The Goons - I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas

One of the fourteen singles released by Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan a.k.a. 'The Goons'. From June 1956.

It was partly as a result of the shelving of their first record that The Goons decided to secure a recording contract with Decca in the spring of 1956. Their first recording session took place on 24th May 1956, soon after the sixth series of The Goon Show had finished.

"Im Walking Backwards for Christmas" had originally made its debut in the programme "The Great Tuscan Salami Scandal" (recorded on 21st February 1956) during which The Goons were without their usual orchestra and musical interlude performances from Max Geldray and The Ray Ellington Quartet due to a strike called by the Musicians Union. To fill in the three minute interludes from the storyline, Spike Milligan performed this classic song accompanied by Peter Sellers' "unique" piano playing.

The song proved a highlight of the show and prompted its re-recording for Decca. As a B-side to the single, the equally splendid "Bluebottle Blues" provided the young cub from East Finchley with his first vocal outing on record.
Released on 25th June 1956, the record soon entered the UK singles chart, reaching a height of number 4. Surprisingly, Decca's US subsidiary London Records also released the single in August 1956, but it failed to make any impression on the American charts.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• The
• Goons
• I'm
• Walking
• Backwards
• for
• Christmas
• Goon
• Show
• Jim
• Spriggs

[WeissDraconis]

Believe it or not, but a town in Australia decided to try doing this for real: They actually got in trouble for trying to walk backwards for Christmas, and had to walk forwards with their clothes and stuff on backwards.

[climiac]

Marvellous stupidity . Thanks so much for bringing back my childhood when the Goons for required listening in our home.

[kon23uk]

@popitinpete Weeeallll, once the Goons stopped recording, he had to do something to fill in until retirement.

[mutineersband]

@WeissDraconis Wow, that must've been difficult considering they're upside down to begin with.

[throbasonic1982]

Good production. Big band to piano link almost un-noticable.

[CLASSICMONSTERGUY95]

I remember my grandpa had the tapes of the Goons and I could not stop laughing as soon as this came on!

[Retinalism]

In the 70's I owned an EP with "Tower Bridge" on the "A" side and this on the "B" side, it lived in a small suitcase along with my other recording treasures. Occasionally and foolishly that suitcase would happen to be "lent out" to "friends" for their party music. TWICE, ONLY that record was stolen (some said misplaced) and it took almost forever to get another copy the first time and I'm still waiting for a replacement for the second one......

Glad I found it here!

[redbeard37]

You forgot Michael Bentine!

[zxrrr]

HaHa! I'ts the big band bit that I find so funny,still makes me laugh,great for when  the s*** hits the fan!

[demospete]

if i could, i would moon walk backwards 4 Christmas.......

[hebneh]

I've always wondered what this song sounded like, after reading the title many times over the years.

I don't think I need to listen to it again...

[popitinpete]

You can just picture George Martin scouring the EMI archives for the big band interludes as he did for "Yellow Submarine"