Arthur Askey – Ayethangyow!

• The late Arthur Askey CBE was a cornerstone of British comedy for more than six decades ‘Big Hearted Arthur’ plied his trade successfully on stage, on radio, in films and on TV, his catchphrases ‘Before Your Very Eyes’, ‘Hello Playmates’ and ‘I Thank You’ (pronounced ‘Ayethangyow!’) giving him an identity that kept him in the public eye from the 1930s almost up until his death in 1982.
• Arthur’s comedic talent served him well as a singer of mostly what he termed ‘silly little songs’ about bees, worms, knitting, penguins, christenings and a lot more besides. This Jasmine collection features many of the wittiest and best of them in their original 1930s and 1940s versions, along with several of the anti-Nazi wartime songs that Arthur recorded to encourage patriotism.
• It also features – for the first time on CD we believe, and in its entirety – Arthur’s lone album of the 1950s, featuring Arthur remaking several of the songs in high fidelity, along with several others that were then new and previously unrecorded.
• This audio bonanza of ‘Big’ is not the first CD compilation of his work, but it’s the most comprehensive one to date and the first one in a long while and will thus be received well by all lovers of vintage British comedy.
• Arthur may have been gone for more than 40 years but his star will never dim among aficionados of great vintage British comedy. Here are 30 reasons why. Wethangyow!

Track Listing

1. I’M A LITTLE WRONG NOTE
2. CHIRRUP (1957 version)
3. THE WORM (1957 version)
4. THE CHRISTENING
5. THE PIXIE (1957 version)
6. THE BEE SONG (1957 version)
7. THE BAND
8. THE PENGUIN
9. THE WINKLE
10. THE SEAGULL SONG (1957 version)
11. KNITTING
12. THE MOTH
13. THE BEE SONG (1938 version)
14. CHIRRUP (1938 Version)
15. THE WORM (1939 Version)
16. THE SEAGULL SONG (Live – 1939 version)
17. THE BUDGERIGAR
18. THE PIXIE (1941 Version)
19. THE DEATH WATCH BEETLE
20. THE BAA-LAMB
21. THE FROG
22. THE BUNNY RABBIT
23. THE FLU GERM
24. THE ANT
25. THANKS FOR DROPPING IN, MR. HESS
26. WHAT A NICE LOT OF NAZIS THEY ARE
27. ADOLF
28. WHEN THAT MAN IS DEAD AND GONE