Right Said Fred (song)

For the pop band named after the song, see Right Said Fred.
"Right Said Fred"
Single by Bernard Cribbins
B-side"Quietly Bonkers"
Released29 June 1962[1]
StudioAbbey Road Studios
GenreNovelty song[2]
Length2:20
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)Ted Dicks and Myles Rudge
Producer(s)George Martin
Bernard Cribbins singles chronology
"The Hole in the Ground"
(1962) 		"Right Said Fred"
(1962) 		"Gossip Calypso"
(1962)

"Right Said Fred" (also written "Right, Said Fred")[3] is a novelty song of 1962 written by Ted Dicks and Myles Rudge.[4][5]

It is about three moving men (Fred, Charlie, and the unnamed narrator) trying without success to move a large and unwieldy piece of furniture from an apartment. The item has feet, a seat, handles and candleholders and is never identified but is often interpreted as being a piano. In the animated film version (see below) it is depicted as such; however, in the 1970 television performance of the song on the sketch show Cribbins it is depicted as a kind of small pipe organ.

The movers eventually give up after dismantling the piece of furniture and partially demolishing the building – including removing a door, a wall, and the ceiling – and taking numerous tea breaks.[6]

The lyrics do not specify whether Fred recovers from "half a ton of rubble on the top of his dome" (slang for head) prior to the others having a final tea break and going home. Dicks said that he was inspired to write the song by events that transpired when he employed movers to move a grand piano he had bought. The band Right Said Fred is named after the song.[7]

  1. ^ Lewisohn, Mark (14 November 2013). The Beatles - All These Years - Extended Special Edition: Volume One: Tune In. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 9781408705452 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Breihan, Tom (January 3, 2022). "The Number Ones: Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy". Stereogum. Retrieved July 7, 2024. They took their band name from "Right Said Fred," a 1962 novelty song that was a UK hit...
  3. ^ "Bernard Cribbins - Right, Said Fred". Discogs. 1962.
  4. ^ Leigh, Spencer (16 November 2007). "Myles Rudge: 'Right Said Fred' lyricist". The Independent.
  5. ^ Leigh, Spencer (4 February 2012). "Ted Dicks: Co-writer of 'Right Said Fred' and 'Hole in the Ground'". The Independent.
  6. ^ Dennis, Jon (2 May 2012). "Old music: Bernard Cribbins – Right Said Fred". The Guardian.
  7. ^ Simpson, Dave (4 April 2017). "How we made Right Said Fred's I'm Too Sexy". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.