Belle and Sebastian - Mary Jo (slowed down to 32 minutes)

In the tradition of slowing down music I thought I'd pick the quickest song I could think of and have a go. But the Benny Hill theme tune slowed down to 30 minutes just sounds like cows in an abattoir, so instead I moved the slider to hyperdrive and slowed it down to the most recent estimate for the age of the Universe, 13.82 billion years. Here it is. Unfortunately there's a download limit on SoundCloud so I've only uploaded 13.82 minutes of it, not the full thing. I like to think it's what he intended, and speaks volumes of Benny's enduring and poetic loneliness in the face of critical and artistic acclaim, and his abiding respect for the job of the humble milk delivery executive.

As a memorial I can only repeat the words of the Daily Mail in 1992 after thieves had broken into his grave in an attempt to find rumoured and seemingly elusive gold bullion buried with his coffin: "The vandals had dug down, exposing his coffin ... Within two hours of the discovery, cemetery staff had refilled the grave and covered it with a half-ton concrete slab".

I think we can all agree that that speaks volumes for the man.

A note to lawyers: no copyright infringement is intended, but if you must pursue a claim please at least respect Benny's art enough to wait until the (full version of the) song has finished.


pollypea

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