Monty Python Sings (1989 album)

Another shameless compilation album from Monty Python and I cheat and say it's a radical new arrangement. I stand by it because the Pythons should have an all song album for their fans and musical comedy is an easy way to win new fans. My first contention with the album is it over emphasizes Eric Idle's role in the group. Nine songs with lyrics solely provided by Eric Idle and four more co-written (one with John Gould, John DuPrez, John Cleese and Graham Chapman each). Of course Eric became my favorite with instantly likable tunes such as "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" and "I Like Chinese" and his raunchy "Sit On My Face" and "The Penis Song (Not The Noel Coward Song)." But the others wrote songs that grew on you. Okay the Oxford team had the balk of the rest of the album and well deservedly. What Chapman, Cleese and Gilliam contributed were cowriting Eric Idle's "Medical Love Song" and "Eric The Half A Bee" (Chapman and Idle's "Medical Love Song" being the funnier one) and the Chapman/Cleese tune "Knights Of The Round Table (Camelot Song)" the unfunny John Cleese song "Oliver Cromwell" and Terry Gilliam's "I've Got Two Legs." The "Camelot Song" perhaps being the only one on par with the Idle/Oxford tunes (or the Do Not Adjust Your Set tunes to put it more simply). Terry Jones and Michael Palin as always work best together (although Palin has worked well on Cleese's and Gilliam's solo projects as well). Three MP classics came from this team "Lumberjack Song" "Spam Song" and "Every Sperm Is Sacred." These songs belong in novelty song hall of fame with Ray Stevens and Tom Lehrer. Individually Palin's acquired taste shone through with dry delivery and esoteric wit in "Finland" "Decomposing Composers" and "The Brian Song." Terry Jones went for intellectual thinking crude humor with the shocking "Never Be Rude To An Arab" "Christmas In Heaven" and "I'm So Worried" (which grows on you and is better than "Traffic Lights") If they makes a Monty Python Sings...Again which they probably won't I hope they put on it the

1. "Military Fairy March"
2. "Anything Goes (Not That Cole Porter Song)"
3. "Dennis Moore (full length)"
4. "Oh God Please Don't Burn Us" (the only Meaning Of Life song missing!)
5. "Brave Sir Robin"
6. "Bing Tiddle Tiddle Bong"
7. "I Bet You They Won't Play This Song On The Radio"
8. "I Like Traffic Lights" (just to be fair it is funny enough)
9. "Sgt. Duckie's Song"
10. "Where Does A Dream Begin?"
11. "He's Going To Tell"
12. "Monk's Chant"

There's some more MP songs that should be included to fill the album but I would be amiss for listing them since I have not heard them yet such as "Here Comes Another One"