The group includes Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle (the trio from Cambridge, who are all taller than all the other members of the group, and known as the more "aggressive" half of the group), Terry Jones (from Wales), Michael Palin (from Oxford) and Terry Gilliam (Minnesota in the United States). Chapman wrote the sketches with Cleese, Jones wrote with Palin, Idle wrote alone and Gilliam did the animations. Neil Innes and Carol Cleveland have both on occasion been mentioned as the "7th Python".
Graham Chapman, widely known as "The Dead One", died of cancer on October 4, 1989, the day before Python's 20th anniversary (thus being called "the greatest party pooper of all time" by Terry Jones), is tagged as the greatest actor among the group by his fellow Pythons. He had problems with alcohol and was a dedicated smoker of the pipe (he appears with a pipe in his hand in most of the Python sketches). He was known for his outstanding and abstract sense of humour; Cleese states that during their sketch-writing partnership Chapman did not say much, but when he said something it was often brilliant. The term "pepperpot" which is used to describe middle-aged ladies was found by Chapman.
John Cleese, probably the most famous Python on the other side of the Atlantic, is most widely known for his silly walk - the famous walk that he invented for Monty Python's Flying Circus, and repeated in one episode of Fawlty Towers, where he tries very hard not to remind his German visitors of the World War II by doing impersonations of Hitler. He lives in the USA. He played the lead as Basil Fawlty in "Fawlty Towers". He has been reported to be the first man to say "shit" on British TV and the first man to say "fuck" at a British memorial service.
Eric Idle is the composer of most Python songs (along with Neil Innes) such as the Python anthem "Always Look on the Bright Side Of Life" (which is also played after Iron Maiden's shows). His outstanding linguistic abilities have earned him the name "Master of the One-Liner". He created the Beatles parody "The Rutles" along with Neil Innes, and recently adapted the Python movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" as a Broadway musical called "Monty Python's Spamalot". His most famous Python role is the character he plays in the "Nudge Nudge" sketch. He is the self-acclaimed third tallest and sixth nicest Python.
Terry Gilliam was the only American in the group and has one of the most successful post-Python careers among the six, as he is the director of hugely popular movies like Brazil, 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and The Fisher King. His part was instrumental in helping Python gain their reputation as a unique comedy group, his animations helping them link sketches (which, of course, don't have punch lines) in an unprecedented manner. He has become a British citizen in early 2006 and renounced his American citizenship shortly afterwards. He acknowledges The Goon Show, a radio show aired in the 1950s on BBC radio, written by Spike Milligan and performed by Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers, as the main reason he chose Britain as his homeland.
Terry Jones is the most successful actor of the woman role (as demonstrated in the Spam sketch, which is only one of numerous occasions in which he has voiced the trademark of a high-pitched female impersonation). He is the director (or co-director) of all Python movies. He has also written, directed and appeared in a few more movies which featured some of his Python mates; despite the fact that these movies aren't quite a match for his work in the Flying Circus, they include some hilarious scenes, such as the singing scene in Erik the Viking. He is the writer of such excellent songs as "I'm So Worried" and "Traffic Lights". He has done a few historical documentaries, and in one of them he briefly acts the part of King Richard III (called "Ring Kichard the Thrid" by the Eric Idle character "the man who speaks entirely in anagrams", which prompts Michael Palin the interviewer to suggest that "Ring Kichard is surely a spoonerism and not an anagram", which results in Eric Idle's character leaving the studio, saying "If you are going to split hairs, I'm going to piss off" (which can serve as a pointer to the Eric Idle-John Cleese movie "Splitting Heirs")).
Michael Palin, known as the nicest python, and the favorite Python to work with for John Cleese, has done numerous travel documentaries during his post-Python career. His amazing sense of humour has inevitably permeated into what would otherwise be just ordinary documentaries (occasions like the Polushka Pole incident and thanking the goddess for her "nice mountain", to name a couple). This nice man, who finds it very difficult to say "no", is the only one who said "no" to a reunion in their 30th year. He is the inventor of the threat "If you don't cooperate, I will get nasty and start using some Dutch words".
As admitted on several occasions, the group likes to dress up as women.
Having said all that, Terry Jones is actually Welsh.
Lumberjack Song
Monty Python Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Will continue much the same as the past few days
Temperatures seventeen centigrade, that's forty-nine Fahrenheit
Winds will freshen later tonight to south-west force six or seven
And there will be showers sometimes heavy in many
Oh sod it, I didn't wanna do this
I don't wanna be a weather forecaster
I don't wanna rabbit on all day about sunny periods
I wanted to be
A lumberjack!
Leaping from tree to tree
As they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia
The giant redwood
The larch
The fir
The mighty Scots pine
The lofty flowering cherry
The plucky little aspen
The limping Roo tree of Nigeria
The towering Wattle of Aldershot
The Maidenhead Weeping Water Plant
The naughty Leicestershire Flashing Oak
The flatulent Elm of West Ruislip
The Quercus Maximus Bamber Gascoigni
The Epigillus
The Barter Hughius Greenus
With my best buddy by my side
We'd sing, sing, sing"
I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I sleep all night and I work all day
He's a lumberjack and he's OK
He sleeps all night and he works all day
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
I go to the lavatory
On Wednesdays I go shopping and have buttered scones for tea
He cuts down trees, he eat his lunch
He goes to the lavatory
On Wednesdays he goes shopping and has buttered scones for tea
I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I sleep all night and I work all day
I cut down trees, I skip and jump
I like to press wild flowers
I put on women's clothing and hang around in bars
He cuts down trees, he skips and jumps
He likes to press wild flowers
He puts on women's clothing and hangs around in bars
I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I sleep all night and I work all day
I cut down trees, I wear high heels
Suspendies and a bra
I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear Papa
He cuts down trees, he wears high heels?
Suspendies and a bra?
He's a lumberjack and he's OK
He sleeps all night and he works all day
He's a lumberjack and he's OK
Sleeps all night and he works all day
The Lumberjack Song by Monty Python is both a comedic song and a satirical take on the macho stereotypes of the lumberjack profession. The first part of the song is a parody of weather forecasts, with the singer expressing his reluctance to be a weather forecaster as he dreams of being a lumberjack. The dream sequence that follows is a hilarious portrayal of a lumberjack life where he jumps from tree to tree and sings with his buddy while felling giant trees like the redwood, larch, Scots pine, and so on. However, the dream sequence abruptly ends, and the song transitions back to the reality of the lumberjack's mundane daily routine of eating, going to the lavatory, shopping on Wednesdays, and having buttered scones for tea.
The humor in the song lies in the contrast between the singer's idealized fantasy and the reality of his mundane, unremarkable life. The absurdity of the situation is heightened by the addition of a fourth wall-breaking line about the lumberjack wearing women's clothing and hanging around in bars.
Line by Line Meaning
Well the weather for the whole area
Let me tell you about the weather in the area
Will continue much the same as the past few days
It's not going to change much from what it's been like lately
Temperatures seventeen centigrade, that's forty-nine Fahrenheit
It's going to be 17 degrees Celsius, which is 49 degrees Fahrenheit
Winds will freshen later tonight to south-west force six or seven
The wind will pick up later and it will be a south-west wind with a force of six or seven
And there will be showers sometimes heavy in many
It's also going to be raining, sometimes heavily, in many places
Oh sod it, I didn't wanna do this
Forget all that, I didn't want to talk about the weather anyway
I don't wanna be a weather forecaster
I would rather not be someone who predicts the weather
I don't wanna rabbit on all day about sunny periods
I don't want to keep blabbering about when the sun will come out
And patches of rain spritting from the west
Or when it might rain a little bit from the west
I wanted to be
What I really wanted to be was
A lumberjack!
Someone who cuts down trees for a living!
Leaping from tree to tree
Jumping from tree to tree as they float down the river
As they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia
In the rivers of British Columbia
The giant redwood
These are some of the types of trees I'd be working with, like the giant redwood
The larch
The larch tree is another kind of tree I'd be working with
The fir
Like the fir tree
The mighty Scots pine
And of course, the mighty Scots pine
The lofty flowering cherry
There's also the beautiful flowering cherry tree
The plucky little aspen
And the resilient little aspen
The limping Roo tree of Nigeria
And even the Roo tree of Nigeria that's seen better days
The towering Wattle of Aldershot
And the tall Wattle tree in Aldershot
The Maidenhead Weeping Water Plant
Don't forget the beautiful Weeping Water Plant from Maidenhead
The naughty Leicestershire Flashing Oak
And the mischievous Flashing Oak from Leicestershire
The flatulent Elm of West Ruislip
There's also the Elm from West Ruislip, which has a bit of a gas problem
The Quercus Maximus Bamber Gascoigni
And the massive Quercus Maximus Bamber Gascoigni - the biggest of them all!
The Epigillus
And don't forget the Epigillus tree!
The Barter Hughius Greenus
Or the Barter Hughius Greenus
With my best buddy by my side
My best friend would be working with me
We'd sing, sing, sing
And we would sing while we work
I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I am a lumberjack and I am content
He's a lumberjack and he's OK
He is a lumberjack and he is content
I sleep all night and I work all day
I sleep at night, and I work during the day
He sleeps all night and he works all day
He sleeps at night, and he works during the day
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
My job is to chop down trees and have lunch
He cuts down trees, he eat his lunch
His job is to chop down trees and have lunch
I go to the lavatory
I also take breaks to use the bathroom
He goes to the lavatory
He also takes breaks to use the bathroom
On Wednesdays I go shopping and have buttered scones for tea
On Wednesdays, I shop and have scones with butter for tea
On Wednesdays he goes shopping and has buttered scones for tea
On Wednesdays, he shops and has scones with butter for tea
I skip and jump
I also like to skip and jump
He skips and jumps
He also likes to skip and jump
I like to press wild flowers
In my free time, I enjoy pressing wildflowers
He likes to press wild flowers
In his free time, he enjoy pressing wildflowers
I put on women's clothing and hang around in bars
Sometimes, I like to dress like a woman and go to bars
He puts on women's clothing and hangs around in bars
Sometimes, he likes to dress like a woman and go to bars
I wear high heels
When I dress like a woman, I wear high heels
Suspendies and a bra?
And I wear suspenders and a bra?
He wears high heels?
When he dresses like a woman, he wears high heels?
Suspendies and a bra?
And he wears suspenders and a bra?
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Terry Jones, Michael Edward Palin, Fred Tomlinson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@anthonyboerio4955
The soliloquy before the song:
"Well the weather for the whole area
Will continue much the same as the past few days
Temperatures seventeen centigrade, that's forty-nine Fahrenheit
Winds will freshen later tonight to south-west force six or seven
And there will be showers sometimes heavy in many
Oh sod it, I didn't wanna do this
I don't wanna be a weather forecaster
I don't wanna rabbit on all day about sunny periods
And patches of rain spritting from the west
I wanted to be
A lumberjack!
Leaping from tree to tree
As they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia
The giant redwood
The larch
The fir
The mighty Scots pine
The lofty flowering cherry
The plucky little aspen
The limping Roo tree of Nigeria
The towering Wattle of Aldershot
The Maidenhead Weeping Water Plant
The naughty Leicestershire Flashing Oak
The flatulent Elm of West Ruislip
The Quercus Maximus Bamber Gascoigni
The Epigillus
The Barter Hughius Greenus
With my best buddy by my side
We'd sing, sing, sing"
@thomassmith5548
Dear Sir,
I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms
about the song you have just broadcast
about the lumberjack who wears women’s clothes.
Many of my best friends are lumberjacks,
and only a few of them are transvestites.
Yours faithfully, Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur
Strong, Mrs.
P.S. I have never kissed the editor of the Radio Times
@kkhagerty6315
As a Canadian I find this deeply offensive, misrepresentative, and quite frankly insulting. I have many friends who are lumberjacks and only half of them are transvestites,
@jeremybenisrael
😂😅😁
@blkhwkfn
Hahahahaha
@freggerken6931
Absolutely hilarious, KK Hagerty!
@kiwibugbear4112
They got us in the first half not gonna lie
@NeanderthalJoe
Had us in the first half.
@sinisterminister6478
As a Canadian and former logger I can state unequivocally that due to safety concerns we are no longer able to wear high heels while working in the bush.😂🇨🇦
@mhansen09
Covid restrictions, I suppose.
@jasem222
This former NZ logger agrees with you. We got a lot of our techniques from the Canadian loggers, including safety standards. My high-heels when working as a pole-man at the skid site wasn't so bad in the summer, but the winter here just fucked them totally. As well as ruining my tights.
@caroldudgeon50s
Hahahaha