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In the Canyons of Your Mind

A very brief history of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

By Lauren M FosterPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Vivian Stanshall. Unknown photographer, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nl/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons

With a career spanning over 50 years The Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band must be one of the best loved and most influential musical comedy outfits ever. The genesis of the band came about in 1962 when Vivian Stanshall and Rodney Slater bonded over a late-night transatlantic boxing match broadcast. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Bonzos began by scouring junk shops for old 78s, unearthing fabulous 1920s classics as Jollity Farm, Ali Baba’s Camel and Hunting Tigers. These songs would be performed in pubs in an anarchic trad jazz sort of way. Perhaps unsurprisingly, as art students, The Bonzos idiosyncratic style was inspired as much by visual art as by music, in particular the Dada and Surrealist movements. This love of the visual would be utilized with many zany stage props and devices, such as The Leg- a mannequin’s leg with a theremin concealed inside, exploding robots, and in absurd instrumental performances such as Music for Head Ballet.

In 1967 the band moved away from their jazz roots to embrace Rock and Roll and Psychedelic sounds, write their own songs (the principle songwriter’s being Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes), and released their first album Gorilla, At the end of 1967 Paul McCartney asked them to appear in the Beatles film Magical Mystery Tour where they performed Death Cab for Cutie, and shortly afterwards they became the house band for Do Not Adjust Your Set, a children’s comedy show which featured future Monty Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, as well as a young David Jason.

1968 saw the Bonzos enjoy a top-ten hit with the Neil Innes penned song I’m the Urban Spaceman, and they released a second album- The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse. The albums Tadpoles and Keynsham were released in 1969, they performed at the Isle of White Festival, toured America with The Who, toured America again at the end of 1969. Stanshall, also acting as the band’s tour manager at this time, succumbed to pressure and was prescribed Valium, something he was to remain addicted to, and had also began to drink heavily. The Bonzos decided to quit the tour, head back to the UK and split up. They played their last gig at Loughborough University in January 1970. Stanshall suffered a serious nervous breakdown, possibly after experimenting with LSD on top of stress. He voluntary admitted himself into a private psychiatric hospital but he would never fully recover and he remained plagued with anxiety, depression and alcoholism for the rest of his life. He did continue to write and record works such as the classic radio series Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and would collaborate on many musical projects such as Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and even provided a spoken-word voice-over for punk band The Damned on their single Lovely Money.

Neil Innes went on to work with members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus- it is he who sings Brave Sir Robin in Monty Python and the Holy Grail- and worked with Eric Idle on the post-Python sketch show Rutland Weekend Television, from which came the Beatles pastiche The Rutles, and in the 1980s delved into children’s TV appearing in and composing music for shows such as Puddle Lane, and often appears on Radio 4.

Due to a contractual obligation The Bonzos reformed in 1972 to make an album Lets Make Up and be Friendly. A second reunion occurred in 1988, it would be the last one to feature Vivian as he sadly died on the 6th March 1995 following a fire at his flat in North London. The remaining band (minus bass player Dennis Cowan who had also passed away) reformed for a 40th anniversary tour in 2006 with Adrian Edmondson, Paul Merton, Steven Fry and Phill Jupitus filling in for Viv Stanshall, and recorded a live album Wrestle Poodles… and Win! and in 2007 an album of new material, Pour l’Amour des Chiens, was released.

Martin Ash (Sam Spoons) and Neil Innes passed away in September 2018 and December 2019 respectively.

Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band essential listening:

1967 Gorilla

1968 The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse (as Bonzo Dog Band)

1969 Tadpoles (as Bonzo Dog Band)

1969 Keynsham(as Bonzo Dog Band)

2006 Wrestle Poodles...and Win! (live)

2007 Pour l’Amour des Chiens

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About the Creator

Lauren M Foster

Writer, artist and musician based in Charnwood, UK. Drummer/vocalist in a psychedelic-punk-band The Cars that Ate Paris.

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