Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band Watermelons

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The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band, The Bonzo Dog Dada Band and, colloquially, as "The Bonzos") are a band created by a group of British art-school denizens of the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz, psychedelic rock, and avant-garde art, the Bonzos came to the attention of a broader British public through a children's television programme, Do Not Adjust Your Set.
The band's formation

Unusually for a band, the actual date of conception for the Bonzos is known: 25 September 1962. It was on that day that Vivian Stanshall (tuba, but later lead vocals along with other wind instruments) and fellow art student Rodney Slater (saxophone) bonded over a transatlantic broadcast of a boxing match between Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston.

Rodney Slater had previously been playing in a trad jazz band at college with Chris Jennings (trombone) and Tom Parkinson (sousaphone). Roger Wilkes (trumpet) was the founder of the original band at the Royal College of Art, along with Trevor Brown (banjo). They slowly turned their style from more orthodox music towards the sound of The Alberts and The Temperance Seven. Vivian was their next recruit and on that day in 1962, he and Rodney christened the band, The Bonzo Dog Dada Band. Bonzo the dog was a popular British cartoon character created by artist George Studdy in the 1920s and Dada after the early 20th century art movement.

Not long after Vivian, Rodney and Tom were evicted from their shared flat, the band added two more faces to the line-up: Goldsmiths College lecturer Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell and his lodger, songwriter/pianist, Neil Innes. According to Neil Innes' website,[1] the Bohay-Nowell was added to Vernon Dudley's name by Vivian Stanshall. The band had been working with drummer Tom Hedges before Rodney found Martin Ash, who later took the stage name of Sam Spoons and shortly afterwards got them their first pub gig, where they were noticed by Roger Ruskin Spear.

Ruskin Spear, the son of the British artist Ruskin Spear, claimed, "I couldn't believe anyone was that bad." He eventually changed his mind and, with his interest in the manufacture of early electronic gadgets/objets d'art and sound-making systems soon became an integral part of the band.

The line-up changed again with the departure of Roger Wilkes and John Parry, the trombonist. The two were replaced by, respectively, Bob Kerr and "Big" Sid Nichols. The final 'classic' band member, "Legs" Larry Smith joined in 1963, as a tuba player and tap-dancer (but later as a drummer), on Vivian's invitation.

The band's fortunes began to increase when their manager, Reg Tracey, secured them a deal with Parlophone Records in April 1966. Their first single, a cover of the 1920s classic, "My Brother Makes The Noises For The Talkies" was backed with "I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight" which was rather too risqué for radio.
More videos from Trevor RIDVIDD http://www.youtube.com/user/7779trevor

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Bonzos
• jazz
• Dada
• avant-garde
• psychedelic
• Rodney
• Slater
• RIDVIDD
• 777trevor

[MrCoffin32]

wow. What a great band. Its sad how music is becoming these days. Bonzo Dog band rules!

[Sammysioux]

How cool is this? Awesome!

[intecrisis]

This weekend I'm bringing that bitch a 40 lb pumpkin if you know what I mean

[tavriadriver]

I played this to a class of hormone-crazed 15 year-olds, and found myself having to explain the implication of the incrementally larger fruits in each line of verse one. Unbelievable!

[gemear2]

"My Brother Makes The Noises For The Talkies" was backed with "I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight" which was rather too risqué for radio...... lol they were both written in the 1920s!

[MrCluster1]

only enough is good ra ra ra

[treefrog1956]

Wonderful stuff.

[morganfjp]

What a band. And Viv - what a man, what a voice, what a mind. Respect. You silly boys...