"The Silly Walks Song"
April 6, 2014 12:52 PM Subscribe
As a preview of their upcoming Monty Python Live (mostly) shows this summer, the Pythons have released a brand new song called "The Silly Walks Song". The video that accompanies it is a frenetic mashup of Python bits from TV and film over the years and is certain to warm cockles of any Python fan's heart (Full story here).
I love how if it were anyone else but Monty Python naming their shows "One Down, Five To Go", it'd be incredibly tacky. But since it IS Python, it's pretty hilarious.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 2:12 PM on April 6, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 2:12 PM on April 6, 2014 [3 favorites]
Since it IS Python, incredibly tacky IS pretty hilarious.
Related (silly-walk-wise, actually even more silly-walk-wise than the song)
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:44 PM on April 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
Related (silly-walk-wise, actually even more silly-walk-wise than the song)
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:44 PM on April 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
I'm a massive Python fan (hell, I'm named after a minor character in one of their sketches) but at this point every new little project they do just makes me anxious. I keep worrying they're going to try to do some big comeback like 30 years too late, and it will just be cringeworthy as hell. This song is fine, but as with so many Python deals of the last few decades it strikes me as another likely Eric Idle thing going out under the Python name.
It's not like I want them all to just go away. (Never that!) They're all still doing solo stuff, and it's fine. But to put something out collectively, under the Python name, that's a big deal. I'm impressed they got over their personal differences enough to do some live shows, and that's fine. They're all doing voices for somebody's CGI cartoon, whatever, that's fine. But I live in fear of the day that they announce they're working on the script for their first all-new movie since 1983. Because, oh, would that ever be a cringefest.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:44 PM on April 6, 2014 [6 favorites]
It's not like I want them all to just go away. (Never that!) They're all still doing solo stuff, and it's fine. But to put something out collectively, under the Python name, that's a big deal. I'm impressed they got over their personal differences enough to do some live shows, and that's fine. They're all doing voices for somebody's CGI cartoon, whatever, that's fine. But I live in fear of the day that they announce they're working on the script for their first all-new movie since 1983. Because, oh, would that ever be a cringefest.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:44 PM on April 6, 2014 [6 favorites]
I love the Pythons but find this to be unwatchable. The song sounds like one of Eric Idle's toss-off ditties. Those used to be clever and fun but this is repetitive, derivative and boring.
posted by Jamesonian at 4:33 PM on April 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Jamesonian at 4:33 PM on April 6, 2014 [2 favorites]
I didn't expect to like this and I guess I don't. I agree with pretty much everything Ursula Hitler said. I was raised on Python and joke they ruined my life. (Michael Palin, I blame you for my supporting Sheffield Wednesday and the decades of misery as a result.) It's just the reunions, this song, it's really phoning it in. I get that they need money, but I'd rather just buy an Eric Idle solo album. (Or he could revive Rutland Weekend Television.) It seems that using the Python banner sets expectations too high for me and the nostalgia isn't enough to carry it through.
posted by kendrak at 6:19 PM on April 6, 2014
posted by kendrak at 6:19 PM on April 6, 2014
I get that they need money
Is it actually possible that any of the five surviving members of Monty Python are actually lacking for money?
posted by hippybear at 6:28 PM on April 6, 2014
Is it actually possible that any of the five surviving members of Monty Python are actually lacking for money?
posted by hippybear at 6:28 PM on April 6, 2014
I would guess Cleese and Palin are probably the most financially secure, but they also have had good commercial success post Python. Though they are probably all doing pretty well. Money is the root of evil, so the song tells me.
posted by kendrak at 6:34 PM on April 6, 2014
posted by kendrak at 6:34 PM on April 6, 2014
I would guess Cleese and Palin are probably the most financially secure, but they also have had good commercial success post Python.
Right, and Gilliam's post-Python film career has been gigantic, and Idle wrote and produced Spamalot along with a lot of other things... It's really only Terry Jones who might possibly not be doing that great money-wise, and even he's had a fairly decent resume since Python.
posted by hippybear at 6:52 PM on April 6, 2014
Right, and Gilliam's post-Python film career has been gigantic, and Idle wrote and produced Spamalot along with a lot of other things... It's really only Terry Jones who might possibly not be doing that great money-wise, and even he's had a fairly decent resume since Python.
posted by hippybear at 6:52 PM on April 6, 2014
There's also Cleese apparently calving 50% of his net worth every so often like an icerberg every time he gets a divorce.
I'd guess Michael Palin is the most secure of the bunch, financially. He probably has a good income and strikes me as least likely to have an expensive lifestyle.
posted by chimaera at 9:03 PM on April 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'd guess Michael Palin is the most secure of the bunch, financially. He probably has a good income and strikes me as least likely to have an expensive lifestyle.
posted by chimaera at 9:03 PM on April 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
People are so cynical. I pine for more Monty Python and I loved their little reunion on the Graham Norton show. I would love to see them live, even if Graham Chapman is dead and he was my favourite. Surely I'm not the only one? And maybe they want to do it not for the money but because they figure there's not much time left before it becomes impossible?
posted by h00py at 12:12 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by h00py at 12:12 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
h00py, it's about loving and respecting these dudes so much that I don't want to see them fail. Perhaps they'd surprise me. But these guys are retirement age, and history tells us that that's a bad time to get the old band back together. The Meaning of Life was strained and uneven, and looking back it seems like they drifted apart at just the right time. They didn't keep churning out mediocre stuff until nobody cared anymore, they went out heroes. Any new stuff is more likely to cheapen their legacy than add to it.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:08 AM on April 7, 2014
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:08 AM on April 7, 2014
Maaaaybe. I'm happy to take the risk though, if they are. But then, I loved 'The Meaning of Life' when it was released and still do.
Even if they're just doddering old farts forgetting their lines and being lame on this tour, it doesn't negate anything they did previously. Just don't buy the live concert recording if that turns out to be the case. Denial is a powerful thing!
posted by h00py at 2:06 AM on April 7, 2014
Even if they're just doddering old farts forgetting their lines and being lame on this tour, it doesn't negate anything they did previously. Just don't buy the live concert recording if that turns out to be the case. Denial is a powerful thing!
posted by h00py at 2:06 AM on April 7, 2014
I couldn't watch that to the end, it was dreadful. I'll stick with my memories.
posted by epo at 2:19 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by epo at 2:19 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
Sounds like a Madness album track. Or rather, it sounds like Radio Active's parody of Madness, Mindless. (Which I can't find on the internet anywhere, maybe luckily)
posted by DanCall at 4:24 AM on April 7, 2014
posted by DanCall at 4:24 AM on April 7, 2014
Folks dump on Eric Idle a lot. He is hit-or-miss for sure, but he seems to be the catalyst for getting more Monty Python out into the world, which is only a good thing. I thank him for that.
The performance may end up having a few duds, but based on their body of work, I have to trust their instincts. They know what they're doing. Sad, though, that they won't have the Colonel there to keep them from getting too silly. Graham Chapman hologram? That'd be a nice touch.
posted by GrapeApiary at 6:59 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
The performance may end up having a few duds, but based on their body of work, I have to trust their instincts. They know what they're doing. Sad, though, that they won't have the Colonel there to keep them from getting too silly. Graham Chapman hologram? That'd be a nice touch.
posted by GrapeApiary at 6:59 AM on April 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
I do like The Meaning of Life, but unlike their other stuff you can really feel the strain of them trying to make it work. It's lumpy. It feels like the last iffy but mostly-good thing that your favorite band/author/director/whatever makes before they go totally off the rails and they make a whole lot of crappy things, except the Pythons quit there, and spared us all the crappy things.
I am surprised that the response to this song is so negative. It doesn't sound any worse to me than a lot of the songs that Idle filled up the Python albums with. They were never my favorite parts of Python, but they were always clever and tuneful and I'd say this one is about as good as "Do What, John?" or whatever.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:59 PM on April 7, 2014
I am surprised that the response to this song is so negative. It doesn't sound any worse to me than a lot of the songs that Idle filled up the Python albums with. They were never my favorite parts of Python, but they were always clever and tuneful and I'd say this one is about as good as "Do What, John?" or whatever.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:59 PM on April 7, 2014
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posted by hippybear at 1:21 PM on April 6, 2014