Tony Burrello

Who is Tony Burrello?

Tony Burrello was an American jazz pianist and songwriter, perhaps best known for the 1953 novelty record "There's a New Sound", written with Tom Murray.

Burrello and Murray started writing novelty songs after they were unsuccessful in having their more serious-minded songs recorded by prominent musicians. They noted the success of music that was seemingly intentionally bad, after hearing a disc jockey play a version of "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" sung in Japanese and featuring a geisha orchestra. According to Murray, the disc jockey said that the record was one of the top hits but also "one of the most horrible records he had ever heard".

Burrello and Murray responded by creating the songs "There's a New Sound" and "Fish", which they released as a single. The former song's lyrics consist of a single chorus repeated five times, each time at a higher pitch. The lyrics describe a "new sound ... the strangest sound that you have ever heard", which turns out to be "the sound that's made by worms". Burrello was credited as the artist on the single, which was released on Burrello and Murray's own record label, Horrible Record Co. as catalog #1.