Dominic Vautier 1/7/2011
So who wrote this thing? Fred Fisher did. He was an eccentric guy to say the least and he seemed like an out-of-place comedian with an English-murdering German dialect. Fisher walked around with a drunken sway acquired from his many years as a sailor in the German Navy. His lantern-jawed face bore a deep saber scar on his left cheek, a grim reminder of the many years he had spent in the French Foreign Legion.
Fred Fisher was a natural with music. It is said that he learned to play the piano in one easy lesson from a black entertainer in a South State Street saloon in New York. Fisher instantly became a songwriter, and a remarkably successful one from the start.
Fisher preferred comedy songs, but write what the market "vonted".
“Zong writing is a question of zounds not zense. If you create new zounds you make money. If you can’t get new zounds, den you must write mit passion.”
Fisher's biggest hit was perhaps The Girl with the Harem Eyes which became one of the biggest selling recordings of the early part if the century; 6,500,000 records in addition to many million sheet music copies.
Back cover
Back Cover
