Paul McCartney Produced a Song for The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band Under a Pseudonym
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band was a comedy rock group formed in the 1960s. The band only had one hit song, which isn’t surprising since their hit was produced by Paul McCartney. However, many of his fans wouldn’t know about his involvement as he produced the track under a pseudonym.
Paul McCartney was a fan of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band rose to prominence in 1968 as the house band for Do Not Adjust Your Set, a British television series that starred future members of the Monty Python comedy troupe. However, the band had been around before that, and McCartney became a fan after seeing them in a show.
The band even appeared in a scene from The Beatles’ 1967 Magical Mystery Tour movie. In an interview with Club Sandwich, McCartney said he went for drinks with lead singer Vivian Stanshall, who asked if the “Yesterday” singer could give him a single they could use to establish themselves.
“I loved the Bonzos. I’d been to see their show and they’d been in Magical Mystery Tour, in the strip scene at Raymond’s Revuebar,” McCartney shared. “Viv Stanshall used to go to the clubs a lot, like I did, and we’d often meet all the guys late-night, chatting over a drink. He said that they really needed a single to establish them and I said, “Well what have you got? I’ve seen your act and you haven’t really got singles there.” Viv then asked if I’d produce them and I said “Yes, if you get something together.” So they sent a demo and I showed up at Chappell Studios one afternoon, talked to the engineer and got them a good sound, a bit of compression, a bit of this and that, and produced it.”
Paul McCartney produced a song for the band under a pseudonym
In 1968, The Bonzo’s released “I Am the Urban Spaceman” as a single with “The Canyons of Your Mind” as the B-side. The song was written by Neil Innes and produced by Paul McCartney. The Beatle bass guitarist told Stanshall that he could “put him down as anything,” so Stanshall made up the name Apollo C. Vermouth.
“Within two or three hours they’d cut the track, ‘I’m The Urban Spaceman’, which turned out to be their only hit,” McCartney explained. “I said ‘Just put me down as anything’ and Viv made up the name Apollo C Vermouth. A lot of people still don’t know that I produced that track – they say, ‘What – you produced the Bonzos? Never!’ And it was a fun session. I still like Viv a lot, and I loved the radio show he did.”
McCartney used many pseudonyms in his career
Paul McCartney has gone by many names throughout his career. In the early days of The Beatles, McCartney used the name Paul Ramon, which later became the inspiration for The Ramones. He used the name Percy Thrillington for the Thrillington album, and he used the name Clint Harrigan to write sleeve notes for Wings’ Wild Life.
While the world knows him by his real name, there is an extensive list of projects McCartney’s been attached to where he used a fake name.
