Skip to content

Neil Innes

I’d forgotten how good the parody is:

Neil Innes, the comedian and songwriter known for spoof Beatles band the Rutles as well as his work with Monty Python, has died aged 75, according to his agent.

10 thoughts on “Neil Innes”

  1. The prevailing story has it that the original Fab Four were amused by the spoof up until’Get Up and Go’ when McCartney took offence. Legal action resulted in all of Innes’s Rutles compositions being credited to Lennon & McCartney.

    Anyone else here still dig Bert Weedon?

  2. The Bonzo Dog band was also wonderful – started as the musical interlude on a children’s hour programme I remember with Neil Innes playing piano, I think.

  3. MBE – If you’re not at ease with your knobbly knees and your fingers are all thumbs… stand on your two left feet and join our Raggy Doll chums

  4. Very good obit in The Times (behind a paywall, of course) – seems nobody had a bad word for him, and his proudest achievement was staying married for 40 years. Trivia: The group was originally The Bonzo Dog Dada Band – which makes more sense, but everyone spelt it wrong 🙂

  5. A comic genius to whom History will be kind. His facility for writing Beatlesque parodies is unparalleled. All-round nice guy.

  6. He also wrote the soundtrack to Holy Grail, but Terry Gilliam didn’t like it and replaced it with royalty-free music from De Lane Lea, so Innes is only credited with the songs.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *