"Sit on My Face" is a short song written by

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied English at Pembroke Co ...

and performed by the members of the comedy troupe

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

, which originally appeared on the album ''

Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album ''Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album'' is the final studio album by Monty Python, released in 1980. As the title suggests, the album was put together to complete a contract with Charisma Records. Besides newly written songs and sketche ...

'' and later appeared on the compilation '' Monty Python Sings''. The song's lyrics are sung to the

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

of " Sing As We Go" (1934) by Harry Parr-Davies, made popular by

Gracie Fields Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was a British actress, singer and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...

. The opening gives way to the voices of The Fred Tomlinson Singers singing "Sit on my face and tell me that you love me." The remaining lyrics contain numerous references to

fellatio Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a human penis, penis by using the mouth. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may also be termed ''fellat ...

and

cunnilingus Cunnilingus is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a vulva by using the tongue and lips. The clitoris is the most sexually sensitive part of the vulva, and its stimulation may result in a woman becoming sexually aroused or achievi ...

, such as "when I'm between your thighs you blow me away" and "life can be fine if we both 69". The song opened the 1982 film '' Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl'', where it was lip-synched by

Graham Chapman Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the Surreal humour, surrealist comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel (Monty Py ...

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam ( ; born 22 November 1940) is an American-British filmmaker, comedian, collage film, collage animator, and actor. He gained stardom as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe alongside John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Pa ...

and

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones a ...

dressed as waiters in a performance which, at the suggestion of Python touring member

Neil Innes Neil James Innes (; 9 December 1944 – 29 December 2019) was an English writer, comedian and musician. He first came to prominence in the comedy rock group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Monty Py ...

, ended with them revealing their bare backsides. In 2002, a similar rendition was mimed by Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and Neil Innes at the

Concert for George The Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 29 November 2002 as a Tributes to the Beatles, memorial to George Harrison on the first anniversary of his death. The event was organised by Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison ...

, a memorial concert for

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

which took place at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. At the end of this rendition the four men turned their backs to face a portrait of

, thereby revealing their naked

buttocks The buttocks (: buttock) are two rounded portions of the exterior anatomy of most mammals, located on the posterior of the pelvic region. In humans, the buttocks are located between the lower back and the perineum. They are composed of a lay ...

and effectively

mooning Illustration of a woman raising her dress and mooning a nun (1905) Mooning is the act of displaying one's bare buttocks by removing clothing, e.g., by lowering the backside of one's trousers and underpants, usually bending over, and also pot ...

the Albert Hall audience. In 2012 it was featured as an animated number in '' A Liar's Autobiography'', performed by the London Gay Men's Chorus, both on the recorded soundtrack and live, as a flash mob, during the screening shown during the London Film Festival. The song also opened the second half of Monty Python's 2014 reunion shows where it accompanied a suggestive dance routine by the 20-strong dance ensemble, with Eric Idle and Michael Palin encouraging an audience singalong.

Legal issues

The owners of "Sing as We Go" threatened to sue Monty Python for

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

, but the Pythons released the song anyway. The US

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) has ruled that the song is actionably indecent, concluding that "despite English accent and 'ambient noise' … the lyrics were sufficiently understandable". In 1992, it fined KGB-FM, a

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

9,200 for playing the song.

French adaptation

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

rendition of the song presented in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in 2003 translated the title as "Cum in My Mouth". According to producer Rémy Renoux, "Cum in My Mouth is … what Monty Python would have written today." Renoux also pointed out that a literal translation into French would not fit the melody of the song, and claimed that the translation met with the approval of the Monty Python team.

References

{{Authority control Censorship of music Cunnilingus Fellatio Monty Python songs Obscenity controversies in music Oral eroticism Songs written by Eric Idle

Legal issues

French adaptation

See also

References