A Bonzo, Rutle, Python and a lot more,  Ungawa,
RIP Neil, Thank you
Russ

He didn't die, he bravely ran away.
>sigh< You made me laugh, Neil. RIP

"I've suffered for my music and now it's your turn"

Very sad news. Neil Innes was a nice, talented, humble gentleman. I saw Neil perform live with Monty Python in 1976.  Forty years later I got him to sign the LP album cover of that show and told him how much I enjoyed the show.
 
“Were you there the night Harry Nilsson fell off the stage?” Neil asked me.  “He was performing in the Lumberjack sketch.  He was so drunk that when he leaned forward to take a bow at the end, he kept going forward and fell off the stage.”
 
I told Neil I didn’t see that happen the night I was in the audience, but if I had I would’ve just assumed it was a planned part of the sketch.  I also got Neil to sign my Rutles album and bought two Rutles photos he was selling.
 
I mentioned having recently acquired the “Do Not Adjust Your Set” DVD set and had enjoyed watching those, too.  He grinned at being reminded of that proto-Python TV series.  I asked about a couple of songs I knew he had co-written.  He downplayed his own contribution with comments like “Well, I helped Eric a little with the music for that one.”
 
I was so effusive in my praise of The Bruces Song / The Philosophers that he sang it for me right there in the Chiller hotel lobby.  What a cool guy!

I fell in love with the Bonzos in 12th grade.  I briefly corresponded with Vivian Stanshall, and talked to Neil on the phone a few years ago.  He was at KLOS and I would have been there but my leg was in a cast.

One of his greatest lyrics -- "Excusez moi pour heart is breaking."  !!!

John Cleese described him as "a very sweet man, much too nice for his own good" and there's a cynical part of me that believes this might be true.

Innes was ripped off on a number of occasions and often just when life seemed ready to do him a good turn.  He lost the rights to The Rutles when ATV threatened to sue.  Though Innes' lawyers knew that that ATV didn't have a leg to stand on, they gave away Innes rights thinking that even if they won, they would have had to have paid out too much in legal fees to make it worth their while.  In return, they told Innes that not only did he lose the rights to his work he owed them another album.

When Innes released the follow-up Rutles album Archaeology in 1996, he asked Eric Idle if he'd like to take part.  Idle sent him a stern letter telling him that Idle was the legal owner of The Rutles (despite Innes coming up with the concept for Rutland Weekend Television and Idle only contributing a name) and that Innes should make sure that he follows the letter of the law with this new release and not forget to credit Idle as creator of the group.  They also had to blur Idle out of the video for Shangri-La.  What seems to have been a project intended to make up for the pain the first album caused Innes, turned into another headache thanks to Idle who never turned down a chance to screw his old partner over whether it be denying him co-songwriting credit for Always Look on the Bright Side of Life or altering the music Innes came up with for Monty Python and the Holy Grail when Idle di Spamalot so as to not have to pay him royalties.
 
I ordered some CDs off his website a few years back and he made sure to include an authographed picture as a thank you.  I also noticed that the mailing had been sent out by his wife Yvonne as her signature appeared on the package.  A down to earth couple that must have seemed ripe for the picking to the ATV's and Eric Idle's of the world.

Not that I'd define Innes as victim though - he was so much more than that.  He might actually be my favorite lyricist out there and is one of the greatest musicians most people have never heard of.  I'm not surprised that John Cleese seemed to be in awe of his work - Cleese also took time to mention that he never missed his performance of How Sweet to be an Idiot (later plagiarized by Oasis) when Innes performed it on Python's stage show - and what Innes didn't seem to achieve in riches he certainly got back in love and appreciation from an audience that knew his work.

This one really hurts.