Tom Glazer is credited with helping to popularize folk music during the 1940s and paving the way for the folk revival of the early 1960s. Throughout his life, he produced two well-received collections of fingerplays for children, several popular collections of traditional songs for children and adults, and a book of original poetry. Glazer died at his home in Rochester on February 21, 2003 at the age of 88.
Glazer got his start when he worked at Library of Congress in Washington, C.D., and Alan Lomax, who worked for cataloguing American folksongs. Glazer began performing as an amateur and was invited by Eleanor Roosevelt to perform at the White House. Glazer's songs in the 1940s took strong social stands and were recorded by well-known artists such as Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, the Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, Perry Como and Frank Sinatra.
Glazer's greatest commercial success came with his original recording of the song parody On Top of Spaghetti based on the tune of On Top of Old Smoky. On Top of Spaghetti has been sung on Sesame Street, popular TV sitcoms, in the popular Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip, and there is even a four-star restaurant in New Jersey named "On Top of Spaghetti."
Glazer was given a Silver Medal from the U.S. Treasury Department for war bond work during World War II; he won an Annual Record Music Award for children's recordings in 1947, a Parents' Institute Certificate from Parent's Magazine Seal of Approval in 1950, and has also received a National Critics Award and other awards and prizes for his work in radio, television, and film as well as from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).
Smithsonian Folkway Recording is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, the national museum of the United States. Their mission is the legacy of Moses Asch, who founded Folkway Records in 1948 to document music, spoken word, instruction, and sounds from around the world. The Smithsonian acquired Folkways from the Asch estate in 1987, and Smithsonian Folkways Recording has continued the Folkways tradition by supporting the work of traditional artists and expressing a commitment to cultural diversity, education, an increased understanding.