Singer-songwriter Ross Bagdasarian Sr., better known as David Seville, was born on this day in 1919. He would go on to create Alvin and the Chipmunks, who were named after executives of Liberty Records, Si (Simon) Waronker, Ted (Theodore) Keep, and Alvin Bennett. "Witch Doctor" was Seville singing with his higher-pitched self, achieved by speeding up the tape on which his voice was recorded. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over 1.5 million copies in 1958.
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
Talent runs in the family. His cousin and sometimes collaborator is the great play write and novelist, William Saroyan.
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Amazing how that works, isn’r it?
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I remember this insane song from its day — I guess it wasn’t so insane — I was 8, and I thought I was special because I liked classical music while other kids listened to silly stuff like this — but I enjoyed it, too, and remember it 60+ years later. Although there was a cold war and a nuclear threat and I was only a child, those still look like innocent and beautiful times in retrospect, when you could sing “ooh eee ooh aah aah ting tang walla walla bing bang” and not be taken to task by … say … people who lived in Walla Walla etc…
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I know what you mean.
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I love Dave Seville, so creative and so funny.
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He’s great, isn’t he?
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I sang this song once, long ago to my spouse. He thought it was another of my “made up” songs. I had to find it and play it for him for him to believe me that it was real. Thanks for the blast to the past.
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You showed him, didn’t you?
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😏
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