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.
I Can't Give You Anything But Love
David Seville Lyrics
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 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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Salvador Pedroza Fernández
Thank you very much, James, great work of compilation and editing. Many memories. Thanks for all this. From México City...
lorrane
Wow, this takes me back to simpler times. Love it
Eliza
dude!! LOVE all the classic tv references! thanks so much for this joyous video! perfect song for it; it all takes me back.
Kamon Paranormal
I ❤️ the classic witch doctor music
Kurt Olson
Awesome song , the good old days
Lee Quinn
I didn't know Gomez and Morticia and Gomer Pyle were such great dancers. Heck even Grandma Clampett has it going on. I truly enjoyed this video.
sealyoness
Share the credits, please. I know you imported it. As fun as it was, the imaginative person who put it together shouldn't be ignored. Until you do share the credit where it's due... well. I retract my joy and recommendations.
Aplustradomus
David Sevilla is a real person well damn
Sharri Garvin
President Trunps new favorite song. Thank you Dr. Stella
TV SciEnTiSt
I have a feeling this tune plays more in Biden's head tbh