Neil Innes

Neil Innes was a musical hero of mine. He died unexpectedly in December at the age of 75.

He had a special gift for writing funny songs that were also wonderfully catchy tunes. He began his musical career with the Bonzo Dog Band. He wrote and sang their biggest hit, I’m The Urban Spaceman, which reached #5 in the U.K. in 1968.

He was in the Beatles-parody band, The Rutles, with Eric Idle. His Rutles songs so faithfully mimic Beatles songs from each stage of their career, you’d swear they were lost Beatles classics (well, I would, anyway). Check out I Must Be In Love, as an example.

He was also associated with the Monty Python comedy troupe, and wrote songs for their Holy Grail film, in which he also appeared as an actor.