| Teddy Boys Don't Knit | ||||
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| Studio album by Vivian Stanshall | ||||
| Released | 1981 | |||
| Genre | Rock music Comedy music |
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| Label | Charisma Records | |||
| Producer | Vivian Stanshall | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
| Vivian Stanshall chronology | ||||
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Teddy Boys Don't Knit is the third solo album by Vivian Stanshall. As with his 1974 debut solo album Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead it consists entirely of songs, rather than the comedy-narrative-with-integral-songs of its immediate predecessor Sir Henry at Rawlinson End.
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Teddy Boys Don't Knit was recorded during Stanshall’s residency on his Thames river houseboat Searchlight with his second wife Ki Longfellow, his stepdaughter Sydney and his infant daughter Silky, a period which Longfellow has described as Stanshall’s "first, real and only taste of family life."[1][2] Consequently several songs on the album have domestic themes: "The Tube" (written for and about Silky Stanshall and her infant digestive process), "Fresh Faced Boys" (dealing with Stanshall’s struggle against his own father’s wishes for him to be well-groomed, well-behaved and socially presentable) and "Possibly an Armchair", in which Stanshall muses on ageing and on whether in old age he is likely to become the same kind of person as his elderly father had himself become.[1][2]
The album was released in between Stanshall's two spoken-word comedy albums, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End and Sir Henry at N'didi’s Kraal (and shortly after the shooting of the film version of Sir Henry at Rawlinson End). Although not part of the Rawlinson End sequence in itself, Teddy Boys Don't Knit does feature several songs written (and in some cases used) for the project: "Gums", "The Cracks are Showing" and "Terry Keeps His Clips On" (a song inspired by Terry clips[2]).[1] Several other songs emphasise Stanshall’s love of language and language games. The title of "Flung a Dummy" is taken from an unusual phrase which Stanshall heard a stranger use on a train as a synonym for dying, while "Ginger Geezer" is written entirely in Cockney rhyming slang. Other songs parody and mock the lifestyle of the rock-and-roll musician.[1][2]
As he had on Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead, Stanshall made use of the musical talents of his fellow former Bonzo Dog Band members Neil Innes and Roger Ruskin Spear, his frequently-called-on musical director Pete Moss and multi-instrumentalist Jim Cuomo. Other contributors to the album include Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman, guitarist Ollie Halsall and Traffic/Can bass guitarist Rosko Gee.
The album title is derived from Stanshall’s boyhood in the Thames Estuary town of Westcliff-on-Sea, when he was a member of a teddy boy gang but baffled his fellow gang members with his chosen pastime of crocheting.[2]