A few days ago I used a Marx Brothers reference to indicate how crammed a track felt due to over compression. Not twenty-four hours later, We7’s Monday morning playlist of new releases (new to We7 at least) made me regret wasting that phrase, for truly there is no finer example of the audio equivalent of the stateroom scene from “A Night at the Opera” than “The Intro and the Outro”
The song is by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band, a collection of lunatics from the 60’s. No doubt, those of us above a certain age remember this track well, and maybe a few more such as “Hunting Tigers Out in India”.
The band included Neil Innes on Piano, who later went on to help create the Rutles (a Beatles parody band, years before Spinal Tap) and musical work with Monty Python.
“The Intro and the Outro” introduces each member of the band, and gives them a few bars of solo time. Once out of actual band members, the MC continues to introduce anyone else who comes to mind (e.g. Charles de Gaulle on accordion, Snoopy and his pals tap dancing, Roy Rogers on Trigger, etc., etc.) until it seems there could no remaining room in the studio.
Take the three minutes for this bit of seldom heard history.
What Am I Thinking? 