"Right Said Fred"
Single by Bernard Cribbins
B-side"Quietly Bonkers"
Released29 June 1962[1]
StudioAbbey Road Studios
GenreNovelty song
Length2:20
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)Ted Dicks and Myles Rudge
Producer(s)George Martin
Bernard Cribbins singles chronology
"The Hole in the Ground"
(1962)		 "Right Said Fred"
(1962)		 "Gossip Calypso"
(1962)

"Right Said Fred" (also written "Right, Said Fred")[2] is a novelty song of 1962 written by Ted Dicks and Myles Rudge.[3][4]

It is about three moving men (Fred, Charlie, and the unnamed narrator) trying without success to move a large and unwieldy piece of furniture from an apartment. The item has feet, a seat, handles and candleholders and is never identified but is often interpreted as being a piano. In the animated film version (see below) it is depicted as such; however, in the 1970 television performance of the song on the sketch show Cribbins it is depicted as a kind of small pipe organ.

The movers eventually give up after dismantling the piece of furniture and partially demolishing the building – including removing a door, a wall, and the ceiling – and taking numerous tea breaks.[5]

The lyrics do not specify whether Fred recovers from "half a ton of rubble on the top of his dome" (slang for head) prior to the others having a final tea break and going home. Dicks said that he was inspired to write the song by events that transpired when he employed movers to move a grand piano he had bought. The band Right Said Fred is named after the song.[6]

Recorded versions

"Right Said Fred" was recorded as a single by Bernard Cribbins and released by Parlophone in 1962. It reached number 10 in the UK Singles Chart.[7] Cribbins recorded it at the Abbey Road Studios with musical accompaniment, directed by Johnnie Spence.

Sound effects were added by the producer George Martin, who would later become famous for his work with the Beatles.[8]

A short animated film based on the song was produced in the early 1960s. Made in black and white for television using stop motion animation, it depicts the three workmen as puppets with egg-shaped bodies, not unlike gonks. The current whereabouts of the original film are unclear. A version has been posted on YouTube in fairly poor quality, omitting the instrumental introduction. Clips from this version were shown during obituary tributes to Cribbins on British news bulletins.

The B-side was the comedy love song "Quietly Bonkers", another Dicks-Rudge composition.

The song was also recorded in 1966 by Tommy Quickly. That version was produced by Brian Epstein and backed by Ian Whitcomb, Jimmy Page, and the Blue Flames.[9] Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In actress Judy Carne also recorded a version of the song as the B side of her 45 "Sock It To Me", which was released on Reprise Records in May 1969.

References

  1. ↑ Lewisohn, Mark (14 November 2013). The Beatles - All These Years - Extended Special Edition: Volume One: Tune In. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 9781408705452 – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ "Bernard Cribbins - Right, Said Fred". Discogs. 1962.
  3. ↑ Leigh, Spencer (16 November 2007). "Myles Rudge: 'Right Said Fred' lyricist". The Independent.
  4. ↑ Leigh, Spencer (4 February 2012). "Ted Dicks: Co-writer of 'Right Said Fred' and 'Hole in the Ground'". The Independent.
  5. ↑ Dennis, Jon (2 May 2012). "Old music: Bernard Cribbins – Right Said Fred". The Guardian.
  6. ↑ Simpson, Dave (4 April 2017). "How we made Right Said Fred's I'm Too Sexy". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  7. ↑ David Roberts. British Hit Singles & Albums. Guinness World Records Limited
  8. ↑ "Old music: Bernard Cribbins – Right Said Fred", The Guardian, 2 May 2012. Accessed 18 January 2016
  9. ↑ Martin Power (2016), No Quarter: The Three Lives of Jimmy Page, Omnibus, pp. 25–26, ISBN 9781783235360
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