Let us give our attention now to plain facts and the opinion of others as we delve into this period of debate.
Ok, so debate is probably the wrong word. How's this, let us now juxtapose the Beatles at their weirdest to the Rutles, a band whose legacy will last a lunchtime.
Does that help? Probably not.
A little background. Magical Mystery Tour was the BBC TV show the Beatles put out in 1967. It came on the heels of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and was broadcast on Boxers Day. It did not go down well. Like A Hard Day's Night and Help, the Beatles previous 2 films, Magical Mystery Tour, is the Fab Four running around having a good time with a busload of tourists. Unlike those first 2 films, it's weird, and at times, incomprehensible. It's a great film to see high.
Watching it, you find yourself sensing a lot of deja vu: a flight through the countryside with the land bleached in different colors and hues (2001, A Space Odyssey), John Lennon shoveling heaping amounts of spaghetti on a table (Monty Python's The Meaning of Life), and stopgap photography galore (too many to mention). oh, and no plot.
The Rutles, are a parody band, making fun of... the Beatles, and the era of running from crazed crowds of teenaged girls. It started as an SNL skit and morphed into a film. The Rutles are the most famous fake band after Spinal Tap.
The common tie is Neil Innis, who recently past away, as he is the only songwriter to have songs in both films! His first band, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band-yes, you read that right; it was the 60's remember-is in the film and their first single was produced by Paul McCartney. His song for the show was titled: Death Cab for Cutie, which is the name of a band from these parts.
You can't make this stuff up.
Both are parodies of a kind, be it weird road trips or very famous bands doing weird things. The commonality is the music, which might surprise some, but, at the time, the Beatles were pushing their music through its psychedelic phase, while Innis' parodies of the Beatles oeuvre are spot on and more loving than ironic.
If you have some time to kill or are bored, I highly recommend both.
©2020 David William Pearce
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