"Thank U Very Much" is a song by

Liverpudlian Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

comedy trio

the Scaffold The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of musical performer Mike McGear (real name Peter Michael McCartney, the brother of Paul McCartney), poet Roger McGough and comic entertainer John Gorman. ...

, released as a single in November 1967. It became their first hit, entering the top ten in the UK.

Background and release

"Thank U Very Much" was a last attempt by the Scaffold to achieve a hit record. Written by Mike McGear, it was inspired by a call he had with his brother

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

. McCartney had given McGear a

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camera for his birthday and when McGear called to thank him, he decided to sing 'Thank you very much for my Nikon camera. Thank you very much'. After the phone call, the tune stuck in his head and he recorded it on a

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. The song notably starts with the line 'Thank you very much for the Aintree Iron', which has caused much speculation over the meaning of Aintree Iron, with McGear having repeatedly refused to divulge its meaning. The "Aintree Iron" was revealed by John Gorman on BBC Radio Merseyside in 2022 to be one of the first motorised taxi cabs in England. During the recording of the song at

EMI Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music ...

, McCartney visited, and though he liked the song, he told McGear to change the title as it was "too oblique". McGear objected saying that the whole song was oblique. In an interview upon the single's release, McGear said "we recorded it because we wanted to bring a spark of happiness into this hard, dull world of ours. Look at the records around you and there's no happy, bouncy get-it-down you ones. 'Thank U Very Much' is about drugs, women, sex and depravity". Released at the beginning of November 1967, "Thank U Very Much" didn't reach its peak on the UK charts until two months later at the beginning of January 1968. It performed best on the '' Record Retailer'', peaking at number 4. Released in the US in January 1968, the song peaked at number 69 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, though performed better on the '' Record World'' chart, achieving a peak at number 43. Elsewhere, "Thank U Very Much" performed best in New Zealand where it was top the '' Listener'' chart. The song was notably a favourite of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and of the then-

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Harold Wilson. Reviewing for '' Disc and Music Echo'',

Penny Valentine Penelope Ann Valentine (13 February 1943 – 9 January 2003) was a British music journalist, rock critic, and occasional television personality. Biography Penny Valentine was born in London, of Jewish and Italian ancestry. In 1959 she became ...

descried "Thank U Very Much" as "a very well-recorded little send-up record about life today. It has a jolly metronome beat and, if anything they do is aimed at a commercial market, this is the nearest they've got yet". Peter Jones for ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...

'' described it as "a great old send-up of those ever-so-grateful-for-things songs – and it's pushed along at such a rare old pace that it's very catchy indeed. Maybe it's too much of a novelty but given the dee-jay support it must do well". In 2020, during the

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, the Scaffold reworked "Thank U Very Much" using the original backing track and released it as a single in aid of the frontline healthcare workers, with the money raised going to the NHS Charities Together.

Charts

References

{{reflist 1967 singles 1967 songs The Scaffold songs Songs written by Mike McGear Parlophone singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Novelty songs