Frishberg wrote the music and lyrics for "
I'm Just a Bill", the song about the forlorn legislative writ in the
ABCSchoolhouse Rock! series, which was later transformed into the revue Schoolhouse Rock Live. For Schoolhouse Rock! he also wrote and performed "Walkin' on Wall Street", a song describing how the stock market works, and "$7.50 Once a Week", a song about saving money and balancing a budget.
In 1957, Frishberg moved to New York City,[5] 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),[6] "Blizzard of Lies",[7] "My Attorney Bernie" (his most famous—a hit for Chicago's first lady of Jazz, Judy Roberts),[8] "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.[9]
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.[10]
Frishberg was nominated 4 times for Grammy awards for Best Jazz Vocals. Rolling Stone India included two of his recordings for their series of jazz playlists in the category of "lyrics worth paying attention to": "My Attorney Bernie" (sung by
Blossom Dearie) and "I Want To Be a Sideman" (performed by Frishberg).[12] 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
Frishberg was a longtime baseball fan, and had been a member of the
Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) since 1984.[13] In addition to "Van Lingle Mungo", he also wrote "Matty", a tribute to
an early 20th century pitching great, which was included along with "Play Ball" and several other songs with baseball references, on the 1994 CD Quality Time.[14]
"(Pussy Pussy Pussy) Whose Kitty Cat Are You?" – Music and Lyrics by Marvin Montgomery (1996)
The entire song score from The Postman – Music and Lyrics by Jeffrey Barr, Glenn Burke, John Coinman, Joe Flood, Blair Forward, Maria Machado, and Jono Manson (1997)