Rostom Sipan Bagdasarian (January 27, 1919 – January 16, 1972), American pi… Read Full Bio ↴Rostom Sipan Bagdasarian (January 27, 1919 – January 16, 1972), American pianist, songwriter, actor, and record producer was born in Fresno, California, and was of Armenian ethnic descent. During his professional life he was better known by the stage name David Seville, which he used on his recordings featuring The Chipmunks.
His first musical success was Rosemary Clooney's "Come on-a My House", which he based the lyrics on dialogue from his famous cousin William Saroyan's novel The Human Comedy. He had a moderate hit in 1956 under the name Alfi & Harry with the novelty record "The Trouble With Harry." As David Seville, he had another #1 record in his song, "The Witch Doctor", which was also his first experiment with the technique of speeding up the playback of an audio track to get the "most-distinctive" higher pitched squeaky comical sound. This success led to his recording of "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" with The Chipmunks.
Bagdasarian also appeared in minor film roles, including Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), in which he plays an obsessed, piano-playing songwriter who composes, plays, and sings a song called "Lisa." Bagdasarian's dialogue is not clearly heard, and he appears only in long shots, but he is the only other person seen during Hitchcock's notorious cameo appearance. He also had bit parts in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Viva Zapata! (1952), Destination Gobi (1953), Stalag 17 (1953), Alaska Seas (1954), The Proud and Profane (1956), Three Violent People (1956), Hot Blood (1956), The Deep Six (1957), and The Devil's Hairpin (1957).
He also provided the voice for the David Seville character in the Chipmunks' 1961 animated television series The Alvin Show.
Bagdasarian died of a heart attack at the age of 52. He was subsequently cremated at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles, California. His son, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., continued to release Chipmunks recordings and took over as the voice for the Chipmunk characters in subsequent iterations of the cartoon.
His first musical success was Rosemary Clooney's "Come on-a My House", which he based the lyrics on dialogue from his famous cousin William Saroyan's novel The Human Comedy. He had a moderate hit in 1956 under the name Alfi & Harry with the novelty record "The Trouble With Harry." As David Seville, he had another #1 record in his song, "The Witch Doctor", which was also his first experiment with the technique of speeding up the playback of an audio track to get the "most-distinctive" higher pitched squeaky comical sound. This success led to his recording of "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" with The Chipmunks.
Bagdasarian also appeared in minor film roles, including Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), in which he plays an obsessed, piano-playing songwriter who composes, plays, and sings a song called "Lisa." Bagdasarian's dialogue is not clearly heard, and he appears only in long shots, but he is the only other person seen during Hitchcock's notorious cameo appearance. He also had bit parts in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Viva Zapata! (1952), Destination Gobi (1953), Stalag 17 (1953), Alaska Seas (1954), The Proud and Profane (1956), Three Violent People (1956), Hot Blood (1956), The Deep Six (1957), and The Devil's Hairpin (1957).
He also provided the voice for the David Seville character in the Chipmunks' 1961 animated television series The Alvin Show.
Bagdasarian died of a heart attack at the age of 52. He was subsequently cremated at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles, California. His son, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., continued to release Chipmunks recordings and took over as the voice for the Chipmunk characters in subsequent iterations of the cartoon.
Goofus
David Seville Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Goofus' by these artists:
Bent Fabric I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Bent Fabric & His Piano I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Bill Boyd's Cowboy Ramblers I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Carpenters I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Johnny Maddox I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Les Paul & Mary Ford I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Martin Taylor I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Phil Harris and His Orchestra I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Red Nichols & His 5 Pennies I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Slim Lamar I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Slim Lamar & His Southerners I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Slim Lamar and his Southerners I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Steve Howe I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Steve Howe & Martin Taylor I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Verne Langdon I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
Wayne King Orchestra I was born on a farm out in Ioway A flaming…
We have lyrics for these tracks by David Seville:
Chipmunk Song All right you Chipmunks! Ready to sing your song? I'll say w…
Christmas Don't Be Late All right you Chipmunks! Ready to sing your song? I'll say w…
Gotta Get To Your House Gotta get to your house Big brown eyes, pretty pink dress G…
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Have yourself a merry little Christmas Let your heart be lig…
Jingle Bell Rock Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock Jingle bells swi…
JINGLE BELLS Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock Jingle bells swin…
Little Brass Band Oh the piccolo plays and the banjo plunks and the…
Ragtime Cowboy Joe Out in Arizona where the bad men are, And the only…
The Bird On My Head I'm just sittin in a vacant lot with a bird…
The Chipmunk Song All right you Chipmunks! Ready to sing your song? I'll say w…
The Witch Doctor I told the witch doctor I was in love with…
Witch Doctor I told the witch doctor I was in love with…
Witchdoctor I told the witch doctor I was in love with…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@terriificlee
My grandmother and I would play Goofus and then flip the record and play The Thing. I can’t believe the both songs are here and that I still remember every word.
@johnferguson4089
Seems like we both have he same record! Great music and greetings from Australia.
@terrificlee5457
@John Ferguson I still have a stack of her 78s but many of my favorites are missing. She had quite a few by Phil Harris, so he must’ve been a popular entertainer in his day, though I’ve never seen him mentioned outside of YouTube. Salutations from Tennessee in the USA.
@marklammas2465
I used to sing The Thing at Junior School concerts !
@spencersmith2798
For a guy whose singing voice was “unique”, Mr. Harris sold a lot of records! An A+ entertainer, Phil may be gone but it’s highly unlikely he’ll be forgotten anytime soon...and to think he could balance a bandleading career, Alice Faye and gin all at the same time! Just teasin’...
@lorenengland2777
Great little tune.
@newambassador376
I have this on a 45 disc
@michaelham2366
I did a misclick and gave a thumbs down. I reversed it and gave the thumbs up I intended. This is a wonderfully noise-free (no clicks or scratches) version of this wonderful little song. Many thanks. (It was a favorite of my father's.)
@the78prof72
My pleasure, Michael....so glad that you like it!
@EngTecher
I found him! Phil Harris