Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (recording)


Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, released in 1978, is a largely spoken-word, solo comedy recording by Vivian Stanshall, a British musician with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It originated in his Rawlinson End sessions for the John Peel Show on BBC Radio 1 beginning in 1975, and a similarly-named track on the Bonzo Dog Band's 1972 album Let's Make Up and Be Friendly.

Description

In 1971, Stanshall took over John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show, while the presenter was on holiday. Contributing to Peel programmes over several years, Stanshall played many new and old songs. He piloted and previewed many different musical and spoken-word comedy sketches and songs. Peel would later broadcast recordings made especially by Stanshall as parts of a sporadic "Rawlinson End" saga, such as, "Aunt Florrie Remembers," recorded on 16 October and broadcast on 27 October 1975. Ultimately, Stanshall re-recorded several of these turns for release, all of which related to Sir Henry Rawlinson and his country seat, Rawlinson End.
The album Sir Henry at Rawlinson End was released on the Charisma Records label, featuring Stanshall as multiple characters, talking and singing, in a portrayal of the fictional history of Sir Henry Rawlinson. It is filled with puns, double-entendres, pop-cultural references and clever wordplay. Stanshall initially takes the role of an unnamed narrator, then shifts between character and narrator. The recording features many musical interludes, performed on a variety of odd musical instruments. Guest performers include Steve Winwood and two of Stanshall's children: his son Rupert Stanshall and his stepdaughter, Sydney Longfellow.

Characters

The tracks are named after musical pieces, and most feature at least one vocal number, intermingled with spoken-word performances. Stanshall's characters include Sir Henry Rawlinson, his wife Lady Florrie Rawlinson, their children Ralph and Candice Rawlinson, and Henry's brothers Hubert and Humbert.
Additional characters include the staff of Rawlinson End: Mr. Cumberpatch, Old Scrotum the Wrinkled Retainer and Mrs. E ; various relatives: Florrie's brother Lord Tarquin Portly of Staines and his wife Lady Phillipa of Staines. Other characters include the landlord of the local pub Seth One-Tooth, Reg Smeeton, a walking encyclopedia; and "contract house clean" and "resting theatrical artistes," Teddy Tidy and Nigel Nice.

Reception

's retrospective review was laudatory, commenting,
"Stanshall is superbly entertaining, a wordsmith who can trip from the sublime to the louche in the wink of an eye, from wicked puns to appalling jokes in a tale set in a country estate, and told in more accents than you can shake a stick at."

AllMusic argues that, though the concept of the album is complete nonsense, this doesn't detract from its entertainment value.

Track listing

The fifteen tracks are essentially one long performance piece, but are divided as follows:
Tracks
The story as described on the album was used as the basis for the 1980 film version Sir Henry at Rawlinson End starring Trevor Howard as Sir Henry, and Vivian Stanshall as Hubert. To tie in with the film, Eel Pie Publishing released the script/transcription as Sir Henry at Rawlinson End And Other Spots, a 112pg script book.
In 1983, a semi-sequel entitled Sir Henry at N'didi’s Kraal was released by Demon Verbals, with the catalogue number "VERB 1".
In 1994, Stanshall joined Mel Smith and Dawn French in a series of television advertisements for real ale purveyor Ruddles Beer.
In 1995, Virgin released Sir Henry at Rawlinson End on CD and cassette under their "Virgin Chattering Classics" label. The sequel Sir Henry at N'didi’s Kraal was released on CD by Edsel in 1999.
In June 2010 Guilty Dog Productions, with the full support of the Stanshall family, resurrected the 1978 album and re-imagined it as a one-man show starring Mike Livesley as the narrator and all characters, backed by a six-piece band replicating the instrumentation of the original. The show won rave reviews from the Liverpool Echo, the Liverpool Daily Post, and Liverpool 7 Streets. The show received its London premiere on 14 October 2011. The Premiere was a huge success and the show drew praise from Neil Innes and Adrian Edmondson who were in the audience. The show also received another, this time from MOJO Magazine's Andrew Male. After this success preparation began for a London run.