Vivian Stanshall

Vivian Stanshall (21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995), born Victor Anthony Stanshall, was an English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.

Quotes

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1978)

Several recordings for the John Peel radio program were re-recorded for a 1978 LP

• English as tuppence, changing yet changless as canal-water, nestling in green nowhere, armoured and effete, bold flag-bearer, lotus fed Miss Havishambling, opsimath and eremite, feudal-still reactionary Rawlinson End. The story so far. (Dot dot dot.)
  • opening of side 1
• ... gauzes of filmy Fellini ...
• The gutters leaked like secrets, and the rain rained rain like rain...
  • opening of side 2)
• I don't know what I want, but I want it NOW!
  • prescient of the Sex Pistols: "I don't know what I want but I know how to get it."
• This unasked-for jollity in the middle of an English afternoon left Sir Henry shivering with a red passion, his face a crumpled tissue on which a lobster might well have wiped its bottom.
• Do you know what a palmist once said to me? She said: WILL YOU LET GO!
• Gentlemen, I am a bulldog, and you will find my bark is worse!
• If I had all the money I've spent on drink — I'd spend it on drink.
• That was inedible muck, and there wasn't enough of it.
• Seems a novel enough way to commit suicide. Pass me m' pistol. See if I can't bring the blighter down in the lake.
  • observing a hang glider pilot
• Like the shock of fondling a raw sausage, blindfold, at a gay party ...
• Mercifully, Henry hit him with the soft end of the pistol.
• A pale sun poked impudent marmalade fingers through the grizzled lattice glass, and sent the shadows scurrying, like convent girls menaced by a tramp.
• Fear is the root of all courage
  •  ???Rev. Slodden, Rawlinson End
• Frankly, once I've eaten a thing, I don't expect to see it again.
  •  ???
• I've never met a man I didn't mutilate.
  •  ???

My Pink Half of the Drainpipe

Song on "Gorilla" LP

• If you are normal, I intend to be a freak for the rest of my life
  • My Pink Half of the Drainpipe

Others

• Do have an unusual day, won't you?
  • Essex Teenager to Renaissance man
• You got a light, mac? No...but I've got a dark brown overcoat.
  • Big Shot
• Why can't I be different and original, like everybody else?
  • Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead
• It was a great party until someone found the hammer.
  • Bonzo days
• And, looking very relaxed, Adolf Hitler on vibes. Nice!
  • The Intro and the Outro
• If you're going to say anything filthy, please speak clearly.
  • Message on his answering machine
• I've been looking for that particular son of a bitch for seven years. I could have been a doctor, or an architect.
  • Bad Blood
• Five years ago I was a four-stone apology — today I am two separate gorillas.
  • Mr. Apollo
• Wrestle poodles...and win!
  • Mr. Apollo
• Viv Stanshall? I didn't know that.
  • Icy Gull on NSC
• Vivian Stanshall, about three o'clock in the morning, Oxfordshire, 1973, goodnight...
  • Tubular Bells: The original version of the Sailor's Hornpipe