The Lumberjack Song

Having just failed to give a customer a haircut, a nervous barber admits he never wanted the job: his real dream was to fell timber in British Columbia. He tears off his stained white coat to reveal a plaid shirt and braces, steps in front of a painted Canadian forest with an adoring sweetheart at his side, and launches into a cheery song about his outdoor life, echoed line by line by a choir of Mounties. Each new verse slips in more unexpected personal habits, from pressing wild flowers to wearing women's clothing, and the choir's enthusiasm curdles into shock. Eventually the Mounties break ranks and walk off in disgust, his girlfriend leaves in tears, and the lumberjack is left singing on his own.

Michael Palin has said the song was written in roughly a quarter of an hour, when the team could not find an ending for the barber sketch it follows. In 1975 it was released as a UK single produced by George Harrison.