Eric Idle talks about the inspiration behind his hit song "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life"

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  • čas přidán 14. 10. 2018
  • Eric talks with “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” producer, John Goldstone, about the inspiration behind his hit song "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life” which is also the name of his new memoir, now available everywhere books are sold. Read more at prh.com/brightside
    Eric will be on tour in the US, U.K. and Australia from 3 October 2018 to promote the book. For more information visit tinyurl.com/y7ebz6pa
    In "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography", Eric takes us on a remarkable journey from his childhood in an austere boarding school through his successful career in comedy, television, theatre, and film. With equal parts hilarity and heart, Eric shares the highlights of his life and work with the kind of offbeat humour that has delighted audiences for five decades, chock full of behind-the-scenes stories from a high-flying life featuring everyone from Princess Leia to Queen Elizabeth.
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Komentáře • 249

  • @david8157
    @david8157 Před 5 lety +633

    I want it played at my crucifixion

  • @bobbywilson9173
    @bobbywilson9173 Před 5 lety +316

    His voice still sounds the same !

    • @watbuilder5267
      @watbuilder5267 Před 3 lety +7

      It does, i thought he's voice would change.

    • @DragonRazor9283
      @DragonRazor9283 Před 3 lety +2

      still perfect singing as it was 40 years ago!

    • @Dirk-van-den-Berg
      @Dirk-van-den-Berg Před 3 lety

      A voice doesn't change over time. People get older, but their voices don't change.

    • @Brinta3
      @Brinta3 Před 3 lety +7

      @@Dirk-van-den-Berg
      Singing voices do change. The timbre changes, and you lose the high notes.

    • @cutter-games
      @cutter-games Před 2 lety

      @@Dirk-van-den-Berg Your voice doesn't change fundamentally, that's true, but high notes become more difficult or change as you get older.

  • @alicec1533
    @alicec1533 Před 3 lety +124

    I love how the song is tongue-in-cheek, whilst also espousing a genuine philosophy at the same time.

  • @deavea
    @deavea Před 3 lety +106

    My family was considering playing this song at my dad's funeral, but we weren't brave enough. This song will always remind me about his lovely sense of humor

    • @foxahamtheminor-attractedp7736
    • @auroreboreale9163
      @auroreboreale9163 Před 2 lety +5

      And I wanted to wear vampire teeth when I say "yes" to my marriage - (I was born in Romania 🤭), but I wasn't brave either. But each time I think of it I'm laughing, and it's been 28 years since then 😅🤣
      Belated condolences to you for your loss, I guess you'll always look on the bright side of life when you'll look at it, and think of your father with a laughing tender smile! 🙏
      So, yeah, we should always look a the bright side of life, cause laugh is medecine ❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤍

    • @deavea
      @deavea Před 2 lety +2

      @@auroreboreale9163 vampire teeth was an exellent idea!

    • @LoveOfATree
      @LoveOfATree Před rokem +2

      well, thanks for the idea! now i want this song played at my funeral!

    • @sampeacaml9307
      @sampeacaml9307 Před rokem +1

      I will play it at my funeral. Happy to see that this song reminds you of happy things.

  • @mu2freighter
    @mu2freighter Před 5 lety +171

    I'm eternally grateful to these gents for enhancing my life for...oh, 44 years now. Cheers!

  • @vondahe
    @vondahe Před 5 lety +75

    I cannot think of any other comedian or group of comedians who come anywhere near Monty Python’s legacy. They’re simply unique.

    • @alexthiebaut2195
      @alexthiebaut2195 Před 2 lety +6

      There’s a few, you just don’t know them. The Monthy Python are incredible, especially this film (Life of Brian). Each culture has their own comedians, some can expand their humour to other countries some can’t. In France you had two groups on comedians in the 80/90’s, Les Nuls and Les Inconnus. Both of those groups are on the same level as the Monthy Python, they’ve changed French culture and the French language and had as much an impact as the monty python had. It’s like Orson Welles said, the funniest group of comedian ever was probably a group in China nobody outside China ever heard about

    • @scotchfaster
      @scotchfaster Před 4 měsíci +1

      I honestly cannot either. But Mr. Show continued in their tradition I would say.

  • @dave1986R
    @dave1986R Před 4 lety +38

    I cracked up when he said”...we all pissed off for the day”. It reminds me of when Brian’s mom says “look he’s not giving you any money now piss off!” LOL.

  • @insanehobo01
    @insanehobo01 Před 5 lety +127

    a perfect song, it always cheers me up when im felling like shit

    • @alejandrorivas4585
      @alejandrorivas4585 Před 4 lety +2

      Its one of those songs that every single time makes me simultaneously laugh and cry

    • @zombierevel
      @zombierevel Před 3 lety +1

      Just learning how to play guitar and its the first song I am trying to learn. My life have being shit for the last years, but this song always cheers me up.

    • @SleepyCinnamon
      @SleepyCinnamon Před 3 lety +4

      life’s a piece of shit, when ya look at it.

  • @Jwnorton
    @Jwnorton Před 3 lety +29

    During the Falklands war, when HMS Sheffield was sinking, Royal Navy sailors were on the upper hull, waiting for the helos to come and rescue them. Sone enterprising swabbie started up a rousing chorus of this, and it was captured by a BBC film crew. It was a classic moment in a terrible incident.

    • @drew6194
      @drew6194 Před 11 měsíci +5

      Brilliant story. Talk about grace under fire.

  • @joshslater2426
    @joshslater2426 Před 7 měsíci +7

    “You come into this world with nothing, you go out with nothing. What have you lost! Nothing!”
    Eric Idle’s probably the only genius who could make such a grim reality reassuring and fun. He’s helped a lot of us look on the bright side of life.

  • @ItsShatter
    @ItsShatter Před 2 lety +6

    I learned how to whistle specifically so I could whistle this tune lol

  • @mauijaystar
    @mauijaystar Před 2 lety +12

    Weʻll be singing this after spreading my momʻs ashes in the mountains next Friday. Thank you, Eric Idle, for giving her so much joy.

  • @jennibarger
    @jennibarger Před 3 měsíci +2

    I played this song at my brother's funeral and put a quote from it on his funeral program. We loved watching Monty Python together. I listen to it occasionally to remind myself to keep a sense of humor about the absurdity of existence.

  • @johnrowland3105
    @johnrowland3105 Před rokem +6

    I think Idle is a remarkable writer/co-writer/lyricist. I don't think folk truly appreciate just how much he's done over the years. Especially for the python stuff. It would have been enough to come up with 'classics' like.....Sit on my face and tell me that you love me. Or Eric the half a Bee or The galaxy song. Which in itself is an incredibly complex facts and figures melding into a song. But to have created arguably THE most comedically memorable song of all time, well loved and popularized by generations that came long after the Life of Brian had hit the zeitgeist, THAT is something special.

  • @shpongloidia
    @shpongloidia Před 5 lety +42

    I loved this song as a kid. Had it stuck in my head constantly.

  • @Deliquescentinsight
    @Deliquescentinsight Před 5 lety +20

    Mickey Baker's jazz chords have helped so many players move to the next level of composition, bless him!

  • @MichaelAyden
    @MichaelAyden Před rokem +4

    Eric, it’s one of the best songs in the world 😊

  • @noremorsewoodworking2258
    @noremorsewoodworking2258 Před rokem +10

    When the film came out here, I of course - as an avid python fan - went to see it in the local cinema. The song stuck to me so well that as I and a friend was cycling home, I sang it almost without mistakes, right down to the cockney intro.
    I have of course heard it many times since and no longer remember what the minor mistakes were - probably just a word or two I had misheard. But at that time I had not heard it before, only that one time in the cinema.
    Just goes to show how good the song is, that it can imprint after just one hearing.
    Another commenter mentions the crew of the sinking HMS Sheffield, and I do remember that story - I may even have seen the clip on tv. I guess that is why (and because I know the song by heart) I started singing it when, during some pythonesquely absurd training for service in Afghanistan during the winter (training for desert warfare in minus 20C and 3 feet of snow - at night) I felt almost compelled to start singing "Some things in life are bad - the worst winter ever had. Makes squaddies cry and sergeants swear and curse".....
    By the time we were supposed to charge "red team's" positions, even the Lieutenant was singing "Always look on the bright side of life", as we were trundling, stumbling, falling flat on our faces and laughing our way through the snow at a pace more suitable for three-legged turtles than an attacking platoon.
    The instructing officer just shook his head and walked away - but I swear he was whistling "da-da - dada-dada-dada".
    The next night we had to repeat the manoeuver "In strict silence - not a f*cking word!" But I guess we all tried to fire our guns in time with the chorus, because the officer later praised us for the very disciplined firing that night.
    Just some of the memories this lovely and cheerful song brings.

  • @roadkingclassic627
    @roadkingclassic627 Před 5 lety +62

    Come on lads, this is Python! You watch it over and over because its (oh he said it!) so bleedin good! Thanks so much to Eric and the whole lot of the Pythons for providing so much entertainment and joy for our lives. Right! Loved the show and all the movies, and always will. And now for something completely different, back to marching up and down the square...

    • @bonnies.d.1121
      @bonnies.d.1121 Před 4 měsíci

      Roadkingclassic627, yep! I've had it on loop for two mornings in a row...so far!

  • @marymclean6097
    @marymclean6097 Před 5 lety +32

    Love the backstory. We need this song now more than ever!

  • @maxcordell1
    @maxcordell1 Před rokem +4

    We sang this at my mate's funeral. When it came to the whole congregation whistling, the two Americans in the congregation stared around in shocked amazement. Oh, how we did laugh.

  • @ronniebrown2517
    @ronniebrown2517 Před 4 lety +3

    in 1976 i decided to kill my t.v.....short while later i realized i could no longer watch monty python tuesday nights at 9 on p.b.s.,,, so i bought a 9 inch black and white t.v. which i kept in a closet and brought out every tuesday night at 9....i was going thru some very serious stuff in my life and this guy and his gang helped me keep sane....thank you eric and all the others.....

  • @bonnienichalson5151
    @bonnienichalson5151 Před 7 měsíci +1

    Monty Python is so loved that a geek named a codeing after it "Python"
    It is a very use codeing language. This is a lasting legacy.Thank You
    Splat Monty Python:)
    The joy of my teenage years 💖

  • @snythesly
    @snythesly Před 4 lety +18

    I always thought that the song they did was a cover of some famous song by some famous artist, i had no idea it was completely original because it was so good

  • @mtobrien1
    @mtobrien1 Před 5 lety +21

    He's a comedian and wonderful guitar player!

  • @arbutuswatcher
    @arbutuswatcher Před 2 lety +19

    Grim as the subject matter may be, this song always makes me smile. Thanks guys, for all of your talents & efforts, to amuse us. I feel like it enriched my life in ways I can explain.

    • @EbenezerEibenhardt
      @EbenezerEibenhardt Před rokem +2

      Force yourself to sing this one when you're really in the thick of it, what they call 'in the valley of the shadow of death'.
      It works surprisingly well.

  • @DrRestezi
    @DrRestezi Před 2 lety +5

    Anyone else going to have this played at their funeral?

  • @ssinberg
    @ssinberg Před rokem +2

    It's hard to think of a more perfect ending for any film.

  • @thrawn323
    @thrawn323 Před 2 lety +2

    I Have Seen several Monty Python items several times. That Which makes you laugh is the only healthy addiction I know of.

  • @c.w.r.794
    @c.w.r.794 Před 5 lety +13

    “A cheery uppy Disney song”~Eric Idole

  • @jmu4508
    @jmu4508 Před 7 měsíci +1

    Eric thank you for such an iconic and hilarious tune that truly helps whenever times are difficult.

  • @rathgwvfredialhw7025
    @rathgwvfredialhw7025 Před 4 lety +4

    Wish it were spring of 77' again.
    Love the backstory. We need this song now more than ever!

  • @robsmithadventures1537
    @robsmithadventures1537 Před 9 měsíci +1

    Eric is a musical genius. He know how write songs that sounded catchy and were funny at the same time.

  • @cinexeon
    @cinexeon Před 2 lety +2

    This is on the top of the list of songs I’ve given my kids to play at my funeral/fiesta!

  • @Saccromycaes
    @Saccromycaes Před 5 lety +163

    Am I going crazy or is this the third time this has been posted?

    • @fffUUUUUU
      @fffUUUUUU Před 5 lety +15

      LOL we're going crazy together :)

    • @zombiebrainstudios
      @zombiebrainstudios Před 5 lety +11

      You're not crazy. There are others like you. We need one more to be a superhero team 😎

    • @SirDrFish
      @SirDrFish Před 5 lety +10

      Not crazy, definitely the third time it's been uploaded

    • @Andrea_Manconi
      @Andrea_Manconi Před 5 lety +2

      Who isn't crazy here?

    • @Rhyno186
      @Rhyno186 Před 5 lety +3

      LOL CZcams probably sent him a DMCA takedown notice due to the copyrighted material he was playing...

  • @KittyAntonikWakfer
    @KittyAntonikWakfer Před 2 lety +3

    Great to hear & see this story behind my favorite Monty Python movie - & one of my very favorite movies of all I've ever seen. And great song for any dying occasion :)

  • @lesleymcshanemitchell9651

    A legend When he sang it at the Games in London I thought Id burst with pride Well done sric

  • @sheamuswalsh3675
    @sheamuswalsh3675 Před 4 lety +2

    Our family motto always look on the bright side of life

  • @sveinnsigururolafsson8314

    One of my favorite songs.

  • @themodernholmes1735
    @themodernholmes1735 Před 7 měsíci +1

    If I'm dying in the hospital, I want all my family, friends, and acquaintances from past and present to sing with me as I'm on my death bed.

  • @jukejointjack
    @jukejointjack Před 2 lety +1

    Thank you so very much George

  • @alanwood5857
    @alanwood5857 Před 4 lety +5

    Eric's new book "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" is excellent!

  • @nicksimms3771
    @nicksimms3771 Před 4 lety +10

    “It’s pretty, eh?”
    > immediately slams it into a concrete bench

  • @oxiigen
    @oxiigen Před 5 lety +51

    Eric my dear, when we will finally hear something about the inspiration behind your hit song "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life"?

  • @funghouls5498
    @funghouls5498 Před 4 měsíci +1

    Great video on his process. Thank you !

  • @1silvervespa
    @1silvervespa Před rokem +1

    Thanks George !!!

  • @jesusoftheapes
    @jesusoftheapes Před 2 lety +1

    this video is going to be a historical piece of magic someday.

  • @sixsentsoldiers
    @sixsentsoldiers Před 5 lety +12

    Wish it were spring of 77' again.

    • @mu2freighter
      @mu2freighter Před 5 lety

      You and me both, pal.

    • @srenhaandbk7904
      @srenhaandbk7904 Před 5 lety

      Wish i were around in spring of 77'. Or in the summer of 69' (guitar solo) for that matter! :D

  • @camron7829
    @camron7829 Před 3 lety +2

    That’s the actual guitar :0000 what a legendary relic, there are many like it some came before even... but this ☝️ one

  • @KenPotter
    @KenPotter Před 3 lety +2

    Eric Idle is Best Comedic Song Writer of All Time.

  • @Scottie1152
    @Scottie1152 Před 4 lety +10

    These boys, molded my sense of the absurd, changed my whole perspective. They effectively ruined any chance I had of being a dentist. 😉❤️

  • @Bjowolf2
    @Bjowolf2 Před rokem +1

    Love this guy - and the other MP chaps 😉

  • @abelgallegoluis2780
    @abelgallegoluis2780 Před 3 lety +2

    Grande eric eres el mejor cómico que he podido ver!

  • @phitur
    @phitur Před 2 měsíci +1

    brilliant. A jazz song, I had no idea 😂

  • @ShawnTewes
    @ShawnTewes Před 5 lety +9

    Tonight on 'It's the Mind', we examine the phenomenon of deja vu. That strange feeling we sometimes get that we've lived through something before...

  • @d.c.8828
    @d.c.8828 Před 3 lety +1

    Love it! Thank you, Mr. Idle!

  • @abelundercity
    @abelundercity Před rokem +1

    "So I took it to the Pythons... and they hated it." 🤣

  • @FrankieParadiso4evah
    @FrankieParadiso4evah Před 5 lety +2

    The astutest & most creative Python!

  • @stevenspenneberg7407
    @stevenspenneberg7407 Před 5 lety +2

    This is great!! Thank you.

  • @hallmt
    @hallmt Před 3 lety +1

    Simply brilliant

  • @NATHANTHEPIMP
    @NATHANTHEPIMP Před 5 lety +3

    This is beautiful.

  • @mikearchibald744
    @mikearchibald744 Před 5 lety +1

    Thanks for posting this. I learned to play my first song on my geetar by watching this video. Now I"m going to take the tune and sell "always look on the illuminated side of life" as a hit single.

  • @yoshi314
    @yoshi314 Před 5 lety +42

    that reasoning sounds oddly obvious in retrospective.

  • @willievstudio
    @willievstudio Před 5 lety +8

    I didn’t watch the other posts but I did watch it this time and very Happy I did! Great details and if I were to be crucified I want it played!!!

  • @Radegastx0
    @Radegastx0 Před 2 lety

    Thanks for sharing this story!

  • @steve24550
    @steve24550 Před 3 lety

    Fabulous ! Happy Easter everyone !!

  • @srenhaandbk7904
    @srenhaandbk7904 Před 5 lety +5

    I am 13 years old, and i am so very proud to recognize that "say no more!" from a sketch in late season one, or in season two, with Eric Idle and Terry Jones, where Eric asks very hyped about Terry's wife. "Is she ahh, 'she a goer? A goer ey? She likes sports eh? Does she like sports? Ohh, she likes pictures eyy? Say no more, say no more! Ey, ey!", and then it ends with Terry asking a bit mad, what Eric was doing. Eric says, "you've ever slept with a lady?", to which Terry replies; "well, yes", and Eric gets the final word by looking wondering up at Terry, with his head leaning on his left fist, asking, "how does it feel?"

  • @rmtmiller
    @rmtmiller Před 8 měsíci

    Really great song!

  • @brianmiller4207
    @brianmiller4207 Před 4 lety

    OMG! They are so young!!!!!!

  • @johnwilson1935
    @johnwilson1935 Před 7 měsíci

    Totally brilliant.

  • @tabascocat5102
    @tabascocat5102 Před 11 měsíci

    Eric invented the most gorgeous key change EVER for the Galaxy song

  • @MammaApa
    @MammaApa Před 5 lety +3

    Oh nice, audio book version is out now, read by Eric Idle!

    • @vRackham
      @vRackham Před 5 lety

      It's great, definitely get the audio version. After I listened to Cleese read his own autobiography, I realized the timing really makes the wisecracks. Paper ain't got a chance.

    • @vRackham
      @vRackham Před 5 lety +1

      I would even go as far as to say that, for the purposes of comedian autobiographies, paper is an ex-medium.

  • @addisonshinedown
    @addisonshinedown Před 5 lety +15

    If I get one more notification for this....

  • @billkates6938
    @billkates6938 Před 5 lety +5

    Nice video. Only one problem with this story: Eric completely erases the otherwise acknowledged fact that it was Neil Innes (Rutles, Bonzo Dog Band) who came up with the whistle hook in this song. Innes was a part of nearly all the Python music recording sessions along with arranger Jon Altman.

    • @jamesrossi8442
      @jamesrossi8442 Před 5 lety

      Bill Kates-Bill, read my comment about his plagiarizing Vivian Standshall’s “Old Scrotum, The Wrinkled Retainer.”

  • @TheWodasi
    @TheWodasi Před 4 lety +1

    i love that shirt ! gotta green one just like it !

  • @Clarinetboy82
    @Clarinetboy82 Před 5 lety

    This made me smile. :)

  • @Liberated_from_Religion
    @Liberated_from_Religion Před rokem +2

    "Life is a POS, when you look at it." We are all pretending, pretending that most things are not so bad. It is the only way not to fall into depression or not to go insane. So, this song reaffirms that and helps.

  • @andydixon2980
    @andydixon2980 Před 4 lety

    Comedy/musical genuis and bloody nice bloke. SAY NO MORE!

  • @kensimpson4286
    @kensimpson4286 Před 4 lety +3

    I suppose Eric forgot how Neil Innes came up with the whistling bit? No worries Eric. We're all getting older.

    • @gringochucha
      @gringochucha Před 2 lety

      Selective memory can be very convenient.

  • @respectfulgamer7232
    @respectfulgamer7232 Před 2 lety

    It's brilliant.

  • @a.m.a.n7876
    @a.m.a.n7876 Před 4 lety +1

    huge vision huge talent

  • @39jbone
    @39jbone Před 9 dny

    The Rutles notwithstanding, did not know he was such a musician.

  • @tomhughes1055
    @tomhughes1055 Před 4 lety

    Legend

  • @scoutrifle6827
    @scoutrifle6827 Před rokem

    Eric could tell me about the phone book and I'd be mesmerized....natural born storyteller.

  • @maestroaxeman
    @maestroaxeman Před 4 lety

    Comedic and satirical genius at its best.

  • @jonjones1553
    @jonjones1553 Před 4 lety +2

    I wish this was our national anthem.

  • @fatarsemonkey
    @fatarsemonkey Před rokem +1

    When things went viral before social media.

  • @jobckts682
    @jobckts682 Před 5 lety +1

    Philly DJ John DeBella, closes his show with Bright Side 9am. Joy!

  • @superslayerguy
    @superslayerguy Před rokem

    That's a very creative/interesting chord progression he put together

  • @waldomirolealjunior
    @waldomirolealjunior Před 5 lety

    Genius!

  • @itcomesback
    @itcomesback Před 5 lety +17

    NO ONE EXPECTS THIS VIDEO RELEASE!

  • @sabrinahakowein1540
    @sabrinahakowein1540 Před 4 lety

    Am I going crazy or is this the third time this has been posted?
    Wish it were spring of 77' again.

  • @danielshannon6027
    @danielshannon6027 Před 6 měsíci +1

    He hasn't changed much after all these years.

  • @Gloppp
    @Gloppp Před 2 lety +1

    Lol.. I love this so much that I was trying to justify sending it to a very religious friend who ended a text with " always look on the bright side of life" and oh course the adult in me knows that would be a terrible idea, but the kid in me really, really wants to.. Humm to be continued lol great post btw you have given me food for thought as it were.

  • @charleswills4554
    @charleswills4554 Před 4 lety +2

    M P F C always made me laugh,The Holy Grail was an awesome movie and The Lifeof Brian was good also.And i love the song.

  • @vilstef6988
    @vilstef6988 Před 4 lety +2

    It was a needed thing for the group to sing it at Graham Chapman's funeral.

  • @DragonRazor9283
    @DragonRazor9283 Před 3 lety +2

    I really need these jazz chords, what are they?

  • @2011littlejohn1
    @2011littlejohn1 Před 4 lety +15

    I hope that everyone realizes that this guy got to jam at parties with George Harrison - the bastard. :)

  • @movienerd202
    @movienerd202 Před 5 lety

    Eric Idle and John Cleese were recently on Marc Maron's WTF podcast for anyone interested.

  • @blazinchalice
    @blazinchalice Před 4 lety

    Nice one, this.