Bill Bailey - Parodies Lost (2021)

I've mentioned before on the blog that, as well as being passionate about music, I also love comedy, and have posted the odd thing here and there from Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, Ricky Gervais, and Monty Python. One of my favourite stand-ups of the last 15 years has been Bill Bailey, and not only because he's a great comic, but also because he's a brilliant musician, able to play a multitude of instruments, and to knock off a pin-sharp musical parody at the drop of a hat. I decided to collect some of my favourite pieces from his various DVD's and to segue them together into a 35-minute 'live concert', and so that's what we have here. The songs vary from unnervingly accurate take-offs of particular artists like Tom Waits, Kraftwerk, and Portishead, to usurping whole genres, such as country music (and the evils thereof), emo, prog rock, and Adele-style confessionals. He then rounds it all off with such flights of fancy as a dub reggae version of the 'Downton Abbey' theme, an instrumental based on a mobile ringtone, the BBC News theme as an acid-house rave tune, and the wisdom of George W Bush set to a drum 'n' bass backing. If you like these, and you certainly should, then the videos for most of them are on Youtube, along with excerpts from his stand-up routines, so do check them out after you've enjoyed this 'live concert' from the always inventive Bill Bailey.   

Track listing

01 Insect Nation
02 I'm Going to Kill You So I Can Ignore You In Heaven (The Evils Of Country Music)
03 Theme from Downton Abbey (Dub Reggae Version)
04 BBC News Rave
05 Leg Of Time
06 Duelling Sitars
07 Zippedee Do Dah by Portishead
08 Oblivion (The Emo Song)
09 Ring Tone Symphony
10 Old MacDonald by Tom Waits
11 Das Hokey Cokey by Kraftwerk
12 You Left Me, But I'm Not Gonna Go On About It (Song for Adele)
13 Drum 'n' Bush
14 Love Song