I didn't decide I was crazy until 1952. That's when I began making a steady salary and could afford to be crazy.

Due to his parents constantly moving to new residences Allan attended over a dozen public schools in Chicago New York Los Angeles and Miami. Although Sherman believed that all the songs parodied on My Son the Folk Singer were in the public domain two of them "Matilda" and "Water Boy" – parodied as "My Zelda" and "Seltzer Boy" respectively – were actually under copyright and Sherman was sued for copyright infringement. Television producer Mark Goodson used Sherman's idea and turned it into I've Got a Secret which ran on CBS from 1952 to 1967.

His first album My Son the Folk Singer (1962) became the fastest-selling record album up to that time. Allan Sherman (born Allan Copelon; November 30 1924 – November 20 1973) was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s.