Syd and Neil

 

Two obits today that made me sigh.

Syd Mead, who defined the optimistic look of the consumer-friendly techno-future. (Blade Runner as well, but that’s another story.) Atom-powered chrome-trimmed hoverers in a perfect California – he reinterpreted the soul of the auto for an era we hoped we’d see.

Neil Innes, who wrote the songs for Monty Python. I groaned when I read that one. Innes was a parodist, a craft that gets short shrift – it’s easier to mock something than create a new sound, a new style. Tom Lehrer, the greatest musical parodist of the 20th century, had the gift of getting the DNA of his targets exactly right, and his parodies managed to be brilliant examples of the very thing he was humiliating. Innes wasn’t quite in that league. The Rutles was great fun. The songs for which he’s best known are regarded for their lyrics which he didn’t write. Bonzo Dog band fans may have more to say about his compositions, but I want to point out an album he did with Eric Idle. It’s based on the “Rutland Weekend Television” show, an utterly forgotten effort that now looks like the lost fourth season of Python.

He absolutely nailed Dylan. It’s at 25:17 or so.

I have known that song since about 1977, and it makes me laugh every time.

Python fans will enjoy the whole album, but pay attention to Innes’ ability to switch between parodies (“Concrete Jungle Boy,” a Who spoof) and Pythony ditties like “Communist Cooking.” At 5:02 there’s a charming tossed-off tune about the reason the dodos went extinct – “Say Sorry Again.” There’s a sensibility behind it all: affectionate and silly and decent. From what a mutual acquaintance tells me, that’s exactly who he was, and my life has been happier for his songs.

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  1. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    As kids, a cousin and I often listened to a Monty Python cassette tape with various skits and songs. The latter included “I Like Chinese” and “I Bet You They Won’t Play This Song On the Radio.” Funny stuff. 

    • #1
  2. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    James Lileks: There’s a sensibility behind it all: affectionate and silly and decent. From what a mutual acquaintance tells me, that’s exactly who he was, and my life has been happier for his songs.

    Indeed.  Always loved Neil, in all his incarnations.  He will be missed.

    • #2
  3. Michael Brehm Lincoln
    Michael Brehm
    @MichaelBrehm

    Here is an obscure factoid about Syd Mead: He also designed the Turn A Gundam Mech for the Anime of the same name (part of the long running Gundam franchise). It’s nicknamed in certain circles “the Mustache Gundam” because Syd reinterpreted the Gundam’s signature horns (evocative of the crest on a samurai’s helmet) as a facial ornament.

    • #3
  4. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    Here’s an even more obscure fact about Syd Mead: You’d think he drove a Moon buggy, or perhaps the Christian Bale Batmobile. (I’ve seen it up close; it’s ugly.) But he liked big, long, heavy luxury cars and had the connections to order them COPO–Central Office Production Order–i.e. custom order, factory direct. Depending on what studio he was consulting for, he’d have the car delivered to one of two Lincoln dealerships in the L.A. area, one in the Valley (the northern half of the city, where Warners, Disney and Universal are) or one in Hollywood (Paramount, Fox, MGM). He was happy to explain the procedure for other car enthusiasts, because not all dealers qualified to accept delivery of a COPO-ordered vehicle. 

    • #4
  5. Peter Meza Member
    Peter Meza
    @PeterMeza

    “Princess Anne on sousaphone.”

    • #5
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