Song #43: Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone - "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am"

Song #43: Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone - "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" (1965)

A Must to Avoid

"Henry! Henry! Henry! Henry! Henry the Eighth, I am, I am! Henry the Eighth, I am!"

To follow up "Winchester Cathedral," we might as well follow it up with another golden novelty hit. Herman's Hermits' massive 1960's cockney hit "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" has some notoriety in my family for being misinterpreted by my grandmother, who tends to misinterpret or misunderstand lyrics to many songs. When this song was released, the first few times she heard it, she would sing, "I'm gathering the eggs, I am," rather than "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" (almost as bad as misinterpreting "Let's move before they raise the parking rent" in Bad Company's song "All Right Now" as "Let's move before they raise the fucking rent," and baffled about how the song could be played "uncensored" on the radio).

While the lyrical misinterpretation came up nearly every time we gathered at Christmas as a family, I never bothered to listen to the song until one day, very late at night. It was about 12:30am in 2012. Exhausted, I climbed into bed and briefly turned the TV in my bedroom, which was left on channel 11 (PBS) the night before. What came on was a concert of some sort, with Peter Noone singing "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am." Recognizing the song and the tune instantly from the aforementioned event, I had to download the song. I listened to the original song, released in 1965, and thought it was fine, but relished Noone's slick, buttery vocals (he now becomes a voice in my week, as the liquor store plays "Sirius XM's 60's on 6," where Noone hosts an afternoon music block on Saturdays). I downloaded his version and, remember the following day - a Monday - I went with my dad for a drive through the city (just like the ones I mentioned in this blog) and played that song over fifty times on repeat. I couldn't get enough of it.

"I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" replicates the obsession I can have with some songs, craving them insatiably and playing them over and over again, never tiring from them. If the song had solely been a part of my family like the reason I explained, I think it'd be pretty noteworthy, but the fact that I enjoy it as much as I do definitely makes it worthy of a feature on the blog.

Give "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" a listen (NOTE: this is the version I saw very late at night that faithful Sunday in 2012 on PBS. I am unable to track down a studio version of the song, available on Peter Noone's album "Million Sellers." I encourage all to download the song online and take a listen, for that is the real version of the song to be, much more than the original 1965 version), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJXu0i9oxWo