Monty Python 'Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life'

Chart Peak: 3

YouTube

I wasn't sure whether to tag this track as an oldie or not - it obviously did date back quite a few years, but it doesn't fit my usual criterion as it had never been a single before. It gets the "from the movies" tag thanks to Life Of Brian, of course, but then again I don't think I was alone among people who liked the song in that I'd never seen the film; I remember it being a big deal when Channel 4 showed it once, but I also remember not being allowed to watch it, although my Mum did make an exception for the scene where somebody writes "ROMANS GO HOME" in grammatically incorrect Latin; perhaps she thought it was educational.

For that matter, I don't think I'd seen much of Monty Python at all then, although I'd obviously heard of them and seen various members of the group in other contexts. Younger readers may wish to recall that there was no such thing as YouTube in 1991 and videos were still pretty cumbersome, so I only saw it when the BBC repeated a few episodes. It was more the sort of thing older kids at school were into at the time. And yet none of this stopped the song becoming a massive hit, although Eric Idle did have to return to the studio to record a slightly sanitised version for airplay, as featured here. The original joke is a simple one, counselling the character to stay optimistic in one of the least hopeful situations imaginable and yet it's endured far beyond its original context: probably not because it's actually funny after the first couple of times but because there's something reassuring about recalling and sharing the original gag. I'm not that surprised that it's also been popular as a football chant.

Of course, credit is also due for the fact that the song has the musical strength to bear repeated plays. Apparently it was Neil Innes who suggested the whistled chorus (one of at least two uncredited contributions he's made to tracks on Now albums) and the richness of the arrangement gives it that odd sense of plausibility that helps to underline the joke. And George Harrison gets a second mention for allowing the film to be made in the first place.

Available on: Back Of The Net! (Classic Football Anthems)