Date: Aug 7, 1965
Weeks: 1
A few months back, I had half-composed a mini-rant about dumb, repetitive lyrics in the pop music of the 2000s. Then I randomly stumbled across "I'm Henry VIII, I Am," and it changed my mind. Turns out repetitive pop music lyrics and pop music junk food have a long and proud tradition.
These lyrics aren't dumb, I guess. They're really better described as silly. It's a silly story about a guy who's married to a woman with 7 ex-husbands, and all of them are named Henry. It's amusing. And I suppose I have to give credit for cleverness, because it's no coincidence that King Henry VIII of England was rather famously married 6 times. These lyrics are from a much older, shorter song and are repeated over and over, and that's where this song breaks down. Rather than add new lyrics as a verse, this song just sings the chorus 3 times in a row and calls it good. Sure, they add in "Second verse, same as the first" as a sort of winking acknowledgment of the problem, but I'm not sure that sufficiently makes up for it. It's fine to make a song that's silly, but a silly song will usually be funnier with some variety, or at least a humorous twist on the third iteration.
As for the vocals, the exaggerated cockney pronunciation of "Henery" is required by the song's meter, but it also provides another clue that the whole song is a bit of a goof. It also seems clear that the song is carefully calculated to capitalize on the British Invasion of the mid-60s, by featuring the most exaggerated British accent possible. It all contributes to the silliness, but I guess it's all in good fun.
Musically, it's pretty basic early 60s rock music. Drums, bass, guitar, vocals. Not a wide variety of chords required to play it. It seems like it would be pretty easy to learn how to play this song in your garage band, and annoy your friends with its utter lack of variety. Even the guitar solo in the middle isn't all that interesting, being largely a guitar version of the vocal part. At least the song is short. At under 2 minutes, it doesn't last long enough to wear on your nerves.
My verdict: Like it. It's 60s pop music junk food, but it's fun and doesn't wear out its welcome.
It's not seven ex-husbands, is it? She's the widow next door. I always assumed all the previous husbands died.
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