History Music / TheRutles

For more Beatles AffectionateParody goodness, see [[ToddRungdren Utopia]]'s album ''Deface the Music''.

* MusicalPastiche: I mean, what else were you expecting?

#"Love Life" (Nasty/[=McQuickly=]) - 2:52 ("All You Need Is Love")

They began as a sketch on Eric Idle's post-[[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Python]] sketch show ''RutlandWeekendTelevision'', a program that ranged from CrowningMomentOfFunny to SoOkayItsAverage. One of its strengths were the musical numbers which were mostly written by Neil Innes, an occasional member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and supporting act on Monty Python. The Rutles were born from a psychiatric patient was sick with love songs (ItMakesSenseInContext-sort of). Neil Innes played the patient, singing "I Must be in Love," which directly segued into a parody of ''Film/AHardDaysNight'' crossed with the Beatles' appearance on ''TheEdSullivanShow''. This again mutated into the {{Mockumentary}}. RWT is the source of the band's name, so the u is short, "Rut-les."

** In fact, George Harrison has been known to ''reference'' the Rutles when explaining incidents in Beatle history. Harrison has gone so far as to say that ''All You Need Is Cash'' is one of the most accurate biographies on the Beatles ever made.

* YokoOhNo: Parodied with Chastity, the NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Yoko Ono.

* TheFatGuy: In the MusicVideo for "Ouch", a chubby native goes after the band.

The story that ''The Rutles'' tells parallels the history of TheBeatles closely, if inexactly. There are side-stories about how TheRutles affected the greater world, which is, in fact, more than anyone, including the narrator, will admit.

** The protests and album burnings that were sparked by Ron's comment are said to have seen the sales of Rutles albums and merchandise skyrocket as people were buying their products just to have them destroyed. While the movie [[PlayedForLaughs plays this for laughs]], it's actually very reflective of the RealLife protests against TheBeatles.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The Rutles and those associated with them were thinly-veiled CaptainErsatz parodies of TheBeatles and company.

* TheJimmyHartVersion: Lots of their work is like this; they cleverly play off of the styles and lyrics of individual songs rather than doing note-for-note parodies. Compare "Back in '64" to "When I'm 64," for instance.

** Bill Murray the K: Murray the K
*** Played by BillMurray himself

#"Hold My Hand" (Nasty/[=McQuickly=]) - 2:11 ("Eight Days a Week", "She Loves You", "All My Loving", #"I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Please Please Me")

#"I Must Be In Love" (Nasty/[=McQuickly=]) - 2:06 (The film, "A Hard Day's Night". "If I Needed Someone", "From Me To You", #"Ticket To Ride")

When Eric Idle guest-hosted SNL, he brought over two segments from RWT to air as shorts: Pommy, a parody of {{Tommy}}, in which the hero tries to escape from a Ken Russell film, and the Rutles. Idle was especially proud of Pommy, but naturally Lorne Michaels chose the Rutles; SNL was in the midst of publicly "wooing" the Beatles to reunite on the show. The short was a wild success, and the show received many calls asking about the Rutles (some of them even thinking that these were the Beatles). When Idle returned to England, he began writing a feature-length {{Mockumentary}} for the BBC, but when he again met up with Michaels, who offered a larger budget with NBC, he committed to doing it with them.[[hottip:*: Idle was fed up with shoestring budgets. RWT wasn't given money for a BBC light entertainment (comedy/sketch show), but for a chat (talk) show, which meant that they had to make props and do shoots for the money it takes to tape talking heads. Not fun.]]

''The Rutles'' was perhaps the first [[SaturdayNightLive SNL spinoff]] to be made, but because of its initial failure and the nature of its rehabilitation, they aren't consistently linked. It originally aired on {{NBC}}; it was the lowest-rated program on that night. (Apparently, it aired ''just'' before the revival of Beatlemania.) It has since been VindicatedByHistory and VindicatedByCable. It is also important because it is one of the few films about the Beatles (more or less) that was made before John Lennon was killed and got the DeadArtistsAreBetter effect.

They began as a sketch on Eric Idle's post-[[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Python]] sketch show ''RutlandWeekendTelevision'', a program that ranged from CrowningMomentOfFunny to [[SoOkayItsAverage So Okay it's Average]]. One of its strengths were the musical numbers which were mostly written by Neil Innes, an occasional member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and supporting act on Monty Python. The Rutles were born from a psychiatric patient was sick with love songs ([[ItMakesSenseInContext It makes sense in context]]-sort of). Neil Innes played the patient, singing "I Must be in Love," which directly segued into a parody of ''Film/AHardDaysNight'' crossed with the Beatles' appearance on ''TheEdSullivanShow''. This again mutated into the {{Mockumentary}}. RWT is the source of the band's name, so the u is short, "Rut-les."

** Also a case of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, as "tea" is slang for marijuana.

* ParodyAssistance: George Harrison not only referenced The Rutles on occasion; he even played the reporter who interviewed the Derek Taylor {{Expy}}, in an interview that took place in front of the Rutles' HQ while people were walking off with stolen items in the background. (Derek Taylor was in turn a friend of Harrison; he and his wife were the friends who had lost their way in ''Blue Jay Way''.)

* LongTitle: "Major Happy's Up And Coming Once Upon A Good Time Band".
* LivingLegend: The band are supposedly a living legend that will live long after other living legends have died.
* TheNarrator: Eric Idle.

There was a ContestedSequel some years later, ''Can't Buy Me Lunch.'' It was made with outtakes from the first film, with some new footage from Eric Idle. There were also albums; besides the soundtrack to the first film, there was the ''Archaeology'' in 1995 (made without Idle's involvement), timed to compete with the Beatles' Anthology. It did surprisingly well, considering the competition.

** George Harrison even played the reporter who interviewed the Derek Taylor {{Expy}}, in an interview that took place in front of the Rutles' HQ while people were walking off with stolen items in the background. (Derek Taylor was in turn a friend of Harrison; he and his wife were the friends who had lost their way in ''Blue Jay Way''.)
*** That's also George saying "This little piggy went to market" ([[SubliminalSeduction backwards]]) on "Piggy in the Middle".

TheRutles are a FakeBand who produce real music that parodies/satirizes {{the Beatles}}. They are the subject of ''The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash'' (or just ''The Rutles''), a 1979 {{Mockumentary}}[=/=]{{Rockumentary}} that tells their story from their founding to the present. EricIdle plays an accident-prone narrator, as well as Dirk [=McQuickly=], the band's bassist.

They began as a sketch on Eric Idle's post-[[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Python]] sketch show ''RutlandWeekendTelevision'', a program that ranged from CrowningMomentOfFunny to [[SoOkayItsAverage So Okay it's Average]]. One of its strengths were the musical numbers which were mostly written by Neil Innes, an occasional member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and supporting act on Monty Python. The Rutles were born from a psychiatric patient was sick with love songs ([[ItMakesSenseInContext It makes sense in context]]-sort of). Neil Innes played the patient, singing "I Must be in Love," which directly segued into a parody of ''[[AHardDaysNight A Hard Day's Night]]'' crossed with the Beatles' appearance on TheEdSullivanShow. This again mutated into the {{Mockumentary}}. RWT is the source of the band's name, so the u is short, "Rut-les."

*** That's also George saying "Stig is dead, honestly" (backwards) on "Piggy in the Middle".

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The cover to the fictional ''Ouch!'' album has the Rutles spelling out the word [[PrecisionFStrike "fuck"]] in semaphore.

** Dirk [=McQuickly=]: [=Paul McCartney=]
** Ron Nasty: John Lennon
** Stig O'Hara: George Harrison
** Barry Wom (Barrington Womble): Ringo Starr (Richard Starky)

** Chastity: Yoko Ono

Since TOW removed the list of tracks parodied by each individual Rutles track, here it is:

#"Goose-Step Mama" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 2:18 ("Some Other Guy", "I Saw Her Standing There" "One After 909")
#"Number One" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 2:52 ("Twist And Shout", "It Won't Be Long")
#"Baby Let Me Be" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 1:57 ("Slow Down")
#"Hold My Hand" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 2:11 ("Eight Days a Week", "She Loves You", "All My Loving", #"I Want to Hold Your Hand", "Please Please Me")
#"Blue Suede Schubert" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 2:13 ("Roll Over Beethoven", "Boys")
#"I Must Be In Love" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 2:06 (The film, "A Hard Day's Night". "If I Needed Someone", "From Me To You", #"Ticket To Ride")
#"With A Girl Like You" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 1:53 ("If I Fell")
#"Between Us" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 2:03 ("Baby It's You", "And I Love Her", "Till There Was You")

#"Ouch!" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 1:52 ("Help!")
#"It's Looking Good" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 2:02 ("I'm Down", "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party", "I'm Looking Through You", "I'm a Loser")
#"Doubleback Alley" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 2:57 ("Penny Lane")
#"Good Times Roll" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 3:05 ("Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "You Never Give Me Your Money")

#"Love Life" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 2:52 ("All You Need Is Love")
#"Piggy In The Middle" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 4:11 ("I Am The Walrus")
#"Another Day" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 2:13 ("Martha My Dear", "Don't Bother Me")
#"Cheese And Onions" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 2:42 ("A Day In The Life")
#"Get Up And Go" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 3:19 ("Get Back")
#"Let's Be Natural" (Nasty/McQuickly) - 3:22 ("Julia", "Dear Prudence", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)")

#"Lonely-Phobia" - 2:35 (Acoustic ballads from A Hard Day's Night-era, especially "Things We Said Today" and "I'll Be Back", but also takes liberally from McCartney's solo song Mrs Vandebilt)

#"Easy Listening" - 2:09 (A pastiche of "Octopus's Garden" with some suggestions of "Don't Pass Me By" and "Act Naturally", with a lyrical reference to McCartney's "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?")

#"Back In '64" - 3:14 (An answer song to "When I'm Sixty-Four", written from a 1996 perspective, with a solo reminiscent of the Moog lines in "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". The "zum zum zum zum" backing vocals reference those of Innes's 1977 song "Crystal Balls".)

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** Barry Wom (Barrington Womble): Ringo Starr