Richard Stilgoe is a British songwriter, lyricist and musician, and broadcaster who is best known for his humorous songs and frequent television appearances. His output includes collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Peter Skellern. He is also a keen puzzler who has hosted several quiz shows and written several books on the subject. In 1966 […]
Comic Songs (31)
The Wombles are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures created by Elisabeth Beresford and originally appearing in a series of children’s novels from 1968. They live in burrows, where they aim to help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in creative ways. Although Wombles supposedly live in every country in the world, Beresford’s stories are primarily […]
Comic Songs (30)
The Wurzels are an English Scrumpy and Western band from Somerset. The name of the band was dreamt up by founder Adge Cutler. It is short for mangelwurzel, a crop grown to feed livestock. They are known for using British West Country phrases “ooh arr!” and calling young people “young ‘uns” in songs. The Wurzels […]
Comic Songs (29)
For our final visit to the 1960’s our selection today brings together a disparate collection of performers whose offerings epitomise the comedic song (and indeed some of the attiudes) of the period. “I’ve Been Everywhere” is a song written by Australian country singer Geoff Mack in 1959, and popularised by Lucky Starr in 1962.The Mudlarks […]
Comic Songs (28)
As the 1960’s came to a close a new comedic force arose in the form of “Monty Python” They were a British surreal comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed […]
Comic Songs (27)
Joyce Grenfell was an English diseuse, singer, actress and writer. She was known for the songs and monologues she wrote and performed, at first in revues and later in her solo shows. She never appeared as a stage actress, but had roles, mostly comic, in many films, including Miss Gossage in The Happiest Days of […]
Comic Songs (26)
The Liverpool Poets are a number of influential 1960s poets from Liverpool, influenced by 1950’s Beat poetry. They were involved in the 1960s Liverpool scene that gave rise to The Beatles. The poets most commonly associated with this label are Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten. They were featured in a 1967 book The […]
Comic Songs (25)
The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of musical performer Mike McGear (the brother of Paul McCartney), poet Roger McGough and comic entertainer John Gorman. Working almost exclusively as a trio under the name The Scaffold from 1964, Gorman, McGear and McGough performed a mixture of comic songs, comedy […]
Comic Songs (24)
Peter Cook was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter, with his oft time partner Dudley Moore they were leading figures of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishment comedic movement that emerged in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s. They were two of the four […]
Comic Songs (23)
When you delve into the humour of a previous genration you inevitably find the comic songs reflect the attitudes and culture of the day. Our selection today is case in point, particularly in the cultural appropriation of the calypso. However having said this it important to reflect the cultural journey that has been made as […]