The first episode of the landmark television series Monty Python’s Flying Circus premiered on this date in 1969 on BBC One. The comedy program practically defined irreverence during a time of counter-cultural upheaval – but who would have guessed in those tumultuous times that the series would one day inspire a hit Broadway musical?
Perhaps Broadway was not such a stretch for The Knights who Say “Ni.” Music played a major role in the success of the program, with many of their classic songs like “Eric the Half-a-Bee,” “The Philosopher’s Song,” and “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” written by cast member Eric Idle. But the troupe took their theme song not from one of Idle’s satirical lyrics, nor from their iconoclastic contemporaries of British Rock, but from nineteenth century America – in fact, from a native Washingtonian. Remember this momentous anniversary with the John Philip Sousa‘s 1894 composition “The Liberty Bell March,” from the web presentation The March King in the Performing Arts Encyclopedia.
The Music Division also has in its coffers, wink wink, nudge nudge, music related to a number of classic Monty Python sketches, including Malcolm Arnold’s Larch Trees, George Barati’s Lumberjack: for trombone and piano, and Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Attila, as well as actual Monty Python songbooks like Mynot Phonty’s bongosok, illustrated by Terry Gilliam, and Spamalot, book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by John DuPrez and Eric Idle. Go out unto the world, dear reader, and pay musical homage to this classic comedy group: sing “I’m a Lumberjack,” wear high heels, or, if you are a zitherist, play Sousa’s “The Liberty Bell March” as arranged for solo zither.