Neil Innes Fans Of The World Unite And Take Over
Text by Harry Pye
The Neil Innes I knew was a very polite, positive, cheerful and charming chap. However, like most musicians and songwriters he found things often didn’t go to plan and that things never got easier. He’d tell me how he’d arrived at a venue and there would be no one there to help him set up and no time for a soundcheck. Or he’d be told that a record label was re-releasing an album or DVD of his without his permission and that he hadn’t been paid for first time round. Or he’d say that his crowdfunding appeal to help pay for a new CD had been successful but then almost all the money was stolen as the company had gone bust and so on and so on. Neil’s albums post-1980 didn’t trouble the charts largely because no one knew about them. I feel he was definitely underrated as a songwriter. He was responsible for an awful lot of great lyrics and tunes and ideas that have been kept secret.
South London’s Indigo at The O2 is a 2,750-capacity live music club. Mojo magazine has a circulation of 68,000 so I’m glad that last night Indigo was filled with happy fans enjoying Neil’s friends paying tribute to him and that the current issue of Mojo (with Neil Young on the cover) has a six-page feature on him. I wish he’d got more of that kind of attention and acknowledgment during his lifetime. C’est la vie. Last night Neil’s friend Martin Lewis (the brains behind the legendary Secret Policeman’s Ball events) told the Indigo audience that now is the time to stop thinking of what Neil can do for us and to start thinking what we can do for Neil. Keep spreading the word about all the good things the artist formally known as Ron Nasty did for us. A new CD Innes Prime has just been released which features songs Neil recorded live. And there is the superb book by Yvonne Innes about her life with Neil, Dip My Brain In Joy. And there is also the astonishing Bonzo Dog Box Set. So many Neil-related treats that would all make splendid Xmas presents.
There were many great moments during last night’s show. Emo Philips (who looked absolutely splendid in his yellow jumpsuit) and the lovely Sanjeev Bhaskar both did very short but sweet sets. Ade Edmondson did a decent ‘You Done My Brain In’ and a nice rendition of Flanagan and Allen’s ‘Are You Havin’ Any Fun?’ Representing the Pythons were Terry Gilliam and Sir Michael Palin KCMG, CBE, FRGS, FRSL etc. While talking about Neil’s songs that were part of Holy Grail film Sir Palin revealed he relished the opportunity to talk about ‘Brave Sir Robin Ran Away’ as it meant he got to say the word ‘penis’ on stage.
Sixty-six per cent of what’s left of The Bonzo Dog Band (83-year-old Rodney Slater and 80-year-old ‘Legs’ Larry Smith) were there. ‘Legs’ Larry Smith performed ‘Look At Me I’m Wonderful’ and he was wonderful but sadly he explained the reason he was a bit out of puff was that he had the lung disease pulmonary fibrosis. Larry being Larry didn’t want to bring anybody down so he made jokes about his condition. (e.g. “I asked the doctor how much time have I got left. He told me not to buy any long-playing records.”) Rodney walks with a stick now but he seemed in good spirits. The super-talented Kevin Eldon joined them on stage to perform ‘Keynsham’. Mr Slater’s solo was sublime. At the end of the song he said: “That was my last ever stage performance.”
Although it was the last Bonzo Dog performance it was the first live performance of The Spammed who were fab. Their bass player Horace Panter (a founder member of 2-Tone legends The Specials) is also a successful painter. He gave each member of the band a paint splattered apron to wear on stage. They performed ‘Humanoid Boogie’ which meant their new drummer Woody Woodmansey (best known for his work with Bowie) got to prove he could still play fantastic solos.
Neil’s 2005 album Works In Progress features two classics ‘Friends At The End’ and ‘One Of Those People’. Both of these songs sounded fantastic tonight. There was also a great version of ‘Folk Song’ (from the Nearly Really album). Musicians who toured with Neil and John Halsey in the rebooted Rutles such as pianist Mickey Simmonds and Ken Thornton were both marvellous in the house band. The highly respected jazz musician, orchestra conductor, film soundtrack composer John Altman was the evening’s musical director and he provided several brilliant sax solos. He also made the very wise move of bringing on the fantastic Isabella Coulstock who performed the Rutles classic ‘I Must Be In Love’ brilliantly.
Maddy Prior MBE of the celebrated folk band Steeleye Span sang a lovely version of ‘Lie Down And Be Counted’ which Neil first sang on his hit TV show The Innes Book of Records. I love Neil’s lyrics in this song (“There’s no song for the singer, No words for the tune, There’s a mess in the message And a man on the moon, There’s no plan in the planet, It’s all gone berserk, There’s a milk bottle shortage, And the traffic lights don’t work, Lie down and be counted, Don’t take any more, Lie down and be counted. What are we standing for?”). And it’s hard to think of anyone who could sing them better than Maddy.
Tom McGuinness ( who played bass with Manfred Mann in the 60s, had more chart success in the 70s as half of McGuinness Flint and from the 80s onwards has toured all over the world with The Blues Band) sang the poignant ‘Old Age Becomes Me’ from Neil’s last album and then a moving version of his big hit ‘When I’m Dead And Gone’. Tom was very good but maybe the loveliest moment of the evening was the set from Yo La Tengo who did an absolutely charming version of ‘I Want To Be With You’.
The closest way we can get to being with Neil these days is to listen to his songs. Talking to fellow friends or fans of Neil is something I find very healing so I continue to collaborate with Gordon Beswick on making YouTube videos of people singing Songs of Innespiration. The most recent video I’ve had a hand in was for Simon Love and The Andrew Petrie Orchestra’s version of ‘Imitation Song’ which Neil wrote in 2009. This new version features Andrew on piano, drums, shaker, Moog, harpsichord, Mellotron flutes, acoustic guitars, and bass. Francis Macdonald added some tambourine. Ken Thornton contributed 12-string guitar, keyboard and backing vocals, Foz Foster played lap steel and saw, Susie Honeyman played violin, Johannes von Weizsäcker played cello and Kate Dornan played tuba.
Here is a little Q & A I did with Simon and Andrew about Imitation
Song...
Q: What do you think Neil's Imitation Song is
about?
Simon Love: I think "Imitation Song" is about the
artifice of the modern world and being tired of it.”
Andrew Petrie: “I think the song is
about how everything around us now is a pale impression of something we’ve seen
or experienced before. Cleverly, the song itself is intentionally an impression
of a John Lennon ballad.”
Q: What are your favourite parts /
lines from the song?
Simon Love: “My favourite thing about the song is that it
sounds like it arrived all together. Occasionally I've had songs come to me
with the lyrics and music all at once. Like laying an egg. This song sounds
like it came easily.”
Andrew Petrie: “I like the lines “Never ending news /
False economy” because of the wordplay: false economy is a well-known phrase,
but it plays into the idea of not believing everything you read, from the
previous line.”
Q: Do you think Neil Innes has been an inspiration to many musicians / songwriters?
Simon Love: “Neil Innes is important to me because he
showed that you could use humour in songs without writing "comedy"
songs. From all the accounts I've heard of him from friends who he hung around
with him, he also seemed like a lovely man. I'm sad I never got to meet him but
I probably would've just said, "Love the songs" and then embarrassed
myself somehow.”
Andrew Petrie: “The Rutles were great because Neil
Innes made sure he wrote a proper pop song first before he worried about making
it funny or Beatlesque. This is why the music still stands up today long after
the audacity of daring to take the mickey out of the Beatles has lost its
sting. It’s interesting that he found unlikely currency among American
alternative types: Galaxie 500, Bongwater, Unrest etc.”
Q: What do you think was the best thing
Neil Innes ever did?
Andrew Petrie: “For my money his
greatest song is The Equestrian Statue from the first Bonzos
album, closely followed by the title track from Keynsham.”
Simon Love: “I can't speak for the "best" thing but the song
of his I love the most is "Another Day". It captures the 1968
McCartney sound perfectly but it also stands alone as a great song. It's also
the only (I think) song to contain the word ‘Pusillanimous.’"
Watch the video for
Imitation Song HERE
