David Lee Frishberg was born on March 23, 1933, in
Saint Paul, Minnesota. Frishberg resisted learning classical piano as a boy, developing an interest in
blues and
boogie-woogie by listening to recordings by
Pete Johnson and
Jay McShann. As a teenager, he played in the house band at the Flame in St. Paul where
Art Tatum,
Billie Holiday, and
Johnny Hodges appeared. After graduating from the
University of Minnesota as a journalism major in 1955, Frishberg spent two years in the
Air Force. In 1957, Frishberg moved to New York City, where he played solo piano at the Duplex in
Greenwich Village. He first became known for his work with
Carmen McRae,
Ben Webster,
Gene Krupa,
Bud Freeman,
Eddie Condon,
Al Cohn, and
Zoot Sims. Later, he was celebrated for writing and performing his own, frequently humorous songs, including favorites "I'm Hip" (lyrics only, in collaboration with
Bob Dorough), "Blizzard of Lies", "My Attorney Bernie", "Do You Miss New York", "Peel Me a Grape", "Quality Time", "Slappin' the Cakes on Me", "I Want To Be A Sideman", and "
Van Lingle Mungo", whose lyrics consist entirely of the names of old-time baseball players. In 1971, Frishberg moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a studio musician, and where he also recorded his first albums. In 1986, he moved to
Portland, Oregon. Frishberg cited songwriter
Frank Loesser as an influence, and has said that Loesser's "
Baby, It's Cold Outside", along with
Willie Nelson's "
Crazy", are songs he wished he had written. Like Loesser before him, Frishberg has also worked strictly as a lyricist, collaborating with composers
Johnny Mandel,
Alan Broadbent, Al Cohn,
Blossom Dearie,
David Shire,
Julius Wechter,
Dan Barrett,
Bob Brookmeyer,
Bob Dorough,
Gerry Mulligan, and Johnny Hodges. He was the co-recipient of the
Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song in 1981, having written the lyric to "Baby Talk" from the
Burt Reynolds comedy film
Paternity. == Personal ==