Jay Richardson reviews Yvonne Innes's official biography of her husband

He is forever associated with The Beatles and often referred to as 'the seventh Python’. But this touching biography of the multitalented and endlessly inventive Neil Innes by his widow Yvonne explores how this unassuming figure was so much more than a mere adjunct to Britain's two greatest cultural forces of the 1960s.

From his early cult fame as the relatively steady, musically proficient heart of wildly chaotic, Dadaist eccentrics the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, right through to his final projects before his death in 2019, such as The Idiot Bastard Band with Ade Edmonson and Phill Jupitus, Innes displayed an insatiable zest for creation, an innate understanding of the human condition and an almost ego-free capacity for collaboration with a dizzying array of talent.

Predictably, Yvonne's memories of their life together are suffused with love and admiration for this warm, funny, fiercely intelligent and yet modest man with whom she had three sons and who courted her when they were London art students by confessing he was going bald.

They were never destined to be financially comfortable, but Dip My Brain's early chapters pass in the fuzzy haze of their romance and a backdrop of artistic freedom. The idiosyncratic, disparate parts of the Bonzos, fronted by the larger-than-life Viv Stanshall, would combine for never-to-be-repeated gigs that were more art happenings than set-listed performances, with Innes holding things together on the piano behind all the shambolic joie de vivre.

Notwithstanding the heartbreakingly detailed account that Yvonne gives of finding Neil dead at their French home shortly after Christmas, her recollections of her soulmate are naturally rose-tinted. Yet these are matched by the various tributes she's collected from the great and good he worked with. The likes of George Harrison, Michael Palin and John Cleese are effusive in their regard for his musicianship, effortless humour and ease at fitting into any group. His ability to unite squabbling factions and smooth frictions was perhaps his greatest talent of all.

Sustaining deep friendships with such disparate creative figures as Emo Phillips, John Dowie and the members of Yo La Tengo, Innes was constantly finding new people to work with and pursue fresh musical and comedic directions. Yet he remained stoutly loyal to former bandmates and co-writers, even when they messed him about or screwed him over, his dedication to his art facilitating a forgiving streak that Yvonne can only marvel at.

The Innes' financial struggles are the spectre that sadly, came to increasingly dog their lives. The laissez-faire attitude they had towards money was matched only by Neil's disregard for his health, with exercise and the notion of cutting down on his convivial drinking and smoking a distraction from writing and performing.

Depressingly, too, at a time when the Pythons internal financial wrangles are once again in the news, this book reiterates how it was ever thus after they creatively disbanded. Yvonne is philosophical but clear-sighted about the family being robbed of the nest egg that she considers Neil morally entitled to as a result of his songwriting legacies from Spamalot and, perhaps his towering accomplishment, the Beatles parody The Rutles, both of which he developed closely with Eric Idle.

Initially, she focuses her bitterness upon grasping record company executives, lawyers having deemed Neil's homages too accurate. That meant he was co-credited on his own songs alongside Lennon and McCartney and lost a chunk of royalties.

Ultimately, though, Yvonne is explicit in condemning Idle for what she considers his greed. [Though when Neil went public with his grievance’s Idle’s spokesperson insisted ‘Eric has nothing to do with royalties’]

She is sniffy, too, about the Pythons' motives for endlessly rehashing former glories, describing their 2014 live reunion at London's O2 as 'inspired not by comedy and joy, but, like all the worst things in the world, by contracts and money'.

She quotes George Harrison too, who, when hearing of the enmity that had arisen between Neil and Idle over The Rutles, lamented: 'You're supposed to be sending us up, not emulating us.'

And yet, as brought about by the 2008 documentary The Seventh Python, Neil, somewhat incredibly, later shared an on-stage reconciliation with Idle. And in a pleasingly ironic coda, he in turn received royalties from Oasis’s Whatever, thanks to its similarities to his signature tune How Sweet To Be An Idiot.

There were other tough times when Yvonne was stuck at home, raising the children while Neil was away for long periods filming or on tour. But there was regularly bohemian socialising, and there were many times when she was fully on the road with him in his various musical iterations, as roadie, driver, merchandise seller and confidant. She paints a vivid picture of them slumming it in various hotels, modest venues and service stations, even as his cult fame endures.

Although Yvonne belatedly achieved some artistic expression of her own in the field of horticulture, she's appreciative of the time she got to spend witnessing The Bonzos, Monty Python and The Rutles flourish (and yes, implode) at close quarters, even if she's steadfast and persuasive in her belief that her late husband never properly received his due for his contributions to any of them.

Neil's voice is ever-present in this heartwarming tome, as his lyrics, aphorisms and scribbles adorn the beginning of each chapter. Yet irrespective of his many artistic achievements, Dip My Brain in Joy is a rather sweet, expansive love story over and above all else.

• Dip My Brain In Joy: A Life With Neil Innes: The Official Biography by Yvonne Innes was published yesterday by Nine Eight Books. Buy from Amazon, priced £17.90  – or from uk.bookshop.org, below, at £20.90, which supports independent bookstores.

Review date: 25 Oct 2024
Reviewed by: Jay Richardson