The Story Behind The Song
This song started out as an instrumental by Raymond Scott and his Quintet. Quaintly, it was called a Quintet despite the fact that Scott made up the sixth man playing with the group. Raymond Scott, born Harry Warnow was Mark Warnow's younger brother and their father owned a musical supply store in the Brooklyn neighborhood where I grew up. Mark had an early success as a conductor of radio orchestras and programs, heading YOUR HIT PARADE for many seasons. Both brothers were brilliant musicians and Harry's (Scott's) success came later via his Quintet and some wonderful instrumentals that he wrote.
Because of our friendship, I was asked if I would write lyrics to Raymond's instrumentals, the first of which turned out to be "In An 18th Century Drawing Room" which became a huge success. "Boy Scout In Switzerland" and "Pretty Little Petticoat" were two more that followed, ending with another success; "Huckleberry Duck." I tried to imbue all my lyrics with the same sense of humor that Raymond had written into all of his instrumentals.
