The song's lyrics are sung to the melody of "Sing As We Go" (1934) by Harry Parr-Davies, made popular by Gracie Fields.
The song opened the 1982 film Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, where it was lip-synched by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones dressed as waiters in a performance which, at the suggestion of Python touring member Neil Innes,[2] ended with them revealing their bare backsides.
At the end of this rendition the four men turned their backs to face a portrait of George Harrison, thereby revealing their naked buttocks and effectively mooning the Albert Hall audience.
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that the song is actionably indecent, concluding that "despite English accent and 'ambient noise' … the lyrics were sufficiently understandable".
[3] In 1992, it fined KGB-FM, a San Diego, California classic rock radio station, US$9,200 for playing the song.