Song by Monty Python, originally released in 1980 on their «Monty Python’s Contractual Obligation Album».
Essentially, it advises against, well, being rude to someone based on their nationality or creed:
Never be rude to an Arab,
An Israeli, or Saudi, or Jew
But if you know the Pythons, you might have a good idea where this is going.
Also, in true Python tradition has a disappointing ending. Some would say it finishes prematurely, leaving us rather unsatisfied.
I’ve often wondered if this will at some point be called for being politically incorrect (after all, it has the N word and other racial slurs). I’m not calling for it, because I understand it’s a joke, pretty much «in character» for the group that also depicted God with a retouched photograph of cricketer W. G. Grace. This is also the group that made a movie about religious fanatics following someone who definitely is not Jesus…
…and that movie was called out by some religious fanatics (Wikipedia contributors, 2021b § Blasphemy accusations). Of course, many people had a field day with this, being a delicious irony that some people thought it was a parody of Jesus, when the movie makes explicit that Brian is not the Messiah1. Thus, the point of religious fanaticism was proved.
So I wonder if at some point the same will happen over a song calling out people to not be rude to others. I’d hate for it to happen, but I’d love to see the collective mindset analyzing whoever it is that calls for the hypothetical cancellation of this song. There’s always someone who misses the point entirely, innit?
276
References and Bibliography
-
But a very naughty boy