We are normal & we want our freedom!

Terry Jones' cage saga. Promotion for Monty Python Live in Vancouver, Canada, June 1973

Wise and wonderful right to the end.

“Innes visited San Diego in late July of 2019 what would have been The Rutles’ first U.S. tour.”  

So begins the wax wake for Neil Innes. It’s hard to put into words how much his music has meant to me over the years. He was a true original with an amazing ear and a thrilling imagination.

Everyone knows him as the guy that wrote the guy who wrote the greatest songs The Beatles never wrote, but he also crafted the greatest song Elton John never wrote, the greatest song Pete Townsend never wrote, and even the greatest song that The Specials never wrote!

He will definitely live on in this household. My 2 year old son and I regularly sing his Star Song together and his solo and Bonzo LPs get regular airings on the ol’ turntable.

There’s nary a song Neil wrote that I didn’t love. He achieved one of the most amazing feats of music with my favorite song of his, Godfrey Daniel. The point of the song was to show how you could write an extremely emotional song even if the lyrics are complete bollocks. Even so, the song never fails to evoke deep deep feelings from me every time I hear it, which is all down to confidence in performance and mastery of song-craft. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about how great a man he was.