As well as being capable of spookily accurate Beatles parodies, The Bonzo Dog Band also represented a direct line of descent from Spike Jones And The City Slickers musical satire.

Spike perfected the art of mimicking a well-known original song and then gradually playing more and more with the words and music as the song progressed so that by the end the song and the audience found themselves in a very different place to where they started from. As we observed in ABON 0155, a large slice of the fun in hearing a City Slicker track was knowing the original song intimately, listening out for the first signs of the tiny pebble of parody that Spike would set rolling down the mountain somewhere early in their version of the song and then watching it turn into a full-scale avalanche by the time it reached the bottom.

more

Spike Jones was an American drummer who played in various big bands and orchestras in the 1930s, often supporting famous household-name singers like Al Jolson and Bing Crosby. He played drums, for example, in the orchestra that backed Bing on his recording of ‘White Christmas’.

Spike must have realised that he was never going to become a star sitting at the back of the stage, behind his drum kit, backing the latest crooner sensation. So, just as the USA entered WWII, he gave up his drummer’s stool and became the very up-front leader of his own mini-orchestra.

more

Just what you’ve been waiting for - a comedy song.

The brilliant comedy song is not an easy trick to pull off. As demonstrated by the fact that there are a million more failures than there are successes. I can only think of three acts that have achieved this rare feat consistently. Spike Jones in the 1940′s, the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band in the 1960′s and 1970′s and over the last 5 or so years New Zealand’s Flight Of The Conchords. And no I haven’t forgotten about Monty Python.

It’s tricky because not only have the words got to be funny over and over again to bear repeated listening but the music has got to be as brilliant as you’d expect from a non comedy record - even when it’s pastiche or parody. No surprise then that Spike Jones, the Bonzos and Flight Of The Conchords were or still are blessed with the ability to write and play brilliant music as well as write very funny words.

more