Neil Innes

I was very upset when my sister texted me while I was having a pint a couple of days ago to tell me that Neil Innes had died. As she said to me, a part of our childhood had died too but more than that, Innes was a very particular talent whose life deserves recognition, but first and foremost celebration.

He originally came to public notice as a member of Bonzo Dog Band, perhaps the greatest essentially comedic Rock band of all. Innes was content to play second fiddle for the most part to Viv Stanshall in the band, McCartney to his Lennon but was responsible for penning and singing many of their best songs.

His time there brought him into the orbit of The Beatles, The Bonzos performed Death Cab For Cutie in the nightclub scene in Magical Mystery Tour. At round about the same time he also started working with members of the Monty Python circle through their TV appearances on Do Not Adjust Your Set.

Innes career from that point on was almost inextricably linked with Beatles and Python. He worked with Eric Idle to produce the Rutles mockumentary and album. The latter is full of great Innes songs, parodies but also tributes to Beatles classics that find the perfect balance between whimsy and eulogy. Though McCartney apparently didn't like the project Lennon, and particularly Harrison, (who appeared briefly in it), approved.

My sister and I first discovered his talents through The Innes Book of Records, a late Seventies TV showcase series he wrote songs and appeared in a set of wonderfully judged promos for. It was a fabulous programme for kids to watch and enjoy, but also to learn from. Over the past couple of days I've watched clips from it and marvelled again at Innes' specific and wonderful gifts.

A writer whose metier was essentially a humorous one will probably always be thought of as a secondary talent by many. But Innes was anything but that. His songs were always about something. They mocked pomposity and arrogance and delighted in the good things in life in the most acute and insightful way. He, like so many of his generation when they go, is irreplaceable. I'm terribly sad at his loss.