Son, the Nut (Warner Bros. LP WS-1501, 1963 - reissued as CCM CD 21392, 2010)

1. You Went the Wrong Way, Old King Louie
2. Automation
3. I See Bones
4. Hungarian Goulash No. 5
5. Headaches
6. Here's to the Crabgrass
7. Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter from Camp)
8. One Hippopotami
9. Ratt Fink
10. You're Getting to Be a Rabbit with Me
11. Eight Feet Two, Solid Blue
12. Hail to Thee, Fat Person

Allan in Wonderland (Warner Bros. LP WS-1539, 1964 - reissued as CCM CD 21402, 2010)

1. Skin
2. Lotsa Luck
3. Green Stamps
4. Holiday for States
5. You Need an Analyst
6. The Drop-Outs March
7. I Can't Dance
8. Night and Day (with Punctuation Marks)
9. Little Butterball
10. Good Advice

For Swingin' Livers Only (Warner Bros. LP WS-1569, 1964 - reissued as CCM CD 21412, 2010)

1. Grow, Mrs. Goldfarb
2. Your Mother's Here to Stay
3. Pills
4. Shine On, Harvey Bloom
5. J.C. Cohen
6. Pop Hates The Beatles
7. Beautiful Teamsters
8. Kiss of Myer
9. America's a Nice Italian Name
10. The 12 Gifts of Christmas
11. Bye Bye Blumberg

My Name is Allan (Warner Bros. LP WS-1604, 1965 - reissued as CCM CD 21422, 2010)

1. It's a Most Unusual Play
2. The Large Daark Aardvark Song
3. That Old Back Scratcher
4. Call Me
5. Peyton Place, U.S.A.
6. The Drinking Man's Diet
7. Secret Code
8. The Painless Dentist Song
9. Chim Chim Cher-ee
10. Go to Sleep, Paul Revere!
11. An Average Song

Allan Sherman Live! (Hoping You Are the Same) (Warner Bros. LP WS-1649, 1966 - reissued as CCM CD 21432, 2010)

1. Introduction - Short Songs: Hello Muddah - Nevada Style/A Song Written by Elizabeth Taylor
2. Taking Lessons
3. A Waste of Money
4. How Van Nuys Got Its Name
5. Smog Gets in Your Eyes
6. Scotch and/or Water
7. Sorry 'Bout That
8. The Learner's Brassiere
9. Mononucleosis
10. In Which I Finally Admit That I Won WWII Single-Handed
11. Dodgin' the Draft
12. The Rebel
13. Warning to Those Who Have a Low Threshold of Sex
14. When I'm in the Mood for Love (You're in the Mood for Herring)
15. Second Hand Nose
16. A Few Words About the Chinese New Year
17. Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long
18. If I Could Play Piano
19. Son of Peyton Place

Togetherness (Warner Bros. LP WS-1684, 1967 - reissued as CCM CD 21442, 2010)

1. Westchester Hadassah
2. Strange Things in My Soup
3. Turn Back the Clock
4. Signs
5. Down the Drain
6. Plan Ahead
7. Togetherness
8. Spanish Flea
9. My Aunt Minnie
10. If I Were a Tishman
11. There's No Governor Like Our New Governor