"The Intro and The Outro" is a recording by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It appears on their debut album, Gorilla (1967). It is not so much a song as a comic monologue in which the speaker introduces the musicians who ostensibly appear on the recording. The recording fades out before the emcee completes the introductions and without the "orchestra" being able to play anything more than a vamp. The piece was written by Bonzo member Vivian Stanshall, who also provides the vocal. Stanshall first introduces the seven members of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, who are credited with their actual instruments, over a vamp that resembles Duke Ellington’s "C Jam Blues".
Contents
Following that, the imaginary line-up turns toward comedy. Some of the “musicians” named are actual performers credited with instruments that they did not play or typically were not associated with. Others are actors, politicians and other public figures not generally linked with musical performance in any way. Some of those named are likely unfamiliar to listeners outside of mid-20th century Britain, such as Billy Butlin, Val Doonican, Max Jaffa and Lord Snooty. Peter Scott, credited as playing the duck call, was a well-known British ornithologist. The Rawlinsons makes reference to "Rawlinson’s End", a radio programme created by Stanshall, while Wild Man of Borneo may refer to Bonzo member Fred Munt, whose nickname was "Borneo".
Discounting fictional characters, all of the "performers" mentioned were alive at the time of the recording, with the exceptions of Casanova and Adolf Hitler.
Personnel
According to Stanshall's monologue the Bonzos play the following instruments on the recording, although several of the band were multi-instrumentalists and may play other instruments as well.
As well as being mentioned, the following artists also appear on the recording:
Mentioned in the recording
Controversies
The "sessions gorilla" portion of the recording originally ran "And now just arriving, Quintin Hogg on pig grunt". Hogg was a British politician at the time. He learned of the piece prior to its release and objected to his name being used in such a context. He managed to get Stanshall back into the studio to record the line about the sessions gorilla that is heard on the final recording. It is not known if any copies of the original version still exist. Controversy also grew out of the juxtaposition of The Princess Anne with Hitler.