Yesterday, I was going on about Dave Frishberg, and mentioned “My Attorney Bernie”. I don’t expect anyone actually looked it up, so I’ll make it easy for y’all. Here’s Dave performing that song on the Tonight Show when Johnny Carson was the host. I first heard this song about 30 years ago on the radio as I was driving across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I didn’t know you could write a funny song, deliver it in a colloquial manner, with a certain cool jazzy musical language. It’s a song about trouble, really. Why else do you get a lawyer? But this is an example of a good relationship, a good lawyer, good advice, carefully followed, and a grateful client. I’m dedicating this Song of the Day to our Board Member Peter Thall, a good lawyer who has always given us good advice. Thanks Peter!
Dave Frishberg: My Attorney Bernie
Written by Michael Barrett
Associate Artistic Director, NYFOS
In category: Song of the Day
Published June 27, 2018
author: Michael Barrett
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Michael Barrett is the co-founder and associate artistic director of New York Festival of Song, as well as the co-founder and music director of the Moab Music Festival in Utah. A conductor and a pianist, Michael was a protégé of Leonard Bernstein and serves as music advisor to the Leonard Bernstein Estate.
Wow. Frishberg wrote the song and must have performed in dozens, hundreds, of times. So it’s not like it was unfamiliar to him. But he blows the lyric at the end. I guess first time on national TV will do that to a guy.