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Rating: This is a convertible album, a gentle breeze in the hair and the scent of grass, it's a picnic in Hyde Park on a May day, a balm for the body and the mind, it's the ability to savor life in small doses, it's the 1967 debut of the fabulous, fantastic, phantasmagoric, sparkling...(trumpet fanfare)...Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band!
We're talking about people cut from the same cloth as Uncle Frank, knowledgeable and competent yet always jovial and modest, capable of shaping the most intricate bignami into the most accessible form without ever showing, not even for a second, pretentiousness or presumption, a band that's anarchic in its own way and at the same time democratic given the absence of a true leader in the collaboration between Neil Innes, Vivian Stanshall, Rodney Slater, Roger Spear, and the dozens of musicians from various musical-cultural backgrounds who take turns alongside this English combo.
"Gorilla" is above all a masterpiece of arrangement: trumpets, sax, ukulele, clarinet, piano, keyboards, synth, and probably much more, serve as a backdrop to the sacred triad of rock instruments.
However, it is inappropriate to talk about rock for this genuine intellectualized country band that dips its generous spoonful of ideas into a colorful soup of swing, ragtime, pop, and vaudeville.
Listening to this album is like burying your face in a bunch of daisies, violets, and rare little flowers like the festive march of "Cool Britannia", the delicate "Jollity Farm", the chaotic fanfare "Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold", the amusing demonstrative lesson of "The Intro And The Outro", the noir atmosphere of "Big Shot", "Piggy Bank Love" that beats the Beatles at their own game, the joyful masterpiece "Look Out There's A Monster Coming", pearls capable of resizing even a magnificent work as a progeny of this under examination like "Cyclops" by Dogbowl.
They are all little candies filled with vibrancy, a lightness and a spontaneous inventiveness truly rare, unique in a musical undergrowth where the Bonzo Band has carved out a special place, perhaps close only to the Canterbury fields but with roots well anchored to the popular terrain and branches that reach out to embrace European rural folklore.
A gorilla that turns into a butterfly.
Delightful!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Jollity Farm (02:30)
There's a farm called Misery, but of that we'll have none
Because we know of one
That's always lots of fun (Ha ha!)
And this one's name is Jollity; believe me, folks, it's great
For everything sings out to us as we go through the gate
All the little pigs, they grunt and howl
The cats mee-yow
The dogs bow-wow
Everybody makes a row
Down on Jollity Farm
All the little pigs, they grunt and howl
(Grunt, howl, grunt, howl)
The cats mee-yow
(Mee-yow, mee-yow)
The dogs bow-wow
(Ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff)
Everybody makes a row
Down on Jollity Farm
All the little birds go tweet, tweet, tweet
(birdsong, piano noodle)
The lambs all bleat
(baaaaa!)
And shake their feet
(rattle)
Everything's a perfect treat
Down on Jollity Farm
Regular as habit
The cocks begin to crow
Can the old buck rabbit
Sing and Stuff it up your jumper
Vo-do-de-oh
All the little ducks go quack quack quack
(quack quack quack)
The cows go Moo
(honk)
The bull does, too
(whonk!)
Everyone says how do you do
Down on Jollity Farm
08 Narcissus (00:22)
"How do you think it's going?"
"So-so."
"A lot of it's rubbish, you know."
"Mmm"
"Hey, you have the same trouble with your trousers as I do."
"Yes."
10 Mickey's Son and Daughter (02:42)
Oh the world is so delighted
And the kids are so excited
'Cos the stork has brought
A son and daughter
For Mr. and Mrs. Mickey Mouse
The Mayor and Corporation
Have declared such jubilation
'Cos the stork has brought
A son and daughter
For Mr. and Mrs. Mickey Mouse
Pluto's giving a party
And before the fun begins
He'll present a golden dollar
To the father of the twins
The preacher's eyes are glistening
And he's thinking of a christening
Cos the stork has brought
A son and daughter
For Mr. and Mrs. Mickey Mouse
A million million people
Are happy bright and gay
Bells are ringing in the steeple
It's a public holiday
Hooray Hooray it's a public holiday!
14 I'm Bored (03:07)
At the local dance, whilst posing by the door
A lady begged: "would I come on the floor?"
Above the band, my voice was heard,
Quite suddenly it had occurred to me:
I'm Bored!
I'm bored with everything I touch and see
I'm bored with exposes of LSD
I'm bored with Frank Sinatra's new LP
And so I roar (shoo-be-do-be-do)
I'm bored.
Drinking different coloured wines or beers
(Chug-a-lug chug-a-lug)
Just quite frankly leaves me bored to (tears for souvenirs)
And quite apart from what one hears,
I've been like this for years and years
You see? Ennui.
I'm bored with Mother Nature or her son
I'm bored with everything that should be done
And so, I just poke out my big red tongue and [raspberry]
I'm bored.
I'm tired of art!
(Drawing bored)
Sex is a drag!
(In a bawdy house, I dare say.)
Awk! Australians bore me!
(You mean the a-bore-iginals, don't you?)
I'm bored to death!
(Like mortar bored)
I am bored.
[Repeat many times, round-style]
This is boredom you can afford, from Cyril Bored
I hate each Julie Andrews film they've made,
I'm just a nasty narrow-minded jade.
Don't think that I will smile at it,
I'm not a weak-willed hypocrite,
I'll say: I'm bored!
I'm bored with with-it men in spotty ties
Who hum (hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm) tiresome tunes like Eidelweiss
I'm bored, and when I hear it
In a trice, I shout, I'm bored!
The only thing that ever interests me...
Is ME! (Me! Meee! Me! Me!...)
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