Neil James Innes (born 9
December 1944 in Danbury
, Essex) is an English
writer and performer
of comic songs, best known for his
collaborative work with Monty Python,
and for playing in the Bonzo Dog
Doo-Dah Band and later The
Rutles.
Personal life
Innes
spent a good part of his childhood with his parents and
two-year-older brother Iain in post-war Germany during his Scottish
father's
military assignment as a Warrant Officer. He took piano
lessons from age 7 to 14. He taught himself to play guitar. Neil's
parents were supportive of their sons' interests. His father showed
some artistic ability as he frequently drew and painted.
He later
attended Thorpe Grammar School
and the Norwich
School of Art. Because Norwich lacked a particular art
curriculum in which he was interested, he transferred to
Goldsmith's School of Art, where he met Yvonne Catherine Hilton,
majoring in drama, and they married on March 3, 1966. They have
three sons, Miles (b. 1967), Luke (b. 1971), and Barney (b. 1977).
They have two grandchildren.
Career
Innes graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art from
Goldsmith's School of Art in 1966. During the period of 1962 to
1965, Innes and several other art school students started a band
which was originally named The Bonzo Dog Dada Band after their
interest in the art movement
Dada, but which
was soon renamed the
Bonzo Dog
Doo-Dah Band (later shortened to
The Bonzo Dog Band).
Innes, with
Vivian Stanshall, wrote
most of the band's songs, including "
I'm the Urban Spaceman", their sole
hit, (produced by
Paul McCartney and
Gus Dudgeon under the collective
pseudonym Apollo C. Vermouth) and "
Death Cab for Cutie" (which
inspired
an American musical group
of the same name), which was featured in
the Beatles' film
Magical Mystery Tour. Innes
won an
Ivor Novello Award for
Best Novel(ty) Song in 1968 for "
I'm the Urban Spaceman".
In the late 1960s, Innes appeared with the Bonzo Dog Band on both
seasons of the UK children's television series
Do Not Adjust Your Set which
also featured future members of the
Monty
Python comedy team.
After the breakup of Bonzo Dog Band, Innes joined with former Dog
Band bassist Dennis Cowan, drummer
Ian Wallace and guitarist Roger McKew
to form The World, a band hoping for "more commercial" success with
music ranging from rock to pure pop, yet still retaining some
Doo-Dah flavor and even a bit of the humor. Unfortunately for them,
by the time their sole album
Lucky Planet was released in
1970, the members had already disbanded and were moving on to other
projects.
The Grimms & Monty Python
In 1973 Neil worked with Andy Roberts,
Adrian Henri,
Mike
McGear,
Brian Patten,
John Gorman, David Richards, John
Megginson,
Ollie Halsall, and Gerry
Conway in the band GRIMMS, who released their self titled album and
Rocking Duck in 1973 followed by their last album
Sleepers in 1976.
In the mid-1970s, Innes became closely associated with the TV
series
Monty Python's
Flying Circus. He played a major role in performing and
writing songs and sketches for the final series in 1974 (after
John Cleese left). He wrote a squib of a
song called "George III" (sung by a pastiche black American girl
group) which appears in "The Golden Age Of Ballooning". He also
wrote the song "Where Does A Dream Begin?" (included in "Anything
Goes: The Light Entertainment War") and he co-wrote the "Most Awful
Family In Britain" sketch in the last episode, "Party Political
Broadcast". He is one of only two non-Pythons to ever be credited
writers for the TV series, the other being
Douglas Adams (who co-wrote another sketch in
"Party Political Broadcast").
He
appeared on stage with the Pythons in New York City
in 1976, performing the Bob
Dylanesque "Protest Song" (complete with harmonica) on the
album Monty Python
Live at City Center. He was introduced as Raymond
Scum. After his introduction he told the audience "I've suffered
for my music. Now it's your turn." In 1982 he travelled to the
States with the Pythons again, appearing in
Monty Python Live at the
Hollywood Bowl. He performed the songs "
How Sweet To Be An Idiot" and
"
I'm the Urban Spaceman". He
also appeared as one of the singing "Bruces" in the Philosopher
Sketch.
Innes wrote the songs for
Monty Python and the Holy
Grail. He appeared in the film as a head-bashing monk, the
serf crushed by the giant wooden rabbit, and
the leader of Sir Robin's minstrels. He also had a small role in
Terry Gilliam's
Jabberwocky.
He performed with the
Pythons on stage, including their legendary Hollywood Bowl
concert. Because of these long-standing
connections, Innes is often referred to as "the Seventh
Python".
The Rutles, Rutland and Innes Book of Records
After Python finished its original run on UK television, Innes
joined with Python's
Eric Idle on the
series
Rutland Weekend
Television. This was a Python-esque sketch show based in a
fictional low-budget regional television station. It ran for two
series in 1975-76. Songs and sketches from the series appeared on a
1976
BBC LP,
The Rutland Weekend
Songbook. This show spawned
The
Rutles (the "prefab four"), an affectionate pastiche of the
Beatles, in which Innes played the character
of Ron Nasty, who was loosely based on
John
Lennon. Innes played Nasty in an American-made spin-off TV
movie,
All You Need Is
Cash, with Idle. The project also yielded an album
released by
Warner Brothers.
After
Rutland Weekend
Television, Idle relocated to the USA, and Innes went on
to make a solo series in 1979 on
BBC television,
The Innes Book of
Records, which ran for three seasons and contained a few
of Innes' previous music compositions along with new ones written
for the show.
During the 1980s, Innes delved into children's entertainment. He
played the role of the Wizard in the live-action children's
television series
Puddle Lane,
made by
Yorkshire Television
for the
ITV network.
He voiced the 1980s children's cartoon adventures of
The Raggy Dolls, a motley collection of
"rejects" from a toy factory. The 65 episodes for
Yorkshire
Television included the characters Sad Sack, Hi-Fi, Lucy,
Dotty, Back-to-Front and Princess.
He also composed the music for children's television including
Puddle Lane,
The Raggy Dolls,
The Riddlers and
Tumbledown Farm.
In addition, he brought Monty Python's Terry Jones' faerie-tale
book "East of the Moon" to television. He contributed all the
stories and music on this production. He was involved with the
enormously popular children's show Tiswas. With its own website,
the show's popularity is still demonstrated.
Different reunion concerts
At the time of
The Beatles
Anthology CDs, there was a revival of interest in
The Rutles and a new album was released in 1996
entitled
Archaeology.
In 1998, Innes hosted a 13-episode UK (Anglia) television show
called "Away with Words" on which he travelled to different areas
of Britain to explore the origins of well-known words and
phrases.
Innes took part, along with the remaining Monty Python members, in
the 2002
Concert for George, in
memory of
George Harrison.
Innes was occasionally heard (often as the butt of jokes) standing
in as the pianist for the
BBC Radio 4
panel game
I'm Sorry I
Haven't A Clue.
Innes toured the UK in 2006 and produced a new Bonzo CD as part of
the Bonzo Dog Band's 40th Anniversary tour.
In 2008 he undertook the Neil Innes and Fatso 30th Anniversary
tour, playing predominantly Rutles numbers with a few Bonzos and
Python items.
A film about Neil Innes called
The Seventh Python premiered at the
Mods & Rockers Film
Festival on June 26, 2008.
Discography
Singles
|
Release date |
Title |
Label/Catalogue |
| 1973 |
"How Sweet To Be An Idiot"/"The Age of Desperation" |
United Artists UP
35495 |
| 1973 |
"Momma B"/"Immortal Invisible" |
United Artists UP 35639 |
| 1974 |
"Re-cycled Vinyl Blues"/"Fluff On the Needle" |
United Artists UP 356756 |
| 1974 |
"Lie Down and Be Counted"/"Bandwagon" |
United Artists UP 35745 |
| 1975 |
"What Noise Annoys a Noisy Oyster"/"Oo-Chuck-A-Mao-Mao" |
United Artists UP UP35722 |
| 1977 |
"Lady Mine"/"Crystal Balls" |
Arista ARISTA 106 |
| 1977 |
"Silver Jubilee (A Tribute)"/"Drama On a Saturday Night" |
Arista ARISTA 123 |
| 1978 |
"Protest Song"/"The Hard-To-Get" |
Warner Brothers K
17182 |
| 1979 |
"Amoeba Boogie"/"Theme" |
Polydor POSP 107 |
| 1979 |
"Kenny and Liza"/"Human Race" |
Polydor 2059 207 |
| 1982 |
"Them"/"Rock of Ages" |
MMC MMC 100 |
| 1982 |
"Mr. Eurovision"/"Ungawa" |
MMC MMC 103 |
| 1984 |
"Humanoid Boogie"/"Libido" |
PRT 7P 298/12P 298 |
| 1984 |
"Dear Father Christmas"/"City of the Angels" |
Making Waves SURF 104 |
Solo albums
The World
Grimms
References
- Words of
Innespiration - The Lyrics & Unplanned Career of Neil
Innes
- Neil Innes on MSN Music
- Words of Innespiration: The Lyrics and Unplanned Career of Neil
Innes--[1]
- Grimms Page
- Neil
Innes & Fatso Retrieved 7 October 2008
- IMDB entry
- http://www.theseventhpythonmovie.com/
- picture sleeve, also released as a 12"
External links
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