Talk:The Lumberjack Song

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Copyright of lyrics[edit]

Are the lyrics copyright-free?Jorge Stolfi 12:20, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)

No. -- Cyrius|✎ 23:09, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Should the lyrics be removed, then? Tamarkot 03:07, 17 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
This is ridiculous. Copyright laws A) should be ignored when they don't hurt anyone and B) do not apply to printing lyrics in an encyclopedia when they're pertinent.
These are two very bold statements, and both of them are just plain wrong. SchnitteUK (talk) 07:14, 9 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Was this a cover?[edit]

I came to this page as I was reasonably sure that it's not a completely original Monty Python song, but a derivative, maybe plagarised from a traditional song or similar. Am I misguided? Could someone clarify? Perhaps check liner notes for writing credits?

Several years ago, my then-gf told me she had just heard a relatively obscure classical piece in which she distinctly heard the melody of "I put on women's clothing and hang around in bars." I think she said it was Mozart, or possibly Beethoven, but she's passed on so I can't ask her about it now.
I just heard it in Mozart's Don Giovanni, so two points for "then-gf". And this is noted below by another user in 2007, because the portion is called Là ci darem la mano.162.205.217.211 (talk) 18:19, 7 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Michael Palin is quoted in the book The First 2OØ Years of Monty Python by Kim "Howard" Johnson (pp 60-61) stating that he and Terry Jones wrote it in about 30 minutes: "It's just an amalgam of various of those sort of jolly musicals-cum-stirring march-type songs." Fitfatfighter 09:08, 22 March 2007 (UTC) [EDIT: I originally typed 45 minutes but it was 30 per the cite - from quarter-to-7 to quarter-past-7 Fitfatfighter 06:56, 28 March 2007 (UTC)][reply]
The Lumberjack Song may be related to Là ci darem la mano.--Oxonian2006 18:46, 1 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The lyrics are incorrect.[edit]

It's supposed to be: "I wish I'd been a girlie just like my dear mama" However, someone seems to like enjoying changing it. Anyone who has actually listened to the song will be able to see that he's saying "maaaa-ma". However, there may be other versions which I am not aware of, in which case i'd concede.

I have the "Monty Python Sings" CD(originally released on LP), in which he clearly sings "pappa", as is confirmed by the lyrics booklet. Incidentally, in this version, its a weatherman he doesn't want to be, lots of things seem to change from version to version. I find "pappa" funnier.
Boffy b 13:54, 2004 Sep 18 (UTC)
I also have "Money Python Sings" (on tape), and, having listened to it hundreds of times on my daily school commute, can attest that the line is "Papa" in that version. And yes, in that version, his maligned job is that of "weather forecaster." -- ctp
I'm pretty sure I've heard both. -- Cyrius|✎ 23:09, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

The original TV performance was Mama, and subsequently I've seen Papa.

To be complete: The original TV was Mama. The Hollywood Bowl and the audio recordings use Papa. And the German episode - due to differences in lingua, uses "Uncle Walter" (to rhyme with "halter" - bra). D.valued 19:56, 29 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
ps: Why spoiler? D.valued 19:56, 29 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]


I couldn't find any proof For this on Google and it sounded rediculous so I removed it. Let me know if I'm wrong. Samuel 14:59, 10 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In And Now for Something Completely Different, the last line of the song is "I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear papa." --Idont Havaname (Talk) 04:31, 11 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
It was "mama" on the original TV episodes, and then "papa" in ANFSCD as well as the Hollywood Bowl concert. Wahkeenah 04:37, 11 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think they have it the wrong way round. Connie Booth was the girlfriend in the film, not the TV version. PatGallacher 00:27, 22 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]


SORRY, but in the original TV-version (Shown recently on Belgian TV and which I recorded on DVD - Yes, illegal, I know) Connie Booth definitely is the girlfriend 81.245.186.215 22:09, 9 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Trivia[edit]

  • This should be incorporated into the article or left out. See WP:TRIV. John Reaves 22:16, 9 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  • In the original TV sketch, the song ends with "I wish I was a girlie, just like my dear Mama", but in all subsequent performances, including the film, it is "my dear Papa".
  • Shortly before one onstage performance of the Lumberjack Song, George Harrison called Eric Idle and asked if he could sing background as a Mountie. He did it, the Python crew loved it, and nobody in the audience noticed him.
  • "The Lumberjack Song" was shown at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal.
  • In 2002, a version of the song was performed at the Concert For George as a tribute to George Harrison, with Palin and Cleveland in their respective roles and Tom Hanks as one of the Mounties.
  • In a stage version of Monty Python's Flying Circus, where the show is performed in French, the song is entitled Le Bûcheron (chanson).
  • The song was translated into German for Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus, a special made for German and Austrian television. One significant change is that the phrase "Just like my dear Papa" has been changed to "So, wie mein Onkel Walter" ("Just like my Uncle Walter"), to rhyme with "Büstenhalter", German for "bra" (literally, "busts holder").
  • The mention of the German version should be in the main article. --Vaughnstull 01:58, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • A line from this song is sung in the musical Spamalot by the character Lancelot, and is one of several points leading up to a revelation at the end of the play.
  • A reference to this sketch has been featured in the Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi anime series, during the "movie world" episode. In it, one of the characters complains about his job and quotes the opening lines of the sketch (in Japanese) but is left behind by the main characters before the actual Lumberjack Song begins.
  • In the episode "Rinse and Spit" of the cartoon series Rocko's Modern Life, the character Filburt says that he never really wanted to be a dentist, and begins to sing a Lumberjack song parody about chimney sweeps, but is quickly cut off by Rocko.
  • In the Eastvale Logging Camp in the online game World of Warcraft, there's a lumberjack by the name of Terry Palin, in reference to two of the writers of the song. Talking to lumberjacks will also sometimes result in them saying, "I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay."
  • In the opening of the original TV sketch only two of the trees mentioned, the fir and the larch, grow in British Columbia.
  • In the PC game Serious Sam II, the hero picks up a chainsaw and sings the first line of the song.
  • In Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, the lumberjack is not dissatisfied with his job, but rather, "never wanted to be in such a shambolic sketch".
  • In the Dark Horse/DC Comics Crossover, Joker/Mask, the Joker, granted reality-warping powers by a mysterious mask, grows to giant size and cuts down the Acme Logging Co with a chainsaw, having been influenced by the Villainess Poison Ivy. While doing this, he sings the first line of the song, while dressed in a costume identical to Palin's save in one detail: he also drapes a pink bra over his chest.

Hitler reference[edit]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Monty Python at one point do this with a lumberjack designed intentionally to resemble Hitler, and then a German woman says, in German "he seemed so rugged" with English subtitles? I have distinct memories of this, but haven't found a reliable source...anyone recall this? MorteTheSkull 06:25, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • I've seen a German version (with the "Bustenhalter" / "Uncle Walter" line) but it has been many years and I don't recall those details. Wahkeenah 09:56, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, well, I've found the German version ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR7RHgdVTCg )it doesn't seem to really reference Hitler, though. Would it be relevant to mention it in the article?

German lyrics by...[edit]

Who wrote the lyrics to the German broadcast version? This should be mentioned in the article as well, plus any variations in their translation. 147.70.242.40 15:51, 25 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • According to the Monty Python song book, the same guys who wrote the English lyrics also wrote the German lyrics, for the German production of Flying Circus -- namely, Michael Palin and Terry Jones. Wahkeenah 01:28, 26 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

WikiProject class rating[edit]

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 22:19, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Produced by George Harrison[edit]

Some, if not all, of the audio recorded versions released on albums, etc. were produced by George Harrison. (George was a huge fan of the Pythons.) The version I own on a double UK EP (Charisma Records MP 001 - entitled "Python On Song" credits "George 'Onothimagen' Harrison" as Producer of the Lumberjack Song.

Scientific Names[edit]

The song does not name the trees by their scientific names. Larch, Scotts Pine etc are their common names so why is this in the artical?Wild ste (talk) 20:39, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Where this sketch came from?[edit]

"The sketch took its inspiration from a discussion Palin had with an assistant cameraman, in which the subject was the cameraman's former jobs. One of the jobs was revealed to be that of a lumberjack."

I was sure that I saw in an interveiw/doccumentary on BBC2 that Terry Jones and Michael Palin were writing a sketch about a newsreader and where having a lot of trouble coming up with ideas until one of them suddenly said the intro, namely "I didn't want to do this, I wanted to be a lumberjack" and then they managed to write the whole song in 30 mins.Wild ste (talk) 20:47, 7 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

First TV performance was Eric Idle[edit]

The first time they did this song on Monty Python's Flying Circus, Eric Idle sang the song. On "And Now for Something Completely Different" and other taped performances, Michael Palin sang it. The article says it was the other way around. Were there earlier stage performances? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.112.170.96 (talk) 03:01, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

...except that that's not true. In the first TV performance, on Monty Python's Flying Circus, Michael Palin sang the song (abandoning his job as blood-stained barber). And Connie Booth was his "girlie". As far as I know, this was the only time the song ended with "my dear Mama", and the girl cried that he was so "rugged", rather than "butch". 108.1.69.22 (talk) 11:49, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Fred Tomlinson Link[edit]

The link for Fred Tomlinson points to a footballer born in 1886. Acidtoyman (talk) 07:25, 22 March 2011 (UTC) Why is there no available information about Fred Tomlinson or his singers, who performed on so many British TV shows?75.147.131.85 (talk) 02:35, 14 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Popular culture - NZ[edit]

Not sure if it is worth mentioning but in NZ The Lumberjack Song was re-purposed in an advertisement for well known mint http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3PqQqwQSe0 Abeorch (talk) 10:06, 3 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Epyx' World Games[edit]

Why is the log rolling event in World Games not mentioned? It's the most appropriate reference in any computer game I know. --217.226.89.108 (talk) 18:09, 8 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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