The Goons: "I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas"

Fantastic EP cover from 1957 for The Goons.

There's an MP3 of "I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas" (sung my Spike Milligan) at the link.

The Goons: "I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas"

[#1 posted by Roy Trumbull , December 19, 2008 11:14 AM]

The Goon Shows were the best. There'd have been no Monty Python without the goons. I believe the last one was done in 1958 and somewhere they're still playing.
I have several I bought as Odeon releases from a record shop in San Francisco. Plus I have a few miles of them on tape.
Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan would swap characters in the middle of a sketch so another character could be introduced.
My favorite line was: "Standby to repel boarders!"
"How do you repel boarders?"
"Stop changing the bed linen."

[#2 posted by Fooksie , December 19, 2008 11:35 AM]

There was a show on NPR that used to play bits from the Goon Show.
Funny stuff. The show also played Bob and Ray bits.

[#3 posted by Ignatz , December 19, 2008 11:57 AM]

Roy:

You forgot:

"Do you play the saxophone?"
"Only during the mating season!"

"Here, have a gorilla."
"No thanks, I only smoke filterless monkeys."

Eccles (sings): "I talk to the trees... that's why they put me away..."

I think I like Bluebottle best, though... "You rotten swine! You have deaded me!"

[#4 posted by Anonymous , December 19, 2008 12:24 PM]

I like the time on a piece of paper sketch. Briefly: "Have you got the time?" "I've got it writted on a piece of paper" "What happens if someone asks you the time and it isn't 8 o'clock" "Well then I don't show 'em the paper!"

Also "I saw the moon" "Did it look round?" "Yep, but I don't think it saw me."

[#5 posted by Scurra , December 19, 2008 12:27 PM]

He's fallen in the water...

I am eternally grateful that my grandfather (highly illegally, of course!) recorded hours of Goon Shows when they were originally broadcast. Spike Milligan was one of those rare genii who utterly changed the world they worked in.

[#6 posted by Sean Murphy , December 19, 2008 1:07 PM]

The Internet Archive has hours of Goon Show MP3's (Bob & Ray too). Funny, funny stuff.

[#7 posted by retropc , December 19, 2008 1:16 PM]

I always liked:

"He had a military bearing - which he tossed from hand to hand."

[#8 posted by lercio , December 19, 2008 1:19 PM]

I'm guessing Spike Milligan drew the cover. His best quote is his gravestone ...

"I told you I was ill..."

[#9 posted by Kit10inDublin , December 19, 2008 1:37 PM]

Roy Trumbull is right!!!

My parents listened to The Goons a lot, so they were very happy with us being into Monty Python and many other comedy shows.

The album 'Songs for Swinging Sellars' is a classic. Me parents had it on vinyl and us kids regularly listened to it. Also Spike Milligan, what a tortured genius. Q9 anyone, and other derivatives thereof?

[#10 posted by relain , December 19, 2008 1:52 PM]

thanks for posting this, a lovely reminder of good times with relatives who've perished this year.

Also i enjoyed getting the file from rapidshare, something from rapidshare that's not porn! Fun!

[#11 posted by Anonymous , December 19, 2008 2:05 PM]

You can hear this in all its mono scratchy glory--complete with minimalist video--at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukvASdvva8I

[#12 posted by Roy Trumbull , December 19, 2008 2:23 PM]

I almost forgot Prof. Moriarity and the two babbu Indians Mim and ?.

Moriarity: "Why not make yourself a peer?"
Neddie: "Yes, yes, I'll make myself a peer."
(sound of a loud splash)
Moriarity: "I'm afraid you're a very short pier."
or
"Look out, they're firing a cannon!"
"Right, I'll see you after the ball is over."

The Goons came from the same period as "What's my Word" and it's still being rebroadcast.

[#13 posted by texasroute66 , December 20, 2008 6:18 AM]

FX: rapid combination of thump/quack....thump/quack....thump/quack.
Grytpype Thynne: "I say Moriarty. Someone's knocking on the door with a duck."

Ahh, happy days.....

[#14 posted by Anonymous , December 21, 2008 12:25 PM]

My favorite goon exchange:

Bannister:
Henrrrrrry! Who's that down there?

Crun:
A civil servant, Minnie.

Bannister:
Hit him! Hit him!

[#15 posted by KryspyJo , December 22, 2008 8:53 AM]

My all-time favorite Goon Show is "Tales of Men's Shirts." Here's the script:

http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s10e02_tales_of_mens_shirts

Seagoon:
That's Thynne enough! Thank you, thank you. Remember, folks, saying "Thynne" cures you of monkeys on the knees.

Sellers:
Yes, if you've got monkeys on the knees, just say:
Milligan:
Thynne!

Sellers:
And they are only three and six a box.

Milligan:
Yes, I swear by Thynne. One morning I woke up and there they were monkeys on the knees!

Grams:
[Monkeys in a temper]

Milligan:
Then I said the cure word, Thynne!

Grams:
[Speed up and fade record of the monkeys at high speed]

Milligan:
And away they went!

Greenslade:
Ta. The monkeys were played by professional apes.

Seagoon:
That was Wallace Greenslade saying words.

[#16 posted by KryspyJo , December 22, 2008 8:55 AM]

BTW-The last Goon Show was in 1959 and the reunion for Prince Charles in 1970 doesn't count.

[#17 posted by Takuan , December 22, 2008 9:02 AM]

why WAS that tiger wearing brown boots?

[#18 posted by tvkirby , December 22, 2008 9:11 PM]

Ned Quartermess: Hello Folks it's me, Ned Quartermess, son of a scientist and daughter of darkness, two for the price of one....Hup Hoi!

---

Quartermess: Listen, someone's screaming in agony - fortunately I speak it fluently.

---

Quartermess: Gad! My brain raced in various directions, the frontal lobes to Charing Cross and the Isle of Rhyl to the Antipodes.

---

Crun: Ohhh ---- it's quite windy on these cliffs.

Min: What a nice summer evening - typical English.

Crun: Mnk yes - the rain is lovely and warm - I think I'll take on of my sou' westers off - here, hold my elephant gun.

Min: I don't know what you brought it for - you can't shoot elephants in England.

Crun: Mnk? Why Not?

Min: They're out of season.

Crun: Does this mean we'll have to have pelican for dinner again?

Min: I'm afraid so.

Crun: Then I'll risk it, I'll shoot an elephant out of season.

---

Ying Tong iddle i po!

---

Seagoon: What are these men lying on the floor for?

Grytpype-Thynne: We haven't got any carpets

[#19 posted by Ignatz , December 23, 2008 6:14 AM]

Roy Trumbull: the two babbus were Mr. Lalkakar and Mr. Bannerjee. Any conversation between the two inevitably ended up with them discussing gainful employment and funeral ceremonies.