Free Music Friday #94: Just for fun

For April Fools Day, it seemed appropriate to choose a humorous track for download. And a great source of comedy tracks is the Mitch Benn Music Podcast. (Note: Mitch does warn that the podcast "Features sweary lyrics".)

I always enjoy Mitch's contribution to the Now Show, and if you enjoy comedy music with a bit of parody and pastiche thrown in for good measure, I can highly recommend his album: Crimes Against Music. In his (almost) weekly podcast, he does feature his own work, but the focus is on stuff from other people. The great thing is, the podcast page links to all the featured artists, so often you will be able to download, or at least listen to streamed music, from the people you have enjoyed.

The artists I have chosen to link to is Neil Innes. Most of the people in the podcast are relative unknowns but I have enjoyed Neil's work for years. I first encountered him when I was a just a boy because the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band featured on a children's TV programme called Do Not Adjust Your Set. I had never seen anything like them before but I definitely responded to their anarchic brand of inspired lunacy. (Just realised, I must have been about six when this was on TV but I have vivid memories of the Bonzo's performances!)

But back to Neil because his website is brilliant. It is stuffed to the gunwales with examples of his work from pre-Bonzos to present day. There are lyrics, videos, pictures, guitar tabs and (most importantly for this post) downloads of his songs.

I'm linking here to the section where you can download two different versions of what was probably the Bonzo's biggest hit: I'm The Urban Spaceman (which was produced by Paul McCartney under the pseudonym Apollo C. Vermouth). The first version is preformed in a Dixieland Jazz style and is really interesting but the second download is a live version which is much closer to the recorded version. Helpfully, Neil has also provided a guitar tab for this song and even though I'll get a row from my guitar tutor for neglecting my scales, I spent a good chunk of today's practice playing along with Neil and the boys.

There is loads more to download and discover but unfortunately my favourite Innes song isn't available for download, so here's the video instead:

What Innes download would you recommend?