His Name Is Legs (Ladies and Gentlemen)

[1] Although often noted for the serious, religious nature of his song lyrics,[2] George Harrison was an avowed fan of British comedy, beginning with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan's work in The Goon Show during the 1950s.

[3] In his autobiography, I, Me, Mine, Harrison writes of comedy – specifically, Monty Python's first TV series and the satirical Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band – as having "filled that empty space for me" in the late 1960s,[4] when relationships with his Beatles bandmates had fractured.

[8] Harrison subsequently performed with the Bonzos' drummer, "Legs" Larry Smith, along with Eric Clapton and other members of Delaney & Bonnie and Friends,[9] at John Lennon's "Peace for Christmas" charity concert,[10] held at London's Lyceum Ballroom in December 1969.

[45][nb 3] When discussing "His Name Is Legs" with BBC Radio 1 DJ Paul Gambaccini in September 1975,[51] Harrison said that after recording the basic track, he invited Smith to sing the first two lines of each of the bridges.

[62] The pair then wrote a comical sea shanty called "The Pirate Song"[63] for a sketch in Rutland Weekend Television,[64] Idle's TV show with Neil Innes, Smith's former bandmate.

[72] At times during the sections featuring Smith's improvised dialogue, Harrison let both recorded takes run simultaneously, and he admitted to Gambaccini that he chose to mix the track in this way "so people have to strain with headphones to hear what it is".

[74] Together with Roy Kohara's album artwork,[75] which "tried to incorporate a 'wacky' theme", according to authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter,[76] the song's inclusion contrasted with the melancholic musical content of Extra Texture.

[25][84] Author Robert Rodriguez describes "His Name Is Legs" as a "comedy number" and "a self-indulgent in-joke" that appeared to show Harrison "doubling down on efforts to alienate his audience", after the bad press he had received over the winter of 1974–75.

"[86] In the NME, Neil Spencer referred to the image of Harrison with "a chirpy smirk plastered across his dial" as "misleading", given the album's overall mood, and added: "'His Names Is Legs (Ladies and Gentlemen)' is the odd track out because it's (ulp) not serious.

"[87][88] Ray Coleman of Melody Maker predicted that Extra Texture would "re-establish [Harrison] as a powerful artist with an ear for unusual but attractive tunes allied to some quirky lyrics", and he described the closing song as an "up-tempo splash of fun, and it jumps, too".

[89] In the 1978 edition of their book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, Roy Carr and Tony Tyler said that Harrison had "desperately" employed "last-minute devices" to save Extra Texture, by featuring "'zany' ex-Bonzo Dog Band drummer 'Legs' Larry Smith on a track, and by instructing his graphic designers to 'get a little humour into the packaging'.

Woffinden welcomed this approach but, noting the lack of a lyric sheet with the album, he added: "['His Name Is Legs'] is not a success, since most of the vocals are lost in the raucous mix; Larry might have had pearls of wisdom to impart, but who could tell?

[91] Also writing for AllMusic, Lindsay Planer views "His Name Is Legs" as "somewhat silly but nonetheless thoroughly entertaining", a song that "[allows] Harrison the opportunity to close the disc on a lighter note and unleash his admittedly askew and undeniably rich sense of humor".

[92] In his review for Rough Guides, Chris Ingham calls the track a "manically intricate tribute" and considers it to be a redeeming feature of Extra Texture, along with "Tired of Midnight Blue".

[108][109][nb 6] Leng recognises an increasing Python-based comedy influence in Harrison's songwriting and musical arrangements, beginning with his 1979 track "Soft-Hearted Hana" and subsequently including "Save the World", with that song's "groove … horn charts and moog riffs" reminiscent of "His Name Is Legs", and "Greece".

[113] Following his guest appearance on "His Name Is Legs", Smith became part of a coterie of local musicians known as the Henley Music Mafia,[114] which also included Harrison, Alvin Lee, Jon Lord and Joe Brown.