Ever wanted to be part of a virtual Choir / Orchestra singing & playing HOW SWEET TO BE AN IDIOT by NEIL INNES? Well, now’s your chance folks!!

As many of you will know, Neil recently crowdfunded the cost of making his NEW ALBUM using the crowdfunding platform PLEDGE MUSIC. The total amount required for making the new album was raised – but before this money was passed onto Neil, Pledge music ran into huge financial difficulties. This ended up with the contract between Neil and Pledge Music being cancelled, with Neil receiving only a small percentage of the monies owed. With work on the album already well underway, this has left Neil not only with the costs of making the album, but also loads of pledges to fulfil in the form of copies of the album, T-shirts, signed lyric sheets etc.

In order to try and recoup some of these losses, and to ensure all the pledges are fulfilled,  and the costs of Recording, Mastering, Artwork and Manufacture of the New Album are covered, Neil has set up a GoFundMe page.

As a long standing fan of Neil’s work with The Bonzos, The Rutles, The Pythons and beyond – I thought it would be good to try and help Neil reach his GoFundMe target – and have a bit of fun at the same time.

SO….  Here’s the plan:  I’m asking people to make a donation to Neil’s GoFundMe page, and send me videos / audio recordings of you singing and/or playing some or all of Neil’s song HOW SWEET TO BE AN IDIOT.……

 

If you think you’d like to be involved, then just follow these steps…

1.  Visit Neil’s GoFundMe page, and make a donation (Minimum donation £20) : https://www.gofundme.com/neil-innes-the-new-album

2. Add a Comment with your donation on the GoFundMe page, and make sure to write #BeAnIdiot in your comment. (In order that your donation can be verified)

3. Record your video or audio, and email it to untidycrowd@gmail.com.  Anything from a simple smart phone video, up to a studio quality recording is fine. (It can be the whole song, or just a small part – all videos / recordings will be included, although if we receive a large number of recordings, we may only include a small part of the longer ones).

You can use the following guide tracks to listen to whilst you record, to make sure you’re in the right key etc….

If you’d like mp3s of these guide tracks, then please email untidycrowd@gmail.com and I’ll send them out.

For those of you who don’t know the lyrics for the song (surely everyone knows them already??) –  then here they are, together with the chord chart:

Intro:  G    G/F   C/E   Cm/Eb   Dsus   D

          G   G/F#           Em  G/D    C     C/B             Aº

How sweet to be an Idiot,   As harmless as a cloud,

        Em                        B      Am7                    Dsus   D

Too small to hide the sun, Almost poking fun,

            G             G/F#  Em   Em7/D   Am7   Dsus    D

At the warm but insecure untidy    crowd.

          G   G/F#            Em   G/D        C     C/B               Aº

How sweet to be an idiot,      And dip my brain in joy,

               Em                        B                  Am7             Dsus   D

Children laughing at my back, With no fear of attack,

     G         G/F#  Em Em7/D    Am7   Dsus    D

As much retaliation        as a toy.

           G   G/F#           Em    D          G        G/F   C/E   Cm/Eb   Dsus   D

How sweet to be an idiot,    how sweet.

   D7                                                                                       G7

I tiptoe down the street, Smile at everyone I meet,

       A7                                B7

But suddenly a scream, Smashes through my dream,

E7                                                                                Am   Am/G   Am/F#   Am/F

Fee fi foe fum, I smell the blood of an asylum,

E7

Fee fi foe fum, I smell the blood of an asylum,

        Am                          Am/G             Am/F#                            Am/F

Hey you, you’re such a pedant, You got as much brain as a dead ant,

      E7

As much imagination as a caravan site.

                 D7                                Dsus    D7

But I still love you, still love you,   Ooh,

                G      G/F#        Em     D

Oh how sweet to be an idiot,

          G    G/F       C/E   C/Eb   Dsus  D7    Gsus     G

How sweet. how sweet.         How           sweet.

 

And here’s Neil’s original version of the song…

 

You can follow all the progress on Twitter at @UntidyCrowd

This project is designed simply to help Neil reach his GoFundMe target, so as soon as the target is reached, I will stop accepting submissions of videos / recordings  – edit the final version, and send it to Neil, and post it on social media.

Whilst I don’t know Neil personally, I have received his permission to undertake this project, and we have full clearance from the publishers, Sony Music, to use the song.

I will be trying very hard to get some well known names to be involved – so you never know who the other members of THE WARM BUT INSECURE UNTIDY CROWD will be!

Get Pledging, Get recording, and lets help Neil recoup his losses and all be idiots together along the way!