''Teddy Boys Don't Knit'' is the third solo album by

Vivian Stanshall Vivian Stanshall (born Victor Anthony Stanshall; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his exploration of the British upper ...

. As with his 1974 debut solo album '' Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead'', it consists entirely of songs, rather than the comedy-narrative-with-integral-songs of its immediate predecessor '' Sir Henry at Rawlinson End''.

Background

''Teddy Boys Don't Knit'' was written during Stanshall’s residence at his

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

river

houseboat A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Most houseboats are not motorized as they are usually moored or kept stationary at a fixed point, and often tethered to land to provide utilities. How ...

''Searchlight'' with his second wife

Ki Longfellow Ki Longfellow (born Baby Kelly, formerly Pamela Kelly; December 9, 1944 - June 12, 2022) was an American novelist, playwright, theatrical producer, theater director and entrepreneur with dual citizenship in Britain. She is best known in the Un ...

, his stepdaughter Sydney and his infant daughter Silky – a period which Longfellow has described as Stanshall’s "first, real and only taste of family life."Album information on ''Teddy Boys Don't Knit''
from www.gingergeezer.com homepage Consequently, several songs on the album have domestic themes: "The Tube" (written for and about Silky Stanshall and her infant digestive process), "Bewilderbeeste" and "Calypso to Colapso" (for and about his love of Ki), "Fresh Faced Boys" (dealing with Stanshall’s struggle against his own father’s wishes for him to be well-groomed, well-behaved and socially presentable) and "Possibly an Armchair", in which Stanshall muses on ageing and on whether in old age he is likely to become the same kind of person as his elderly father had himself become. The album was recorded at

Morgan Studios Morgan Studios (founded as Morgan Sound Studios) was an independent recording studio in Willesden in northwest London. Founded in 1967, the studio was the location for recordings by such notable artists as Jethro Tull, the Kinks, Paul McCartney, ...

Willesden Green Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has formed p ...

, in 1981 and released in between Stanshall's two spoken-word comedy albums, '' Sir Henry at Rawlinson End'' and '' Sir Henry at N'didi's Kraal'' (and shortly after the shooting of the film version of ''Sir Henry at Rawlinson End''). Although not part of the Rawlinson End sequence in itself, ''Teddy Boys Don't Knit'' does feature several songs written (and in some cases used) for the project: "Gums", "The Cracks Are Showing" and "Terry Keeps His Clips On" (a song inspired by

Terry clip A Terry clip (or Terry's clip) is a spring metal clip used to hold a cylindrical object. For example, to secure a bicycle pump onto a bicycle frame. The object to be held is pushed into the clip to secure it, and pulled out to release. The origina ...

s). Several other songs emphasise Stanshall's love of language and language games. The title of "Flung a Dummy" is taken from an unusual phrase which Stanshall had heard a stranger on a train use as a euphemism for dying, while "Ginger Geezer" is written almost entirely in

Cockney rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymin ...

. Other songs parody and mock the lifestyle of the rock-and-roll musician. As he had on '' Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead'', Stanshall made use of the musical talents of his fellow former

Bonzo Dog Band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band or The Bonzos) was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde art, ...

members

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 ...

and

Roger Ruskin Spear Roger Ruskin Spear (born 29 June 1943 in Hammersmith, London) is an English sculptor, multimedia artist and multi-instrumentalist (saxophones, clarinet, piano, guitars, percussion) who was a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Career After Sp ...

, his frequently-called-on musical director Pete Moss and multi-instrumentalist Jim Cuomo. Other contributors to the album include

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talente ...

keyboard player

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist best known as a former member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his solo albums released in the 1970s. Born and raised ...

, guitarist

Ollie Halsall Peter John "Ollie" Halsall (14 March 1949 – 29 May 1992) was an English guitarist best known for his role in the Rutles, the bands Timebox, Patto and Boxer, and for his contribution to the music of Kevin Ayers. He is also notable as one of t ...

Traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...

Can Can may refer to: Containers * Aluminum can * Drink can * Oil can * Steel and tin cans * Trash can * Petrol can * Metal can (disambiguation) Music * Can (band), West Germany, 1968 ** ''Can'' (album), 1979 * Can (South Korean band) Other * C ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

ist

Rosko Gee Rosko Gee is a Jamaican bassist, who has played with the English band Traffic on their albums ''When the Eagle Flies'' (1974) and ''The Last Great Traffic Jam'' (2005); with Go featuring Stomu Yamashta, Steve Winwood, Michael Shrieve, Klaus Sch ...

, John Kirkpatrick on

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

, as well as Ki's friend and old Hampstead flatmate Richard Thompson. The album title is derived from Stanshall's boyhood in the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

town of

Leigh-on-Sea Leigh-on-Sea (), commonly referred to simply as Leigh, is a town and civil parish in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. In 2011, it had a population of 22,509. Geography Leigh-on-Sea is on the northern ...

, where he was a member of a

Teddy Boy The Teddy Boys or Teds were a mainly British youth subculture of the mid 1950s to mid 1960s who were interested in rock and roll and R&B music, wearing clothes partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, which Savil ...

gang but baffled his fellow gang members with his chosen pastime of

knitting Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine. Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...

Track listing

;Attitude 1 # "King Kripple" - 2:52 # "Slave Valse" - 4:38 # "Gums" - 2:06 # "Bewilderbeeste" - 2:57 # "Calypso to Colapso" - 3:00 # "The Tube" - 3:26 # "Ginger Geezer" - 3:04 # "The Cracks Are Showing" - 0:46 # "Flung a Dummy" - 3:10 ;Bttitude 2 #

"Possibly an Armchair & Embodying Fresh Faced Boys" - 5:16 # "Terry Keeps His Clips On" - 3:34 # "Bass Macaw & Broken Bottles" - 2:55 # "Nose Hymn" - 2:21 # "Everyday, I Have the Blows" - 5:01 # "Smoke Signals at Night" - 3:12 # "Nouveau Riffe" - 3:33

Personnel

Musicians

- vocals, horns, banjo, mandolin, kazoo, harp, piano, engineer, artwork *

, Richard Thompson - guitars *Pete Moss - keyboards, bass, guitar, percussion, orchestration *

- bass * ”Admiral” John Halsey - drums *Jim Cuomo - reeds, piano *

- piano * John Kirkpatrick - concertina, melodeon *

- xylophone and cornet on track 6, tenor saxophone on track 9 *Lennox Langton - steel drums on track 5 *Charmain Sheenhan - vocals on track 5 *

- piano on track 15

Production

*Malcolm Brown - producer *Andrew Sheehan - co-producer, percussion *Martyn Webster - engineer

References

External links

"Vivian Stanshall – Teddy Boys Don't Knit" at discogs.com
{{Authority control Vivian Stanshall albums 1981 albums Charisma Records albums