Xofer

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Question: Is there any significance behind the song "England's Mountains Green" (or whatever it's called)? It seems to be the only song anyone ever sings, outside of sketch-specific songs (like the Lumberjack Song).

Xofer

Chosen answer: The song you talk of was originally a poem by William Blake called 'Jerusalem'. It speaks of the possibility of Jesus having visited England. The poem has four verses but you only ever hear the Monty Python boys sing the first one which goes, "And did those feet in ancient time/Walk upon England's mountains green/And was the holy Lamb of God/On England's pleasant pastures seen?" If there's any sort of in-joke connected to it's use, I'm not aware of it. It seemed to just be the standard song/hymn they used when a song was needed that wasn't sketch specific. Some of the sketches it appeared in were 'Salvation Fuzz/Church Police', 'Buying a Bed' and 'The Art Gallery Sketch'. Something that may be relevant, though, is that the only one who was present every time it was sung was Eric Idle. Perhaps he just liked it?

Chosen answer: That would be Terry Gilliam, who played a lot of non-speaking roles in the series, and some speaking ones like Cardinal Fang in 'The Spanish Inquisition.' He did all the animation as well, but I'm sure you knew that.

rabid anarchist

Wither Canada? - S1-E2

Question: Does anyone know what the killer joke (German version anyway) translates to in English? I tried running it through BabelFish, but it still made no sense.

Xofer

Chosen answer: Fortunately for the entire English speaking world, there is no translation. It is not real German.

jle

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