"Major Happy's Up And Coming Once Upon a Good Time Band" | |
---|---|
Released |
26 May 1967 |
Recorded |
1 February - 6 March 1967 |
Genre |
Psychedelic Pop, Pop Rock |
Label |
Parlourphone |
Songwriter(s) |
Nasty-McQuickly |
Producer(s) |
Major Happy's Up And Coming Once Upon A Good Time Band is the opening song on the Rutles' 1967 album Happy's Up And Coming Once Upon a Good Time Band" and is reprised later in the album. Written by Dirk McQuickly and credited to Nasty-McQuickly, the song introduces the fictional band Major Happy's Up-And-Coming Once Upon a Good Time Band, who perform the songs on the album. It transitions into the next song on the album, "Rendezvous".
Writing[]
The song introduces the fictional band Major Happy's Up-And-Coming Once Upon a Good Time Band (also refered to as Major Happy's Up-And-Coming Easy Going Good Time Band), who perform the songs on the album. The reason why the band in the album's title is never mentioned is unknown.
Song Structure[]
The song can basically be split into 6 parts and it goes like this:
- Introduction (instrumental)
- Verse
- Bridge (instrumental)
- Refrain
- Verse
- Transition into Rendezvous
Reprise[]
The song's reprise is basically just the first song, but sped-up. Literally. No lyrics were changed between the two versions and the transition into Rendezvous is left in, although the crowd sounds make it a little hard to hear.
Covers, Uses and Other Versions[]
- ZZ Top covered the song for their film Sgt. Rutter's Only Darts Club Band, along with a couple of other songs.
- Parts of Major Happy was used in Lunch, along with the reprise.
- The song was used in Yellow Submarine Sandwich and it was rereleased on the Yellow Submarine Sandwich Songtrack.
- Rutallica recorded a thrash parody of the song titled Major Hetfield's Motorbreath Once Upon A Drunk Time Band on their first album, Sgt. Hetfield's Motor Darts Pub Band.
- An earlier take of Major Happy is avalible through bootlegs. The most notable change is the longer transition.