The Rutles (alternately titled Meet The Rutles) is a soundtrack album to the 1978 telemovie All You Need Is Cash. The album contains 14 of the tongue-in-cheek pastiches of Beatles songs that were featured in the film.
The primary creative force of the Rutles' music was Neil Innes, the sole composer and arranger of the songs. In the late 1960s, Innes had been the "seventh" member of Monty Python as well as one of the main artists behind the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, who had been featured in the real Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour film performing "Death Cab for Cutie".
Innes credits the three musicians he recruited to assist him on the project as having been important in helping him capture the feel of the Beatles. Guitarist/singer Ollie Halsall and drummer John Halsey had played together in the groups Timebox and Patto. Multi-instrumentalist Ricky Fataar had played with the Flames before joining the Beach Boys in the early 1970s.
Eric Idle, who devised the Rutles concept and co-wrote the film, did not play or sing on any of the recordings; he offered to help, but had recently had an appendectomy, so he was encouraged to recuperate instead. George Harrison, having encouraged Idle and Innes to make a film that satirised the Beatles' history, and lent them archival footage for inclusion in the film, facilitated the album's release by introducing them to the chairman of Warner Bros. Records, Mo Ostin.
The pastiches mimic the Beatles' sound to the degree that a 1978 Beatles bootleg, Indian Rope Trick, included the Rutles' "Cheese and Onions", attributing it to John Lennon. In the early 1980s, Innes was accused by one American Beatle fan of stealing unreleased Beatles tracks to use in the film; this was based on a recording of "Cheese and Onions" obtained by the fan which he believed to be by John Lennon. When the recording was played to Innes, he was amused to discover that it was actually his own demo of the song.
Innes was taken to court by the owners of the Beatles' catalogue, alleging copyright infringement of their songs. Innes had to testify under oath that he had not listened to the songs at all while composing the Rutles' songs, but had created them completely originally based on what he remembered various Beatles songs sounding like at different times.
Songs
The album contains parodies of Beatles numbers such as "Ouch!" ("Help!"), "Hold My Hand" ("I Want to Hold Your Hand", "All My Loving", "She Loves You" and "Eight Days a Week"), "With a Girl Like You" ("If I Fell"), "Living in Hope" ("Don't Pass Me By"), "Love Life" ("All You Need is Love"), "Good Times Roll" ("Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"), "Nevertheless" ("Within You Without You", "The Inner Light"), "Let's Be Natural" ("Julia" and "Dear Prudence"), "Another Day" ("Martha My Dear"), "Piggy in the Middle" ("I Am the Walrus") and "Doubleback Alley" ("Penny Lane"). The CD reissue includes "Blue Suede Schubert" ("Roll Over Beethoven"), "It's Looking Good" ("I'm Looking Through You") and "Between Us" ("Devil in His Heart"). "Get Up and Go" was not on the original LP – allegedly after Lennon warned Innes that it resembled "Get Back" much too closely and might prompt the music publisher, ATV Music, to sue – but was included on the CD reissue.
All songs were written by Neil Innes. Despite having received Lennon's and Harrison's blessing for the project, however, he was forced by ATV Music to credit some of the songs to Lennon–McCartney–Innes. In 1996, Innes said of this stipulation: "George occasionally attempts to get the rights back for me, but it's not high up on anyone's agenda. I've stopped sulking about it". The liner notes of the album give the names of the "Warner Brothers" as "Stan & Reg".
The only song from the film not on the soundtrack is "You Need Feet", which is not a Rutles song. Originally released in 1958, it was written and performed by comedian Bernard Bresslaw and was a parody of the 1958 Max Bygraves hit "You Need Hands".
Track listing
1978 vinyl album
The original 1978 vinyl release of the soundtrack omitted some of the material. The design of the record's inner sleeve reflected the Apple/EMI 1962–1966 ("Red") and 1967–1970 ("Blue") compilation Beatles albums released in 1973, with printed lyrics, red, blue and white layouts, and the track listing for the two album sides using similar periods (side one: 1962–67, side two: 1967–70). A humorous sticker on the shrinkwrap of the original LP release touted a “FREE RECORD WITH THIS 20-PAGE BOOK”.