Why Dave Frishberg Rocks

One of my favorite singer/songwriters is a guy most of you have heard, but never heard of. You've seen his name on my Schoolhouse Rock pages, as author of such songs as "I'm Just A Bill", "Hardware", "Number Cruncher", "Dollars And Sense", "$7.50 Once A Week" and "Walking On Wall Street", the latter two of which he sung.

But Dave Frishberg is more than just those songs. He has an entire catalogue of quirky songs with names like "My Attorney, Bernie", "Blizzard Of Lies" (a tune inspired by wife Samantha who collected lots of "yeah, right" type epithets like "The check is in the mail", "Your secret's safe with me", "I am not a crook", etc.), and some songs that have actually become standards like "Do You Miss New York" and "Let's Eat Home" (both recorded by Rosemary Clooney, a fervent promoter of Frishberg's work who also covered "Sweet Kentucky Ham"). He's collaborated with the likes of Bob Dorough (a Schoolhouse Rock colleague on a tune called "I'm Hip") and Alan Broadbent ("Marilyn Monroe").

But Frishberg is probably best known for a song whose lyrics entirely consist of the names of baseball players - "Van Lingle Mungo", named for a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants from 1931-1945. Frishberg noted that growing up in pre-Twins Minnesota, baseball players were nothing more than names in newspaper boxscores.

This page documents one baseball card collector's quest to obtain one card from each of the players mentioned in the song "Van Lingle Mungo". Some of the more prolific players mentioned in the song include Johnny Mize, Roy Campanella and Early Wynn; the obscure, rare ones who only played a few years and don't have many cards include Pinky May, Augie Bergamo, and a player who shares his name with one of my nephews, Danny Gardella. Frishberg followed up "Van Lingle Mungo" with a slightly similar, but more coherent tune called "Dodger Blue" which was premiered at a Dodgers old-timers day game.

Frishberg is like another of my jazz favorites, the beautiful and talented Diana Krall, in that they both have voices that you wouldn't associate with a singer. Frishberg has a very nasal, pinched tone. But their delivery is first rate and their piano playing is impeccable. Catch Frishberg if he ever shows up in your area (he does a great live show), and go find his CD's on Amazon, CD Now, or eBay.