View source for Songs for Swingin' Sellers

{{Infobox album
| name       = Songs for Swingin' Sellers
| type       = studio
| artist     = [[Peter Sellers]]
| cover      = Songs_for_Swingin'_Sellers.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = 4 December 1959<ref name="NMEreview">{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Allen |title=LPs |journal=NME |date=11 December 1959 |page=9 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/1959/NME-1959-12-11-S-OCR.pdf |access-date=23 May 2022 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523221430/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/1959/NME-1959-12-11-S-OCR.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> 
| recorded   = 1959
| venue      =
| studio     = [[Abbey Road Studios|EMI]], London
| genre      = [[Comedy]], [[satire]]
| length     = 56:05
| label      = [[Parlophone]]
| producer   = [[George Martin]]
| prev_title = [[The Best of Sellers]]
| prev_year  = 1958
| next_title = Peter and Sophia
| next_year  = 1960
}}
'''''Songs for Swingin' Sellers''''' is the second studio album by the English actor, comedian and singer [[Peter Sellers]]. Released on [[EMI]]'s [[Parlophone]] label in December 1959, the album was produced by [[George Martin]] with musical direction from [[Ron Goodwin]] and features a series of comic sketches showcasing Sellers' satirical humour and mimicry. The album was titled as a play on [[Frank Sinatra]]'s ''[[Songs for Swingin' Lovers!]]''  and much of its contents pointedly satirises [[popular culture]], with musical parodies of Sinatra and [[Lonnie Donegan]] among the tracks. Sellers plays a variety of roles alongside contributions from the comic [[character actress]] [[Irene Handl]] and the singer [[Matt Monro]] (credited as "Fred Flange"). A critical and commercial success, the album reached number three in the [[UK Albums Chart]] and Martin's elaborate production has been cited as an artistic forerunner to his work with [[the Beatles]]. 

==Background==
[[File:George Martin obit.jpg|thumb|right|[[George Martin]] moved into comedy records as an "act of desperation"<ref name="bestofsellers">{{cite web |title=George Martin: "I arrogantly called it The Best of Sellers" |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03m1syl |website=BBC |access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref>]]
After being promoted to head of [[Parlophone|Parlophone Records]] in 1955, [[George Martin]] began to shift the label, a subsidiary of [[EMI]], away from the classical music and original cast recordings it had focused on before.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2016/03/14/how-george-martin-changed-the-finances-of-the-record-business/ |title=How George Martin Changed The Finances Of The Record Business |last=Owsinski |first=Bobby |work=Forbes |access-date=2 August 2018 |date=25 May 2022}}</ref> Martin felt unable to compete against the American catalogues that his larger rivals [[His Master's Voice|HMV]] and [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] released<ref name="bestofsellers"/> and later explained "I knew I had to make a mark in some way... ...and the way I chose was to go into comedy, because no one was doing it. People were doing it in the States – [[Stan Freberg]], [[Bob Newhart]] —  but there was nothing in England to speak of. And it seemed to work".<ref name="tunein">{{cite book |last1=Lewisohn |first1=Mark |title=The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In |date=2013 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |isbn=978-1-4000-8305-3 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=24 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212113/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_All_These_Years_Extended_Spe/Ibk1AAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> Martin was aided by the contemporary success of radio comedy and believed "comedy records succeeded because sound dominated in the days before television got its grip on people".<ref name="womack"/> He was dispirited when the [[BBC]] [[radio comedy]] stars [[The Goon Show|the Goons]] left Parlophone for [[Decca Records|Decca]] after their cover of "[[Unchained Melody]]" was blocked from release by the song's [[music publishing|publishers]],<ref name="womack">{{cite book |last1=Womack |first1=Kenneth |title=Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926–1966 |date=2017 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |isbn=9781613731925 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=25 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212125/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maximum_Volume/Z6nGDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> but he achieved a breakthrough in 1957 when he worked with [[Peter Sellers]] again; Sellers' comic recording of "[[Any Old Iron (song)|Any Old Iron]]", a [[music hall]] song given a satirical [[skiffle]] arrangement and sung in the voice of ''The Goon Show'' character [[List of The Goon Show cast members and characters#Willium "Mate" Cobblers|Willium "Mate" Cobblers]], reached number 17 on the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref name="tunein"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Peter Sellers |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ |website=www.officialcharts.com |accessdate=25 May 2022 |language=en |archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523214955/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Recognising that Sellers was capable of "a daydreaming form of humour which could be amusing and seductive without requiring the trigger of a live audience", Martin pitched a full album to EMI.<ref name="hepworth">{{cite book |last1=Hepworth |first1=David |title=A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives |date=2019 |publisher=Bantam |isbn=978-1-7841-6208-5 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover |access-date=25 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212109/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Fabulous_Creation/WH1lDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=songs+for+swingin+sellers&pg=PT86&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> The management were reluctant, doubting the commercial viability of a full-length studio comedy record. They agreed only to a compromise: that ''The Best of Sellers'' be made at a reduced production budget for release as a 10-inch LP rather than a standard 12-inch.<ref name="womack"/> The album's [[tongue-in-cheek]] title proved apt when it became a number three hit and its success led to EMI commissioning a 12-inch reissue despite their earlier misgivings.<ref name="womack"/> Subsequently, Martin was asked to make a second album with Sellers by the same people who had denigrated the idea of the first, something he considered "a kind of accolade, which recognised Parlophone as the label for humorous people".<ref name="womack"/>

==Style and themes==
''Songs for Swingin' Sellers'' was titled as a play on [[Frank Sinatra]]'s chart-topping ''[[Songs for Swingin' Lovers!]]''.<ref name="sinatrachart">{{cite web |title=Frank Sinatra |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/15791/frank-sinatra/ |website=Official Charts |access-date=31 May 2022 |archive-date=27 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527074546/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/15791/frank-sinatra/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Its sketches employ [[satire]], with Sellers playing "a typically wide range of characters"<ref name="gramophone">{{cite book |title=The Gramophone Volume 59, Issues 697–703 |date=1981 |publisher=C. Mackenzie |access-date=31 May 2022 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Gramophone/LhFMAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=peter%20sellers%20swingin |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212108/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Gramophone/LhFMAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=peter+sellers+swingin |url-status=live }}</ref> and parodying [[Broadcasting|broadcasters]], entertainers and the [[upper class]]. Biographer Andrew Norman identified hypocrisy as a recurring theme, writing that the album afforded Sellers "the opportunity to mock those whom he considered to be insincere".<ref name="norman">{{cite book |last1=Norman |first1=Andrew |title=The Real Peter Sellers |date=2021 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=9781526786869 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Real_Peter_Sellers/JvNUEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=29 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212110/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Real_Peter_Sellers/JvNUEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> As with ''The Best of Sellers'', radio comedy writers [[Frank Muir]] and [[Denis Norden]] contributed several sketches; their work on the album has been cited as indicative of a wave of young comedy writers who, despite having some background in [[Variety show|variety]], "had largely cultivated their talents via radio and television, and recognised that subtler approaches were necessary for such media".<ref name="Mitchell">{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Gillian |title=Adult Responses to Popular Music and Intergenerational Relations in Britain, C. 19551975 |date=2019 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=9781783089017 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Adult_Responses_to_Popular_Music_and_Int/nB2KDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=1 June 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212111/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Adult_Responses_to_Popular_Music_and_Int/nB2KDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> 

The album was among George Martin’s first [[stereophonic]] records, allowing the producer "to paint his sound pictures with added texture and depth" according to [[Mark Lewisohn]].<ref name="tunein"/> [[David Hepworth]] has written that Martin and arranger [[Ron Goodwin]] "placed Sellers' inventions in a soundscape which meant that you kept playing the record long after any belly laughs had exhausted themselves".<ref name="hepworth"/>

==Contents==
===Side one===
According to [[Spencer Leigh (radio presenter)|Spencer Leigh]], "You Keep Me Swingin'" mocks "the image of [[Frank Sinatra]] as the perpetual [[Swing music|swinger]]".<ref name="sinatra">{{cite book |last1=Leigh |first1=Spencer |title=Frank Sinatra: An Extraordinary Life |date=25 September 2015 |publisher=McNidder and Grace Limited |isbn=9780857160881 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Frank_Sinatra/BBm6CgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=23 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212108/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Frank_Sinatra/BBm6CgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> The song, arranged by [[Ron Goodwin]] in a [[big band]] approximation of [[Nelson Riddle]]’s work with Sinatra, was written by George Martin (under the pseudonym Graham Fisher) and Ken Hare.<ref name="monro">{{cite book |last1=Monro |first1=Michele |title=Matt Monro: The Singer's Singer |date=2011 |publisher=Titan |isbn=9781848569508 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Matt_Monro_The_Singer_s_Singer/sDu_BgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=matt+monro+decca&pg=PT117&printsec=frontcover |access-date=25 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212112/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Matt_Monro_The_Singer_s_Singer/sDu_BgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=matt+monro+decca&pg=PT117&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> Intending to sing on the track, Sellers asked Martin to find Sinatra soundalike to record a demo vocal to help guide him. Martin considering using [[Dennis Lotis]] before recruiting [[Matt Monro]], whose performance was ultimately used on the album after Sellers felt he couldn't improve upon it.<ref name="monro"/><ref name="Larkin60">{{cite book |title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music]] |date=1997 |publisher=[[Virgin Books]] |isbn=0-7535-0149-X |editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]] |edition=First |pages=315/6}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Monro had been dropped by both [[Decca Records|Decca]] and [[Fontana Records|Fontana]] after failing to find success.<ref name="monro"/>}} Billed on the album as "Fred Flange" (a name conceived by Martin), Monro found the experience demoralising but his impersonation was close enough to prompt speculation that it was Sinatra himself.<ref name="elephants">{{cite book |last1=Inverne |first1=James |title=Wrestling with Elephants |date=2003 |publisher=SMT |isbn=9780857123718 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Wrestling_with_Elephants/rd2aAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=24 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212116/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Wrestling_with_Elephants/rd2aAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="canada">{{cite book |last1=Hemmingsen |first1=Piers |title=The Beatles in Canada: The Origins of Beatlemania! |date=2016 |publisher=Wise Publications |isbn=9781787590731 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_in_Canada_The_Origins_of_Bea/a9JiDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=31 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212111/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Beatles_in_Canada_The_Origins_of_Bea/a9JiDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[BBC]] gave "You Keep Me Swingin'" heavy airplay and Monro was subsequently offered a Parlophone contract by Martin, initiating a successful partnership between the two men.<ref name="tunein"/> Written by comedy partners [[Denis Norden]] and [[Frank Muir]], "So Little Time" lampoons the English [[impresario]] [[Larry Parnes]] and his stable of young [[rock & roll]] stars including [[Marty Wilde]] and [[Billy Fury]].<ref name="parody bands">{{cite web |title=9 parody bands that got it spot on |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/a5440e6a-2d1e-417d-8f00-350a4d669f6b |website=BBC |access-date=24 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212112/https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/a5440e6a-2d1e-417d-8f00-350a4d669f6b |url-status=live }}</ref> Parnes is caricatured as Major Rafe Ralph, a horse dealer turned pop manager who lives with his protégés Lenny Bronze, Clint Thigh, Matt Lust and [[Conway Twitty|Twit Conway]] in a luxury [[Mayfair]] flat.<ref name="tunein"/><ref name="maconie">{{cite book |last1=Maconie |first1=Stuart |title=The People's Songs: The Story of Modern Britain in 50 Records |date=2013 |publisher=Ebury Publishing |isbn=9781409033189 |page=370 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_People_s_Songs/6xmq82qoq70C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+clint+thigh&pg=PA370&printsec=frontcover |access-date=2022-06-03 |archive-date=2022-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212118/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_People_s_Songs/6xmq82qoq70C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+clint+thigh&pg=PA370&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> Ralph and Conway are interviewed by Nancy Lisbon, a parody of prominent broadcaster [[Nancy Spain]].<ref name="cooke">{{cite book |last1=Cooke |first1=Rachel |title=Her Brilliant Career: Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties |date=2013 |publisher=Little Brown Book Group |isbn=9780748128716 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Her_Brilliant_Career/-gpd3uluH50C?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=29 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212113/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Her_Brilliant_Career/-gpd3uluH50C?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="collis">{{cite book |last1=Collis |first1=Rose |title=A Trouser-wearing Character; The Life and Times of Nancy Spain |date=1997 |publisher=Cassell |isbn=9780304328796 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Trouser_wearing_Character/baVZAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=peter%20sellers%20Rafe%20Ralph |access-date=29 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212128/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Trouser_wearing_Character/baVZAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=peter+sellers+Rafe+Ralph |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Gillian A.M. Mitchell, the sketch reflects how "rock and [[skiffle]] frequently seemed, for certain [[avant-garde]] performers, to connote dim, talentless singers and manipulative managers".<ref name="Mitchell"/>
[[File:LonnieDonegan1956.jpg|thumb|right|In "Puttin' On the Smile", Lenny Goonigan frequently mentions "workin' on the railroad", an allusion to [[Lonnie Donegan]]'s "[[Rock Island Line]]"<ref name="telegraph">{{cite journal |last1=Chilton |first1=Martin |title=Lonnie Donegan and the Birth of British Rock & Roll, by Patrick Humphries: review |journal=The Telegraph |date=16 November 2012 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/biographyandmemoirreviews/9678833/Lonnie-Donegan-and-the-Birth-of-British-Rock-and-Roll-by-Patrick-Humphries-review.html |access-date=24 May 2022 |archive-date=24 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524122822/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/biographyandmemoirreviews/9678833/Lonnie-Donegan-and-the-Birth-of-British-Rock-and-Roll-by-Patrick-Humphries-review.html |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
"The Contemporary Scene – 1: Radio Today" consists of two sketches. The first, "Lord Badminton's Memoirs", has Sellers as an [[Aristocracy (class)|aristocrat]] recounting his life and betraying his disregard for the welfare of his employees.<ref name="norman"/> In his liner notes for the album, Peter Munro-Smith advised that the sketch may bring on "an acute attack of nostalgia" to those over seventy.<ref name="liner">{{cite AV media notes| title = Songs for Swingin' Sellers | others= Peter Sellers| year = 1959| type = liner| publisher = [[Parlophone]]}}</ref> The second, "The Critics", has Sellers and the comic actress [[Irene Handl]] poking art critics in broadcasting, with a panel of speakers discussing an art exhibition at [[Tate Britain|the Tate]] using excessive, indecipherable jargon.<ref name="norman"/><ref name="grin">{{cite book |last1=Carpenter |first1=Humphrey |title=A Great, Silly Grin - The British Satire Boom Of The 1960s |date=2002 |publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=9781586480813 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Great_Silly_Grin/UCdaAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Faith%20Bradshaw%20irene%20handl |access-date=2 June 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212114/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Great_Silly_Grin/UCdaAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Faith+Bradshaw+irene+handl |url-status=live }}</ref> Handl's character, Faith Bradshaw, is a parody of [[Dilys Powell]].<ref name="french">{{cite book |last1=French |first1=Philip |title=Ariel at Bay - Reflections on Broadcasting and the Arts : a Festschrift for Philip French |date=1990 |isbn=9780856359453 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Ariel_at_Bay/qJBZAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Faith%20Bradshaw%20irene%20handl |access-date=2 June 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212115/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Ariel_at_Bay/qJBZAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Faith+Bradshaw+irene+handl |url-status=live }}</ref> Sellers' rendition of "[[My Old Dutch (song)|My Old Dutch]]", a [[music hall]] song published in 1892 and written by [[Albert Chevalier]] and [[Charles Ingle]], is delivered with mock-sentimentality and deliberately over-the-top emotion.<ref name="comedystars">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Ronald L. |title=Comedy Stars at 78 RPM |date=1998 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786404629 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Comedy_Stars_at_78_RPM/XiJaAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=peter%20sellers%20my%20old%20dutch |access-date=2 June 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212114/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Comedy_Stars_at_78_RPM/XiJaAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=peter+sellers+my+old+dutch |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="louvich">{{cite web |last1=Simon |first1=Louvich |title=Here, there and everywhere |url=https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2002/oct/05/highereducation.biography |website=AV Club |access-date=26 May 2022 |archive-date=24 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524015626/https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2002/oct/05/highereducation.biography |url-status=live }}</ref> The song had been taught to Sellers as a child by his mother, Peg, and biographer [[Ed Sikov]] has postulated that Sellers' apparent distaste of it explains the rendering's "distinctly nasty edge".<ref name="sikov">{{cite book |last1=Sikov |first1=Ed |title=Mr Strangelove A Biography of Peter Sellers |date=2002 |publisher=Pan Macmillan |isbn=9781447207146 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Mr_Strangelove/PO-5-ttYn3UC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=31 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212114/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Mr_Strangelove/PO-5-ttYn3UC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> "The Contemporary Scene – 2: T.V. Today" consists of two sketches. The first, "Face to Face", has Sellers play a loquacious interviewer who never allows his interviewee to answer the questions.<ref name="norman"/> The second, "In a Free State", presents an interview with Mr Bedham, an [[Irish people|Irish]] playwright who is "slurred, angry, panting and ready to commit murder to get at a drink".<ref name="lewis">{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Roger |title=The Life and Death of Peter Sellers |date=1995 |publisher=Arrow |isbn=9780099747000 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Life_and_Death_of_Peter_Sellers/biKazcH-dXoC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=30 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212115/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Life_and_Death_of_Peter_Sellers/biKazcH-dXoC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> Bedham is a parody of the Irish playwright [[Brendan Behan]], who generated significant publicity for his play ''[[The Quare Fellow]]'' in June 1956 when he made a drunken appearance on [[BBC Television]] programme ''[[Panorama (British TV programme)|Panorama]]''.<ref name="behan">{{cite book |last1=Mikhail |first1=E.H. |title=Brendan Behan Volume I: Interviews and Recollections |date=3 January 2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=9781349060139 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Brendan_Behan/9ievCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=inauthor:%22E.H.+Mikhail%22&printsec=frontcover |access-date=4 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=On this day in 1956... |url=https://www.facebook.com/BBCRadio4/photos/on-this-day-in-1956-brendan-behan-turned-up-for-a-bbc-television-interview-roari/10158766278065459/ |website=BBC Radio 4 |access-date=4 November 2022}}</ref> According to the journalist [[William J. Weatherby]], Behan's wife admired Sellers' impersonation of her husband and considered Bedham's references to "the thirst" the most accurate part of the sketch.<ref name="behan"/>

===Side two===
"Puttin' On the Smile", a parody of [[Lonnie Donegan]]'s recording of "[[Puttin' On the Style]]", caricatures the [[skiffle]] craze.<ref name="NMEreview"/> It features Sellers in the guise of a self-serving [[Folk music|folk singer]] named Lenny Goonigan. As well as a musical spoof, the track presents an interview with Goonigan and satirises Donegan's practice of covering American folk songs; when asked if he's been to the [[Deep South]], Goonigan tells the interviewer "I've been all over, man - [[Brighton]], [[Portsmouth]], [[Truro]], [[Penzance]]". Goonigan also explains that his last record was "an obscure folk song hidden at the top of the American hit parade".<ref name="NMEreview"/> Donegan was unamused by the sketch.<ref name="telegraph"/><ref name="wynn">{{cite book |last1=Wynn |first1=Neil A. |title=Cross the Water Blues: African American Music in Europe |date=2007 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=9781604735475 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Cross_the_Water_Blues/PMaszIALuVYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+donegan&pg=PA170&printsec=frontcover |access-date=1 June 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212116/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Cross_the_Water_Blues/PMaszIALuVYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+donegan&pg=PA170&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref>

"[[Common Entrance Examination|Common Entrance]]" has Sellers portraying both roles in an interview between a British boarding school headmaster and the parent of a sensitive prospective student.<ref name="av"/><ref name="mass">{{cite book |title=Studies in the Mass Media: Volumes 1–4 |date=1960 |publisher=National Council of Teachers of English |page=11 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Studies_in_the_Mass_Media/q-caAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=peter%20sellers%20common%20entrance |access-date=2 June 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212116/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Studies_in_the_Mass_Media/q-caAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=peter+sellers+common+entrance |url-status=live }}</ref> "I Haven't Told Her, She Hasn't Told Me (But We Know It Just the Same)" is sung "in pleasant voice"<ref name="NMEreview"/> by Sellers accompanying himself on [[ukelele]].<ref name="lewis"/> Sellers later performed the song in the 1973 film ''[[The Optimists of Nine Elms]]'' and on the [[BBC One|BBC1]] series ''[[Parkinson (TV series)|Parkinson]]'' in 1974.<ref name="lewis"/> "Shadows on the Grass" features Sellers as a [[French people|Frenchman]] who meets a whimsical older woman ([[Irene Handl]]) in the park. Martin and engineer Stuart Eltham edited the recording, originally nearly twelve minutes long, for the album.<ref name="womack"/> Sellers performs "[[Wouldn't It Be Loverly]]", a popular [[showtune]] from [[Alan Jay Lerner|Lerner]] and [[Frederick Loewe|Loewe]]'s ''[[My Fair Lady]]'', as Mr Banerjee, a [[Stereotypes of South Asians|stereotypical Indian man]].<ref name="sikov"/> The musical accompaniment to the track employs [[sitar]] and [[tabla]], the first time George Martin had used [[Hindustani classical music]] instrumentation in one of his productions.<ref name="kruth">{{cite book |last1=Kruth |first1=John |title=This Bird Has Flown The Enduring Beauty of Rubber Soul, Fifty Years On |date=2015 |publisher=Backbeat Books |isbn=9781617136429 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/This_Bird_Has_Flown/ohmbCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=26 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212118/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/This_Bird_Has_Flown/ohmbCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> "We'll Let You Know" features a budding actor, Warrington Minge, auditioning for a role with the "winter of our discontent" soliloquy from ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'', to the disinterest and boredom of the producer.<ref name="shakespeare">{{cite book |title=OuterSpeares: Shakespeare, Intermedia, and the Limits of Adaptation |date=2014 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9781442615939 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/OuterSpeares/I8AeBQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+discontent&pg=PA61&printsec=frontcover |access-date=2 June 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212117/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/OuterSpeares/I8AeBQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+discontent&pg=PA61&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> In his liner notes for the EP release ''Songs for Swingin' Sellers (No. 2)'', Derek Johnson describes the piece as an example of Sellers' "genuine sense of [[pathos]]".<ref name="EPliner">{{cite AV media notes| title = Songs for Swingin' Sellers (No. 2) | others= Peter Sellers| year = 1961| type = liner| publisher = [[Parlophone]]}}</ref> The album's last track, "Peter Sellers sings [[George Gershwin]]", lasts 17 seconds and, after an introduction, simply consists of Sellers' vocalising "George Ge-ersh-win".<ref name="sikov"/>

==Release==
[[File:1962 Peter Sellers advert.jpg|thumb|left|[[Peter Sellers]]' likeness appears on a [[wanted poster]] on the album cover<ref name="liner"/>]]
''Songs for Swingin' Sellers'' was released on 4 December 1959 in an eye-catching sleeve depicting "the booted and spurred feet of a man, presumably the artist, hanging from a tree above one of those record players that the adventurous might take on a picnic".<ref name="hepworth"/> The artwork appears in [[Barry Miles]], Grant Scott and Johnny Morgan's book ''The Greatest Album Covers of All Time'', in which it is speculated that the shot of a [[hanging|hanged]] man may have been inspired by "[[Mort Sahl]]'s brand of "[[Black comedy|sick humour]]"".<ref name="greatest">{{cite book |last1=Miles |first1=Barry |last2=Scott |first2=Grant |last3=Morgan |first3=Johnny |title=The Greatest Album Covers of All Time |date=2016 |publisher=Collins & Brown |isbn=9781911163367 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Greatest_Album_Covers_of_All_Time/UFAmEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+swingin&pg=PT43&printsec=frontcover |access-date=31 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212121/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Greatest_Album_Covers_of_All_Time/UFAmEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+swingin&pg=PT43&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, the packaging carries several humorous notes, including instructions to "only use needles of Burmese plywood" to play the record and to "send Grandma out of the room".<ref name="hepworth"/><ref name="liner"/>

The album reached number three on the ''[[Melody Maker]]'' albums chart (now the [[UK Albums Chart]]), remaining in the chart for 34 non-consecutive weeks, and its strong sales gave George Martin a sense of vindication about his production work.<ref name="womack"/><ref name="charts">{{cite web |title=Peter Sellers |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ |website=Official Charts |access-date=23 May 2022 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523214955/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/4961/peter-sellers/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The album's release followed the issue of a single, "My Old Dutch" b/w "Puttin' On the Smile", that failed to chart.<ref name="Dutch">{{cite web |title=Peter Sellers |url=http://www.45cat.com/record/r4605-2 |website=45cat |access-date=3 June 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212120/http://www.45cat.com/record/r4605-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> Following the [[Stereophonic sound|stereo]] and [[monaural|mono]] LP release, the album was released on [[Single_(music)#7-inch_format|7-inch]] over three volumes of mono [[Extended play|EPs]] in 1961.<ref name="roundabout">{{cite journal |last1=Douglas |first1=Mervyn |title=EP Roundabout |journal=Record Mail |date=April 1961 |page=3 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Record-Mail/IDX/Record-Mail-1961-04-IDX-3.pdf#search=%22songs%20for%20swingin%20sellers%22 |access-date=23 May 2022 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523220459/https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Record-Mail/IDX/Record-Mail-1961-04-IDX-3.pdf#search=%22songs%20for%20swingin%20sellers%22 |url-status=live }}</ref>

As part of the promotion for the album, [[Parlophone]] played upon the identity of Fred Flange ([[Matt Monro]]), whose [[Frank Sinatra]] impersonation on "You Keep Me Swingin'" received significant attention in the music press.<ref name="monro"/> The album's liner notes read "for mainly political reasons, the real identity of this performer must be kept secret", fueling rumours it was Sinatra himself.<ref name="liner"/> Parlophone were indundated with letters and phone calls about the mystery singer and published cryptic publicity photos of Monro shot from behind and wearing a hat. When Flange's identity was eventually revealed, [[Reuters]] called Monro's vocal "the cleverest and most irreverent impersonation of a singing idol ever recorded".<ref name="monro"/> Monro then achieved a string of hit singles with Martin as producer, beginning with "[[Portrait of My Love]]" in 1960.<ref name="OCC">[http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/25071/matt-monro/ Matt Monro - Full Official Chart History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508195253/https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/25071/matt-monro/ |date=2022-05-08 }}, [[Official Charts Company]]. Retrieved March 12, 2018.</ref>

In 1978, the album was reissued in Australia on the [[World Record Club]] label.<ref>{{cite web |title=Songs for Swingin' Sellers |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/5971400-Peter-Sellers-Songs-For-Swingin-Sellers |website=Discogs |access-date=3 June 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212120/https://www.discogs.com/release/5971400-Peter-Sellers-Songs-For-Swingin-Sellers |url-status=live }}</ref> It made its CD debut in 1993 as part of the ''Celebration of Sellers'' box set.<ref name="allmusic">{{cite journal |last1=Unterberger |first1=Richie |title=Songs for Swingin' Sellers |journal=Allmusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/songs-for-swingin-sellers-mw0000967974 |access-date=23 May 2022 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523220459/https://www.allmusic.com/album/songs-for-swingin-sellers-mw0000967974 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2010, Hallmark Music & Entertainment issued a standalone CD release with the cover art edited to remove the dangling legs of the hanged man.<ref name="allmusic"/>

==Critical reception==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="allmusic"/>
}}
Upon release, ''Songs for Swingin' Sellers'' received critical acclaim.<ref name="geddes">{{cite journal |last1=Geddes |first1=Doug |title=In demand - a high standard of comedy |journal=Record Mail |date=May 1960 |page=3 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mail/Record-Mail-1960-05.pdf |access-date=31 May 2022 |archive-date=28 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928215802/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mail/Record-Mail-1960-05.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[NME|New Musical Express]]'' praised Sellers' "devastating wit" and described the album as "just the thing for the interval at your Christmas party".<ref name="NMEreview"/> Reg Exton of London's ''Norwood News'' praised the album as "real comedy, sometimes satirical, but never dull" and considered "So Little Time" the highlight, while David Langdon of the ''[[Sunday Mirror|Sunday Pictorial]]'' described it as "one of the funniest records ever".<ref name="norwood">{{cite journal |last1=Exton |first1=Reg |title=Bernard Bresslaw records a little Christmas ditty |journal=Norwood News |date=11 December 1959 |page=4 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/805692214/?terms=bernard%20bresslaw%20records%20christmas&match=1|access-date=4 November 2022}}</ref><ref name="ticket">{{cite news |last1=Langdon |first1=David |title=Just the ticket |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/807644133/?terms=swingin%27%20sellers&match=1 |access-date=4 November 2022 |work=Sunday Pictorial |date=29 November 1959}}</ref> 

Reviewing  ''Songs for Swingin' Sellers'' in 1961, Mervyn Douglas of ''Record Mail'' declared "what a performer this man is – sheer genius, ranging from biting comedy to moments of intense pathos. Nobody can quite portray characters and life like Peter Sellers".<ref name="roundabout"/> In a retrospective review for [[AllMusic]], Richie Unterberger considered the album to contain "some of (Sellers') best sketches" and singled out "Puttin' On the Smile" as the highlight.<ref name="allmusic"/>

==Aftermath and legacy==
In a feature for ''[[Disc (magazine)|Disc]]'' published soon after release, [[Russ Conway]] named the album as among his choices for a Christmas party.<ref name="party">{{cite journal |title=A party? |journal=Disc |date=19 December 1959 |page=5 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Disc/1959/Disc-1959-12-19.pdf |access-date=23 May 2022 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523223931/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Disc/1959/Disc-1959-12-19.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In October 1961, [[Hattie Jacques]] chose "Lord Badminton's Memoirs" as one of her [[Desert Island Discs]] on the BBC radio programme.<ref name="hattie">{{cite web |title=Hattie Jacques |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009y6df |website=BBC |access-date=25 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212110/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009y6df |url-status=live }}</ref> Writing in 2002, Simon Louvich of ''[[the Guardian]]'' considered ''Songs for Swingin' Sellers'' to contain "some of the master’s most primal acts",<ref name="louvich"/> while [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] of ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' has described the album as "perhaps the best showcase for George Martin's nascent skills".<ref name="afterword">{{cite web |last1=Erlewine |first1=Stephen Thomas |title=Afterword: George Martin |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/afterword/9831-afterword-george-martin/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=3 June 2022 |archive-date=28 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328184241/https://pitchfork.com/features/afterword/9831-afterword-george-martin/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In his 2013 book ''A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives'', [[David Hepworth]] describes the album as "one of the artistic forerunners" to Martin's later production ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' (1967).<ref name="hepworth"/>{{refn|group=nb|Martin made a similar comparison in the 2012 documentary ''Produced by George Martin'', stating "building up ''Sgt. Pepper'' became a bit like working on a Peter Sellers record".<ref name="uncut">{{cite web |title=Produced By George Martin |url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/produced-by-george-martin-2293/?amp |website=Uncut |access-date=31 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212123/https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/produced-by-george-martin-2293/?amp |url-status=live }}</ref>}} The poet [[Roger McGough]] has praised the album as a "comedy classic",<ref name="mcgough">{{cite book |last1=McGough |first1=Roger |title=Said and Done |date=2006 |publisher=Arrow |isbn=9780099478751 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Said_and_Done/vsUR1YSFpvAC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=26 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212126/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Said_and_Done/vsUR1YSFpvAC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> and his [[The Scaffold|Scaffold]] bandmate [[Mike McCartney]] has said he was attracted to working with Martin due to his work with Sellers, saying of ''Songs For Swingin' Sellers'' "[[Paul McCartney|Paul]] and I had fallen about laughing to those nice little sketches".<ref name="love me do">{{cite book |last1=Leigh |first1=Spencer |title=Love Me Do to Love Me Don't: Beatles on Record |date=2016 |publisher=McNidder and Grace Limited |isbn=9780857161352 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Love_Me_Do_to_Love_Me_Don_t/jfYPDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+swingin&pg=PT158&printsec=frontcover |access-date=31 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603212124/https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Love_Me_Do_to_Love_Me_Don_t/jfYPDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=peter+sellers+swingin&pg=PT158&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> "So Little Time" has been cited by [[Michael McKean]] and [[Christopher Guest]] as an antecedent to [[Spinal Tap (band)|Spinal Tap]].<ref name="av">{{cite web |last1=Joe |first1=Blevins |title=Back in the day, George Martin made some wild records with Peter Sellers |url=https://www.avclub.com/back-in-the-day-george-martin-made-some-wild-records-w-1798245147/amp |website=AV Club |access-date=25 May 2022 |archive-date=24 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524135216/https://www.avclub.com/back-in-the-day-george-martin-made-some-wild-records-w-1798245147/amp |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Track listing ==
{{Track listing
| headline = Side one
| total_length = 
| title1 = You Keep Me Swingin'
| writer1 = Ken Hare, [[George Martin|Graham Fisher]]
| length1 = 2:51
| title2 = So Little Time
| writer2 = [[Frank Muir]], [[Denis Norden]]
| length2 = 6:31
| title3 = The Contemporary Scene – 1: Radio Today"
*"Lord Badminton's Memoirs"
*"The Critics
| writer3 = Max Shreiner, [[Ron Goodwin]]
| length3 = 10:42
| title4 = [[My Old Dutch (song)|My Old Dutch]]
| writer4 = [[Albert Chevalier]], [[Charles Ingle]]
| length4 = 2:48
| title5 = The Contemporary Scene – 2: T.V. Today"
*"Face to Face"
*"In a Free State
| writer5 = Shreiner, Goodwin
| length5 = 4:12
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = Side two
| total_length = 
| title1 = Puttin' On the Smile
| writer1 = Reuben, Ransom
| length1 = 5:24
| title2 = Common Entrance
| writer2 = Muir, Norden
| length2 = 5:00
| title3 = I Haven't Told Her, She Hasn't Told Me (But We Know It Just the Same)
| writer3 = [[Al Dubin]], [[Sammy Fain]], [[Irving Kahal]]
| length3 = 1:11
| title4 = Shadows on the Grass
| writer4 = [[Irene Handl]]
| length4 = 6:24
| title5 = [[Wouldn't It Be Loverly]]
| writer5 = [[Al Lerner]], [[Frederick Loewe]]
| length5 = 5:56
| title6 = We'll Let You Know
| writer6 = Sellers
| length6 = 3:24
| title7 = Peter Sellers Sings [[George Gershwin]]
| writer7 = 
| length7 = 0:17
}}
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=nb}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:1959 albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by George Martin]]
[[Category:Parlophone albums]]
[[Category:Satirical works]]
[[Category:1950s comedy albums]]