I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am
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"I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" (also "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" or I'm Henry VIII, I Am") is a 1910 British music hall song by Fred Murray and R. P. Weston. It was a signature song of music hall star Harry Champion. Printed sources vary, but the music requires the name "Henry" to be pronounced as three syllables. In the well-known chorus, Henery explains that his wife had been married seven times before:
''I'm Henery the Eighth, I am!The song is often sung with a Cockney pronunciation, "I'm 'er eyeth ol' man nymed 'Enery."
Henery the Eighth I am! I am!
I got married to the widow next door,
She's been married seven times before.
Every one was a Henery
She wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam
I'm her eighth old man named Henery
Henery the Eighth I am.
Other Instances
It was popularized for a new generation by Herman's Hermits in 1965 in their album, Herman's Hermits On Tour. Herman's Hermits omitted the scene-setting verses and merely repeated the chorus over and over. One story says that Hermits vocalist Peter Noone simply forgot the words to the verses and spontaneously called out "Second verse, same as the first." The song topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, but was considered too old-fashioned to release in the UK.In an episode of Steptoe and Son the song is sung to the duo by a medium as she pretends to be in contact with the dead, something paralleled either by coincidence or as an example of synchronicity in the 1990 movie Ghost, where the spectre of Sam (Patrick Swayze) pesters medium Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) into doing his bidding by singing the chorus to "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" over and over again.
It was also used in the 1993 movie Look Who's Talking Now.
It has spawned many parodies; one, typical of the genre, emerged during Bill Clinton's impeachment: "I'm Henry the Hyde, I am/Henry the Hyde, I am, I am/I'm the G.O.P. prosecu-tor/After I get Clinton, I'll get Gore".
Another notable parody was on The Simpsons when Homer portrayed Henry VIII in the episode "Margical History Tour": "I'm Henery VIII I am, / Henery VIII I am I am. / I've been eating since six AM. / For dessert I'll have dinner again. / My name's synonymous with gluttony / I'll always have a turkey or a ham/ And for dessert I'll have dinner again".
Another parody is sung by Greg Champion called Dipierdomenico about the great Australian Footballer, Robert Dipierdomenico
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See also
- Henry VIII, British monarch known for having had six wives. (A listener to the song assumes the narrator is claiming to be Henry VIII until the joke is explained).
External links
- An MP3 download of a 1911 recording is available at Archive.org: [I'm Henery The Eighth]
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