We were hanging out in the studio with our old pal Lee Bo Henry and after several scotch & sodas, Lee started reminiscing about the old days, when we used to play house parties together. This was back in the early 90s …
One of the earliest songs in our set was 'It's Abe Vigoda's Birthday,' in fact written for our very first gig: February 24, 1993. We pasted the town with flyers for an 'Abe Vigoda's Birthday Party' and even served cake with 'Happy Abe Vigoda's Birthday' written in frosting! Everyone had a good time, and the band was born.
We resurrected the song for a second 'Abe Vigoda's Birthday Party' the following year, intending to make it an annual event, but we never ended up recording the song.
So, seeing that Abe Vigoda's Birthday was coming up, Lee convinced us to record the song and post it online for this now semi-legendary 'holiday.' It's a good example of our 'early work,' that is, good ol' crowd-pleasin' wackiness. That's Lee himself on vocals (he said this was always his favorite of our early songs).
Enjoy, and be sure to celebrate Abe Vigoda's Birthday this and every February 24th. Lyrics below (we had to cringe a little when we remembered that the song was originally written for Abe's 72nd … and this year is his 84th!).
February
24th is a date to be learned
84 years ago this day that Fish
evolved from sperm
And to think of all the happiness he'd
bring us
Gather 'round the mantle, let us all sing this
It's
Abe Vigoda's Birthday
Oh happy, happy day
It's Abe
Vigoda's Birthday
Let me hear you say
It's Abe Vigoda's
Birthday
Blow out the candles, have a piece of
cake
'Cause it's Abe Vigoda's Birthday today
We know
and love him as'Barney Miller's Fish
Now let us grant Abe
Vigoda his 84th birthday wish
(chorus)