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Joseph W. Burns Biography

joseph-w-burns
  • Born:
  • Years Active: 1940s-1950s
  • Genre: World & Reggae

While the number of songwriters in the music business is beyond legion, the number of them who also happen to be prosecutors for the United States government would have to be miniscule. Of these, there is exactly one whose hit song happened to be about the Easter Bunny. That was Joseph W. Burns, whose ditty entitled "Easter Bunny Day" was a hit not once but twice within two years, helping to launch the career of the versatile entertainer Leslie Uggams the second time around. Burns' interest in co-writing songs about floppy-eared creatures delivering chocolate eggs may have been a way of relieving pressure from his day job. As an assistant U.S. attorney, Burns' most famous case was the prosecution of Enoch "Knocky" Johnson, at one time one the most powerful political mob bosses in the sleazy, vice-ridden town of Atlantic City. "Easter Bunny Day" was first recorded in 1951, when producer and record label manager Joe Davis was on a run of cutting children's records. The Art Warner Orchestra, featuring special guests Andy Pierce and a small combo entitled the Song Spinners, hit big with the song in an era when parents were delighted to find more and more recordings being released with the intention of pleasing the minds and hearts of tots. The following year, Davis' wife saw the nine-year-old Uggams win an Arthur Godfrey talent show. She suggested the Burns song might have more life in it yet, especially if recorded by this sprightly, dynamic child star. A contract was signed and recording session arranged within weeks. The resulting four-song EP was a big hit, accompanied by a publicity campaign based on the premise that Uggams might become another Shirley Temple. The popularity of the Burns' song was such that publicists even lied about the other material on the recording, claiming that titles such as "Percy the Pale Faced Polar Bear" and "Every Little Piggy's Got a Curly Tail" were other Burns compositions that had been retrieved from a trunk in the attorney's attics. This was pure poppycock, as these titles were actually the work of other songwriters. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi

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