[Dixielandjazz] Stan Freberg

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi All,

Freberg is maybe a bit off-topic for DJML, but it seems someone on the list knows the answer to even the most obscure questions, so here goes:

Freberg had a popular record (not sure if "hit" would describe it) with Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, which from memory was a Freberg composition. So far so good, but I used to play in a band with Scottish bassist, Lindsay Cooper (now sadly gone), who had lived and worked for years in Switzerland, and was married to a Swiss lady. One night in the band bus coming back from an out of town gig and after numerous tastes since we weren't driving, Lindsay started singing Viennese sentimental songs in German, then went into "Wann wir vergiften Tauben im Park." I assumed it was a straight translation of the Freberg song, but Lindsay insisted it had originally been written by a Viennese singer of comic satirical songs and he had heard it on an ancient 78 in his mother in law's house. He told me the singer's name, but it didn't ring any bells.

So come on folks, does anyone know who it might have been and whether his version came first and was borrowed by Freberg, or vice versa?

Cheers,

Ken Mathieson
www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk