Benny Hill - The Best

01 - Yakety Sax (Benny Hill Theme)
02 - Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)
03 - Bianca
04 - Gypsy Dance
05 - New York Rap
06 - Star Names
07 - Just Wanna Be In Your Band
08 - Down On The Farm
09 - Unlucky Luke
10 - Pepy's Diary
11 - Older Women
12 - Cafe Ole
13 - Graffiti
14 - Lifeguards
15 - Go Round Again
16 - Yakety Sax
1992
Perhaps the best asset the late Benny Hill had was his hilarious facial expressions, which, of course, are missing on this release (except for the cover artwork). However, the songs on this collection are humorous, and if one couldn't discern the lyrics while Benny sang these songs on his television show, this release might provide clarity and therefore some satisfaction. Nevertheless, Benny Hill is funnier on the telly. ~ Tim Griggs

All songs by Benny Hill except "Yakety Sax" (James Rich/Boots Randolph).

Personnel: Benny Hill (vocals), Mitch Dalton, Lee Fothergill (guitars), B.J. Cole (steel guitar), Sid Sax (violins), Peter Hughes, Roy Willox, Chris Thompson (woodwinds), Derek Watkins, Tony Fisher, D. Healey (trumpets), Chris Dean (trombones), John Coleman (keyboards), Andy Pask, Paul Westwood (bass), Mike Smith, Harold Fisher (drums), Steve Henderson, Gary Kettel (percussion), Maggie Stredder, Penny Lister, Ann Simmons (background vocals).

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, England. Includes liner notes by Dennis Kirkland.

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It’s been said that Benny Hill was the most famous comedy artist in the world. His shows were (and, in some cases, still are) regularly screened in over a hundred countries around the globe. Comedian, pop singer, mime, clown … he was one of the most popular funnymen in the last fifty years, a man who also scripted the sketches and composed the musical numbers he performed.

Benny Hill and Thames Television enjoyed twenty years of enormous success with The Benny Hill Show, which was a sketch-comedy series in which Hill would often play multiple characters and satirize popular British and American performers and stars. Common themes in the show were the husband-beating wife, buxom women, and silent, high-speed chase scenes between Hill and the other characters

Hill's show was always chock-full of double entendres, sight gags, cross-dressing, and the scantily-clad beauties "Hill's Angels" that became his stock-in-trade. He also loved using slow-motion, speeded-up motion, and time-lapse sequences. It was with these classic shows of the '70s and '80s that Benny really hit his stride as a comic, and for these shows he will always be remembered.

Although he was to become world famous as the "dirty old man" who leered and cavorted with young women, in his private life, Hill had much less success with the ladies. He definitely liked women, enjoyed their company, and fell very deeply in love. Sadly, he proposed to three different women in his life and was turned down by all three. 

According to a few of the beautiful "Hill's Angels," Benny loved taking them out on dates, but never made the first move or even tried to kiss them. Rumors circulated that Benny was gay, which he laughingly denied. The irony of TV's top woman-chaser being suspected as gay is almost too much to believe. 

"I use a pretty girl the way Henny Youngman used his violin - as a bridge between one laugh and the next," he said during an interview in the 90's.