Monty Python's
                               
                              The
                            Meaning
                              of
                             Life
                               
                    WRITTEN BY AND STARRING
                  GRAHAM CHAPMAN JOHN CLEESE
                   TERRY GILLIAM TERRY JONES
                    ERIC IDLE MICHAEL PALIN
                               
                    DIRECTED BY TERRY JONES
       ANIMATION AND SPECIAL SEQUENCES BY TERRY GILLIAM
                  PRODUCED BY JOHN GOLDSTONE

                                                THE ONLY
                                            SOUNDTRACK ALBUM
                                          TO BE INTRODUCED BY
                                               LIVE FISH!
                                            (Apart from some
                                                 copies
                                              of 'Shane')


(Everything  except  excerpts from  the  film  done  by  Gustaf
Sjöblom May 1995)
(Inside record sleeve)

A UNIVERSAL RELEASE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK RECORDING
Record produced by Andre Jacquemin & Michael Palin.
Engineered,  mixed  and edited by Andre  Jacquemin  at  Redwood
Recording Studios

INCLUDING

THE MEANING OF LIFE
Lyrics by Eric Idle. Music by Eric Idle & John du Prez

GALAXY SONG
Lyrics and Music by Eric Idle and John du Prez

ACCOUNTANCY SHANTY
Lyrics and Music by Eric Idle

THE NOT NOEL COWARD SONG
Lyrics and Music by Eric Idle

CHRISTMAS IN HEAVEN
Lyrics by Terry Jones. Music by Eric Idle.
All recorded at Brittania Row.

EVERY SPERM IS SACRED
Lyrics by Michael Palin & Terry Jones.
Music by Andre Jacquemin & Dave Howman.
Arranged bt Mike McNaught.

Recorded at Redwood.
Incidental music: De Wolfe & Ready Music.
Songs published by Kay-Gee-Bee Music Ltd.
Original Film Soundtrack recorded by Garth Marshall
and mixed by Paul Carr & Brian Paxton.
Illustration: Blake/Sears.

The Fairly Incomplete and Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python
Song Book, plus free CD
Available  at  bookshops everywhere for  just  12.99  or  order
direct on 0933 41051

Monty Python´s
The Meaning of Life

AN ACROBAT WRITES
Seldom in the history of mankind has there been an attempt to
explain the Eternal Question in quite such a stimulating and
provocative way as in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. It
leaves Mary Poopins standing and makes Bobby Vee's 'Rubber
Ball'  seem  almost irrelevant. Who are these  philosophers  of
fun,
those wacky Wittgensteins of wit? and why does their message
ring so true even in these days of hyperinflation and massive
trade deficits?
Graham Chapman, a Leicester man, rose to fame in the
Cambridge University 'shitties' team which toured Ghana in the
mid-sixties  in  an  unsuccessful attempt  to  popularize  this
skillful
game*. Even as a youth Graham had been concerned with major
philosophical  questions. Not content to room  the  streets  of
Market
Harborough abusing freemasons like normal children of his age,
Graham wanted something more, something deeper, something
that woukd last. As his choirmaster recollects, 'Graham would
always be asking "why?", even at weekends. With his expressive
face and arrow through the neck kit, it was always likely that
Graham would go into comedy. It was through comedy that
Graham met his fellow philospher - John Cleese. John, born of
Jungian stock on the seafront at Weston-Super-Mare, spent the
first  thirty-six years of his life perfecting  a  very  clever
trick. But like
any other healthy normal boy, John wanted to know what life was
all about - why hair grew under his arms and what you would
call an Archbishop if you met him in a train. 'I remember him
being endlessly inquisitive,' recalls Arthur Sporritt, who  ran
a
sweetshop near John's home. He'd want to know all the
constituents  of  liquorice and why so  few  toffees  were  cut
cleanly
at the end. Sometimes we'd be up until 3 or 4 in the morning
answering  all his questions. It must have stood John  in  good
stead
because in the 1960's he was made Head of Comedy on the
North Sea Oil Rigs and has never looked back. His colleague
Eric   Idle  is  a  philospher's  philospher.  His  provocative
theories
and  super  dinner parties have endeared him  to  thinkers  the
world
over.  Whilst most adults of his age are out windsurfing,  Eric
is
more  likely to be found at work theorising, trying desperately
to
get to the bottom of it all. Someone who once taught Eric is
confident that he will find the answer. 'Eric was a very
determined boy . . . when everyone lese said "No", Eric would
say  "Yes".  That's how he lost his front teeth.' Descartes  is
his
hero. 'René was doing what Python's doing now two hundred
years ago', says Eric's answering machine.' Another Cartesian
thinker   is   rugby-playing,  non  pipe-smoking  gourmet   and
raconteur
Terry  Jones, who used to argue for Wales, until injury  forced
him
into  premature  retirement. Rubbing his nose  ruefully,  Terry
recalls
'I  went  in  a  bit  hard against England I  suppose.  I  said
something
about The Royal Family having less English blood than
Papadopolos,  and I don't remember anything after that.'  Terry
in
fact fled from Wales early in his life, dragging his father and
mother, much against their will, to live in Esher, Surrey. One
Esher man who remembers Terry well is Laurence Phipps. Another
is Ronald Cheddington. Terry is the only member of the Python
team who has seen a Flying Saucer. Terry Gilliam, who has
based his philosphical method on the works of Bruce Lee, is the
most active of all the Python thinkers. Born in Minneapolis, he
has
been imbued with a passion for knowledge throughout his life.
Not  content with mastering the spelling of 'Corn Flakes' Terry
now
wants to make his own film. He has an engaging air of
wonderment and innocence which has endeared him to many
producers. Terry is continually probing, challenging, testing
himself.  Never  satisfied with just being good  at  something.
Terry
wants to be the best, and he can now reverse quite large family
saloon cars into very tight spaces, backwards, up a hill.  This
is
the  sort  of man he is. Michael Palin, on the other  hand,  is
often
mistaken for a woman., but his soft voice and 48 inch bust
conceals  a hard, tough, shrewd little thinker. As his  chemist
says,
'If Michael comes into the shop and asks for Interdens, I don't
stop to ask why.' Michael comes from the tough Sheffield school
of  philosphy. It's difficult to define their ideas  precisely,
but they
regard logical positivism as 'fucking rubbish' and Spinoza's
definition of Substanc as 'crap'. Michael brings to the group a
tight intellectual discipline and a rather shabby brown Mini.
The team wrestled for many months and weeks before they came
to lay down the basic principles on which Monty Python's The
Meaning  of  Life is based. Now you have it in  your  hand.  At
first
it  may  not be easy to follow the thread of their gist.  Don't
worry,
philosphy is never easy, otherwise everyone would be at it.
Listen again and again. Buy another couple of records - it may
help. Above all don't give up. Don't just dismiss this album as
inconsequential comoc rubbish. Humour was a stage that the
Python team went through on the road to self-realisation. Now
they are there. Now they are prepared to share with you all the
fruits  of  their  enquiries. This is why we  have  asked  your
record
store owner to stock Monty Python's The Meaning of Life under
Philosphy. Thank you.

'Shitties' involves the retention of coins between the buttocks
and their
delivery into a beer mug from a height of 24 inches or more.

Other Great Philosophy L.P´s

Ethics (after Dark) - Koo Stark and Brian Redhead
Great Motivist, Deontological and Consequence Theories
 (Various Artists K-Tel)
Free Will - My Way - Frank Spinoza
Deductive Logic - Richard Clayderman
Bishop Berkeley's Theory of Immaterialism - narrated by
Donald Sinden.

(End of record sleeve)


                       Table of Contents

Congratulations                                            3
Fried Babies                                               4
BBC News                                                   4
Martin Luther                                              4
Tea of 1914-1918                                           4
Terry Gilliam                                              4
Warrior Accountance                                        5
Search for missing leg                                     5
"What's that?"                                             5
The Final Journey                                          5
Album Dedication                                           5
No piranhas                                                6



Congratulations

Michael  Palin: Congratulations, record buyer! You are now  the
proud owner of the first soundtrack album ever to be introduced
by  live  fish!  Apart  from some copies  of  Shane...in  South
America.


(Fish Intro)
(Meaning of Life Song)
(Birth)



Fried Babies

Michael Palin: Somewhere in the world, a baby is born every 1.7
seconds. This means, that in the time it takes to fry an egg in
a  conventional  frying pan, over 137 babies  have  been  born.
Unless you like your egg really crispy and golden brown on  the
outside like I do, in which case you could have over 200 really
crispy, fried babies. Or, if you're cooking on gas, about  194.
But  of  course  the real problem, is that  by  far  the  great
majority  of these fried eggs are born in areas least  able  to
support them.


(The 3rd World)



BBC News

Michael  Palin:  But the tragic events of No.  42  did  not  go
unobserved by the neighbors.
Radio:  This  is the BBC home service. Here is  the  news:  The
British  invasion  of Russia ended quietly yesterday  with  the
unconditional surrender of Moscow to Lieutenant Simon Pring. In
Düsseldorf,  the  Brititsh pair Nanet and  Napoleon  Hardcastle
have  won everything they possibly could have entered for.  And
British weather has been named by Climate Magazine as the  best
in the world.


GC: Look at them...



Martin Luther

Michael Palin: The Adventures of Martin Luther! An exciting and
controversial examination of the protestant reformer whose  re-
assessment  of  the role of the individual in Christian  belief
skook  the foundations of a post-feudal Germany in the grip  of
the sixteenth cent-


(Growth & Learning)
(WW I)



Tea of 1914-1918

Michael  Palin:  So tea was taken in the heart of  France.  The
dying  rays of the summer sun drimted on fresh sliced  cucumber
sandwhiches  and  caught the rought textured  richness  of  the
Garibori  biscuits. The sound of crackling brandy snaps  filled
the  still air. The soldiers chattled over their Swiss roll and
spread  thick  butter upon their scones. Squatties  passed  the
milk  to  ... and Colonel offered apricot jam to their  batman,
generals  and runners sat down to crumpet together.  The  Great
Tea of 1914-1918 had begun.


Fish: They haven't said...
[   ]



Terry Gilliam

TG: Hello, this is Terry Gilliam welcoming you to side two.  Of
course  you  won't  be seeing my animations on  this,  being  a
record. My normal contributions is of course mainly visual, and
one  of  the  things  I'm  most proud  and  to  happy  of  have
contributed to the film is opening sequence about Pirate Clark.
Now,  this began years ago when I was really quite a young man,
about 45-46, ah, I remembered coming home from a ...


(Accountancy Shanty)



Warrior Accountance

Michael Palin: So the intepid warrior accountance cruised  away
into  the  sunset, keeping alive the highest ideals of  British
courage  and  dedication. Ideals tested many times  before,  on
even fircer battlefields. The Zulu wars 1888.


JC: Morning...
[   ]
Man: Yes, sir!



Search for missing leg

Michael  Palin:  All that day and much of the next  night,  the
search  party  pursued  their quest for Perkin's  missing  leg.
Deeper  and  deeper  into the jungle they  went,  waiting  with
incredible  patience for their servants to cut  down  the  huge
trees  and  savagingly twisted arners. They found the  legs  of
many  creatures, including a matching pair belonging to a Swiss
missionary and a almost hairless left leg, identifiable only by
a  faded Victory Brand socks suspender. The next morning  found
them with fifteen legs, only one of them British, and none  the
same  colour  as Perkin's. Worse still, they were entering  the
darkest,  densest part of the whole soundtrack album, legendary
middle of side two, blowing panic written on it. They beagn  to
hallucinate, dreaming in their wildest moments they were  Henry
Kissinger's uncle and aunty.


Lady: Hi!
[   ]



"What's that?"

Woman: Live organ transplants? What's that?
Waiter: Well, that's, uh...kind of a blink.


(Live Organ Transplants)
[   ]
Waiter: ...a hose.
Michael Palin: 23 courses later.
Waiter: Finally monsieur...
[   ]
Woman: I didn't even eat the mousse!



The Final Journey

Michael Palin: So death took them down the last road. The final
journey from which there is no return, when the meaning of life
itself would finally be revealed.


Reaper: Behold Paradise!
[   ]



Album Dedication

Michael Palin: This album is dedicated to fish the world  over.
In   seas,  on  plates,  in  ponds,  restaurants,  kitchens  or
aquariums,  shelves  or  buckets.  In  lakes  and  streams  and
freezers, to all those silent unsung fish who have given  their
lives  of  countless centuries so that other, bigger  fish  may
live.  In  the hope of this album, we promote a new  spirit  of
harmony  and  understanding, in the oceans of the world,  every
dollar  or pound or peso or don spent on the purchase  of  this
record  will  go  towards helping fish and all who  love  them.
Thank you.


Fish: That was terrific!
[   ]



No piranhas

Michael  Palin: I've been asked to add that none of  the  money
will   go   to   piranhas  or  hammerhead   sharks   or   their
relatives...or  sea  urchins...or those  rather  strange,  flat
things  with  huge, illuminous eyes, but you only  found  those
about 40,000 feet down.