Many musicians paid homage to British songs from between the Great Wars in the 60s. The Beatles uttered “umpa umpa stick it up your jumper” (a line from The Two Leslies’ 1935 song, Umpa Umpa) at the tail end of I Am The Walrus�and The New Vaudeville Band wholeheartedly parodied the toffee-nosed 20s style. But no one did it as well as the Bonzos, eccentric art students in love with potty shellac 78s of British novelties, jazz and dance band tunes from the 20s and 30s.
This 27-track selection of original recordings took three years to assemble and is essential for all Bonzoids and lovers of the absurd. Every track was covered by Vivian Stanshall and co, so anyone au fait with the records will know what to expect. There’s something comforting about the imperialistic nonsense of Hal Swain & His Band’s Hunting Tigers Out In India (Yah) (1931) and the camp warbling of Noel Coward’s A Room With A View (1928), which the Bonzos performed live on the pre-Python sketch show Do Not Adjust Your Set.
Upper lips may have been stiff, but the guffawing chaps and pretty flappers must have had a wonderful time. A tremendous snapshot of an entirely different Britain.
