"Eric the Half-a-Bee" is a song by the British comedy troupe

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

that was composed by

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadwa ...

with lyrics co-written with

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

. It first appeared as the A-side of the group's second 7" single, released in a mono mix on 17 November 1972, with a stereo mix appearing three weeks later on the group's third LP ''

Monty Python's Previous Record ''Monty Python's Previous Record'' is the third album by Monty Python. Released in 1972, it marked the group's first collaborations with regular sound engineer Andre Jacquemin as well as musician Neil Innes, who had previously appeared with fu ...

''. On this album, the song followed the routine called "

Fish Licence The Fish Licence is a sketch from Series 2 Episode 10 (''Scott of the Antarctic'') of the popular British television series, ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''. It first aired on 1 December 1970. Eric Praline (John Cleese) is a put-upon custo ...

" in which Mr Eric Praline, played by Cleese, tried to obtain a pet licence for an

halibut Halibut is the common name for three flatfish in the genera '' Hippoglossus'' and ''Reinhardtius'' from the family of right-eye flounders and, in some regions, and less commonly, other species of large flatfish. The word is derived from ''h ...

and numerous other pets all named Eric, much to the chagrin of the licence office worker (

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries. Palin w ...

). One such pet is half a

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

. The song relates the tale of the half-a-bee, having been "bisected accidentally" by his owner one summer's afternoon. The lyrics raise

philosophical Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

questions as to the existence or not of half a bee: "Half a bee, philosophically, must ''

ipso facto is a Latin phrase, directly translated as "by the fact itself", which means that a specific phenomenon is a ''direct'' consequence, a resultant ''effect'', of the action in question, instead of being brought about by a previous action. It is a ...

'' half ''not'' be. But half the bee has got to be, ''vis-à-vis'' its entity – d'you see? But can a bee be said to be or not to be an entire bee when half the bee is not a bee, due to some ancient injury?" The song ends with Cleese saying he loves his pet half-a-bee "semi-carnally", which Palin mishears as

Cyril Connolly Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine ''Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote '' Enemies of Promise'' (1938), which combin ...

, a British writer and literary critic. It is one of Cleese's personal favourite sketches. On more than one occasion, Cleese has expressed his regret in not having the song follow "Fish Licence" in the sketch's airing on ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...

'' (Episode 23, "Scott of the Antarctic" 1970) as he describes himself as "most unmusical."

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– acoustic guitar, backing vocals *

Neil Innes Neil James Innes (; 9 December 1944 – 29 December 2019) was an English writer, comedian and musician. He first came to prominence in the pioneering comedy rock group Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Mon ...

– piano *

The Fred Tomlinson Singers Frederick Tomlinson (18 December 1927 – 17 July 2016) was a British singer, songwriter and composer. He founded the Fred Tomlinson Singers, who sang the music featured on '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', ''The Two Ronnies'' and other British ...

– backing vocals *

– spoken word

Notes

Songs about fictional male characters Songs about insects Monty Python songs 1972 songs 1972 singles Songs written by Eric Idle Songs written by John Cleese Charisma Records singles {{comedy-stub