Kenneth Williams was an English actor. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 Carry On films, and appeared in many British television programmes and radio comedies, including series with Tony Hancock and Kenneth […]
Comic Songs (21)
The comic or novelty song became a very popular genre during the 1960’s. As well as musicians it also was not uncommon for well known comics to issue novelty or comedic singles in the hope of cashing in on their success. So today our selection will also feature some examples of this. “My Old Man’s […]
Comic Songs (20)
Peter Sellers was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show, featured on a number of hit comic songs and became known to a worldwide audience through his many film roles, among them Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther series. English filmmakers […]
Comic Songs (19)
As we move into the 1960’s, begin by celebrating that recently deceased British actor Bernard Cribbins who released a number of comic/novelty songs in 1961/2, three of which featured in the UK charts. “Folk Song” was a song written by by Myles Rudge and composed by Ted Dicks. They wrote songs and sketches for West […]
Comic Songs (18)
As we leave the 1950’s with our final batch of songs, it must also be noted that is during this period the the ‘Comic or Comedic Song’ also starts being referred to as the ‘Novelty Song’. The intention is obviously to pigeonhole such songs (whether they in fact are funny or not) as slight abberations […]
Comic Songs (17)
Our purveyor of comedic songs today comes from an unlikely source. Bernard Bresslaw was an English actor. He is best known as a member of the Carry On film franchise. Bresslaw also worked on television and stage, did recordings and wrote a series of poetry. During the late 1950’s he suprisingly had a series of […]
Comic Songs (16)
Flanders and Swann were a British comedy duo. Lyricist, actor and singer Michael Flanders and composer and pianist Donald Swann collaborated in writing and performing comic songs. They first worked together in a school revue in 1939 and eventually wrote more than 100 comic songs together. Between 1956 and 1967, Flanders and Swann performed their […]
Comic Songs (15)
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from May to September 1951, was titled Crazy People; subsequent series had the title The Goon Show. The show’s chief creator and […]
Comic Songs (14)
Today, we move into the 1950’s for our selection of comedic songs. We begin with a collection of individual songs performed by a variety of performers. “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” is a novelty song composed in 1944 by Fred Heatherton, a songwriting pseudonym for a collaboration of English songwriters Harold Elton Box […]
Comic Songs (13)
Today we feature individual comedic songs by a variety of artistes from the 1940’s. “Everything Stops For Tea” As always, nothing in music is ever that simple, and a song about England’s favourite beverage has only the most tenuous connection with it. “Everything Stops For Tea” was composed by the New York born Maurice Sigler, […]