"""On a tree by a river a little tom-tit sang 'Willow, titwillow, titwillow!"" is the opening of a song from which work by Gilbert and Sullivan?"
Allan Sherman the songs on this album is a fat man's lament, "I'm Called Little Butterball", parodying "I'm Called Little Buttercup" from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta "HMS Pinafore". Sherman would later parody this same song as "Little Butterball" – with the same subject matter – on his album "Allan in Wonderland". The song may have had more poignancy for Sherman, as he, unlike Stanley Ross, was genuinely overweight. Sherman also parodied Gilbert and Sullivan's "Titwillow" from "The Mikado", in the song "The Bronx Bird-Watcher" (on "My Son, the Celebrity"), as well as several other Gilbert and Sullivan songs. In 1965, Sherman published
Cultural influence of Gilbert and Sullivan right, parodies the song title, "The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring, tra la!" changing the word "bloom" to "kill". References to "Three Little Maids": References to "Tit-Willow" ("On a tree by a river"): Allan Sherman's parody is described above. In one of his appearances on "The Dick Cavett Show", Groucho Marx and Cavett sang the song. Groucho interrupted at the line "...and if you remain callous and obdurate, I shall perish as he did..." to quiz the audience on the meaning of the word "obdurate". The song is featured in the 2003 TV movie "And Starring Pancho Villa as