Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

September 21, 2009 3:36 PM

A complete Album/CD on Youtube... but without any actual video.

...Mercifully, Henry hit him with the soft end of the pistol. Scrotum sprawled on the parquet flooring, and Henry strode back to the window and took aim at the hang glider, now several hundred yards past the lime trees and fast diminishing...

Parts: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (link to Transcript) By Vivian Stanshall
posted by selton (18 comments total)

This was made into a quite strange film that is very hard to find. A few years back I found an anonymous bootleg DVD of the film in a local bookshop. My heart rejoiced. There is also a published novelization by Stanshall too. It is lurking about on the internets....
posted by njohnson23 at 3:45 PM on September 21, 2009

I have no words, except to I guess say nice Doo-Dah tag, and what, the and fuck.
posted by cashman at 3:47 PM on September 21, 2009

Cashman the "doo-dah" comes from The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band of which Vivian Stanshall was previously a member.

njohnson23 I have the movie on VHS, but sadly don't have a player anymore.
posted by selton at 3:53 PM on September 21, 2009

If I am ever in need of melodic dadaism, I now know where to look. Excellent stuff.
posted by idiopath at 3:56 PM on September 21, 2009

There was no reason for there to be a Vivian Stanshall, but I'm certainly glad there was.
posted by Faze at 3:58 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

This was made into a quite strange film that is very hard to find.

Actually, it's been easily available on a region 2 DVD for years, though there was a time when it was insanely hard to find.

Viv was amazing.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:11 PM on September 21, 2009

Narrator: Hubert was unusual. In his adolescence, during the summer, in a northerly direction parallel to the Earthly axis, he would throw himself naked onto the lawn, and with that loathsome bluey Roman clock face tattooed about his private parts, think about Jean Harlow very hard, and from the shadow cast, tell the time with remarkable accuracy.

Hubert: Look! No hands, Aunty!

I actually enjoy the transcript as much as the CD or movie (which isn't linked).

For anyone that hasn't heard this before, I'd suggest giving it just 2 or 3 minutes: you might hear something that'll entertain you for years.
posted by selton at 4:14 PM on September 21, 2009

Of all the things that John Peel played in the late 70s that changed my universe, none of them were the sorts of things that we associate with him (for example he played Music For Airports when it came out - a track a night). It was the first place I heard John Lee Hooker and dub reggae (next to which most experimental post-punk looked slightly conservative and aenemic) and one night I tuned in and heard the first half of side one of Sir Henry and needed to find out what it was. Possibly the most terrifying thing I'd ever heard, I was, nonetheless, fascinated - half Dylan Thomas, half PG Wodehouse and half end-of-the-pier stream-of-consciousness. Which makes three halves: it was that good.

Rawlinson End started as sessions on Peel's shows, which I managed to download from the net a couple of years ago, but they seem to be gone now. There are also transcripts (scroll down on this page).

You'll also be wanting his autobiographical show Crank: 1 2 3
posted by Grangousier at 4:38 PM on September 21, 2009

This was made into a quite strange film that is very hard to find.

I've tried to watch that twice now...
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:43 PM on September 21, 2009

Oh, and when they made the film of Sir Henry (shot in black and white and printed on colour stock, so there's a haze of colour throughout. Quite beautiful, actually), what they wanted to make was a version of Gormenghast. As great lost, strange masterpieces go, that probably ranks up there with Jodorowski's projected version of Dune.
posted by Grangousier at 4:48 PM on September 21, 2009

I've been intrigued by Stanshall since reading about him in Tony Fletcher's awesome biography of Keith Moon. The two worked together on an aborted radio show, and apparently Moon was considered the sane, reliable one by comparison.
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:43 PM on September 21, 2009

She noted that the gnomes were a length more obviously masculine than hitherto, and now knew why Gerald had squandered so much pocket-money on plasticine.

Oh, Viv. You certainly had a way with words.

My father and I used to recite huge swathes of this together when I was in highschool. You can imagine what a popular kid I was.
posted by madokachan at 7:36 PM on September 21, 2009

half Dylan Thomas, half PG Wodehouse and half end-of-the-pier stream-of-consciousness.

'I'm whatever you like, just don't expect me to join in.' -- Vivian Stanshall
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:52 PM on September 21, 2009

"PLUS! TUBULAR! BELLS!"
posted by Hogshead at 4:47 AM on September 22, 2009

Whenever anyone in our household takes a deep breath, it is de rigueur to follow it with:

"ALL CRIME", bellowed Sir Henry, "is due to INCORRECT BREATHING!"
posted by kcds at 5:25 AM on September 22, 2009

I couldn't love this more. I actually have it on CD which Virgin lazily re-released a few years back with only two tracks on it - Side one and Side two. Fucking douches.

Anyway, great find, great post.
posted by Jofus at 5:29 AM on September 22, 2009

On Let's Make Up and Be Friendly.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 9:14 AM on September 22, 2009

Viv Stanshall (r) and Keith Moon.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 9:21 AM on September 22, 2009