Watch Britons React to Monty Python’s Previously Shelved ‘Lousy Song’
“Terrible, isn’t it?” comments one member of the comedy crew Monty Python to his friend, as an easy-listening song plays in the background. “What do you mean?” the friend counters, as he explains awkwardly that it’s his song. And thus goes the premise to “Lousy Song,” a previously unreleased collaboration between the ensemble’s Eric Idle and the late Graham Chapman that will soon come out officially on the reissue of their 1989 record, Monty Python Sings. The song’s video features random Britons wearing headphones as they react to the duo’s repartee, which was recorded during the sessions for the 1980 release Monty Python’s Contractual Obligation Album.
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The reissue, dubbed Monty Python Sings (Again), is set to come out June 9th in the U.K. and is available online. It collects songs from the troupe’s movies – Life of Brian, Meaning of Life and Monty Python and the Holy Grail – as well as songs from their other LPs and re-recordings of tunes performed on their 1960s TV series Monty Python’s Flying Circus. “Lousy Song” is one of six never-before-heard recordings, including three Eric Idle originals, that the group made over the course of their career that appears on the redux; a two-CD “deluxe” edition features second disc containing their 1970 debut live album Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
The iconic comedy crew is reuniting this summer for a run of live gigs at London’s O2, which they’ve cheekily named “Monty Python Live (Mostly),” in reference to Chapman, who passed in 1989. While their last live performance together was at the Hollywood Bowl in 1980, it’s Monty Python’s first performance in the U.K. in almost 40 years. As previously recorded, one of the group’s performances will be broadcast in movie theaters around the world on July 20th.