Sit on My Face

"Sit on My Face" is a short song by the members of the comedy troupe Monty Python which originally appeared on the album Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album and later appeared on the compilation Monty Python Sings. Written by Eric Idle, the song's lyrics are sung to the melody of "Sing As We Go" (1934) by Harry Parr-Davies, made popular by Gracie Fields.[1] The opening gives way to the voices of The Fred Tomlinson Singers singing "Sit on my face and tell me that you love me." The remaining lyrics contain numerous references to fellatio and cunnilingus, such as "when I'm between your thighs you blow me away" and "life can be fine if we both 69".

The song opened the 1982 film Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, where it was lip-synched by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones dressed as waiters in a performance which, at the suggestion of Python touring member Neil Innes,[2] ended with them revealing their bare backsides. In 2002, a similar rendition was mimed by Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and Neil Innes at the Concert for George, a memorial concert for George Harrison which took place at the Royal Albert Hall. At the end of this rendition the four men turned their backs to face a portrait of George Harrison, thereby revealing their naked buttocks and effectively mooning the Albert Hall audience. In 2012 it was featured as an animated number in A Liar's Autobiography, performed by the London Gay Men's Chorus, both on the recorded soundtrack and live, as a flash mob, during the screening shown during the London Film Festival. The song also opened the second half of Monty Python's 2014 reunion shows where it accompanied a suggestive dance routine by the 20-strong dance ensemble, with Eric Idle and Michael Palin encouraging an audience singalong.

Prior to the album's release, Monty Python received legal threats for alleged copyright infringement due to the use of the tune of "Sing as We Go". Nonetheless, the Pythons decided to retain the song.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that the song is actionably indecent, concluding that "despite English accent and 'ambient noise' … the lyrics were sufficiently understandable".[3] In 1992, it pursued legal action against KGB-FM, a San Diego, California classic rock radio station, for playing the song,[4] eventually forcing the station to pay US$9,200 in fines.[5]

French adaptation

A French language rendition of the song presented in Edinburgh in 2003 translated the title as "Cum in My Mouth". According to producer Rémy Renoux, "Cum in My Mouth is … what Monty Python would have written today." Renoux also pointed out that a literal translation into French would not fit the melody of the song, and claimed that the translation met with the approval of the Monty Python team.[6]

See also

References
  1. Stephen Shafer, British Popular Films 1929-1939: The Cinema of Reassurance (London: Taylor & Francis, 2003), 175-76. ISBN 9781134988372
  2. Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut), episode 6, 2009
  3. Federal Communications Commission (6 April 2001). "Industry Guidance On the Commission's Case Law Interpreting 18 U.S.C. § 1464 and Enforcement Policies Regarding Broadcast Indecency" (DOC). p. 9. Retrieved 30 August 2007.
  4. Blecha, Peter (2004). Taboo Tunes: A History of Banned Bands & Censored Songs. Backbeat Books. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-87930-792-9. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  5. Ahrens, Frank (2005). "FCC Indecency Fines, 1970-2004". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 21 August 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2007.
  6. "Ce perroquet est mort: Monty Python in French? Brian Logan meets the team behind a world first". The Guardian. 4 August 2003. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
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