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The Bagpuss Show
In the early 70's John Faulkner and I were asked to write the songs and music for a children's TV series called Bagpuss. Twelve 15 minute programmes of animated puppets based around a legendary fluffly cat called Bagpuss and created for the BBC by the masters of animated puppetry at the time; Oliver Postgate and Peter Fermin.

The series ran and ran, was hugely popular and was repeated for over a decade. So much so that twenty years later Channel Four bought the rights from the BBC for another ten years.

In Britain it was voted the ‘best children's TV show of all time’. In a new international listing of the greatest TV cult series ever made, compiled to mark the release of the reference book "The Penguin Television Companion" it was voted 20th being beaten by the likes of "Doctor Who", "Star Trek", "Monthy Python" and "The Simpsons".

The Show:
With the delightful and musically brilliant addition of Nancy Kerr and James Fagan,  John and I present a live show of the music and songs and some of the stories from Bagpuss.

We’ve played theatres all over the country, and many folk festivals, including Cambridge, Sidmouth and Whitby, to great acclaim.  I am immensely proud to have been involved in this series: it’s ecological theme of re-use and re-cycling is timely and satisfyingly anti-consumerist – and besides which, we had an absolutely hilarious time making the films!’

“Mouse ears are helpfully provided at the door, and they ( the audience) play the part with enthusiasm. 
They 'heave!' on the Magical Mouse Organ whenever requested and they sing Magical Mouse Rounds in order to fix the various broken things that Emily has brought in to show Bagpuss. 
The lyrics are projected onto a screen behind the stage, and Madeleine gives helpful singing advice to ensure that everyone is in tune and comes in on time. By the end of the show, the porcupine pin cushion has been fixed, and the inside-out house been turned outside in. We've heard the story of Tavish Mctavish, the worst bagpiper in Scotland and solved the mystery of the biscuit making machine. We've even sung along to Shine the Sun and performed the actions in sign language. At the end, the 'mice' emerge into the Sidmouth sunshine with big beaming smiles, most with their ears still attached.”

(Review: James Creaser, Sidmouth Folk Week 2010)

Just a step away from Playsongs lies the wonderful world of Bagpuss, voted the most-loved children's tv series of all time. The bridge between them is Sandra Kerr, the brilliant musician behind Bagpuss, and key contributor to the music of Playsongs since its very beginning.
There were thirteen Bagpuss episodes in total, and we've created a printable download for each one. They provide you with the musical notation, the lyrics and guitar chords for all the songs in the episode, along with singing and sound-making suggestions to try at home or in school if you're an educator.
Try a FREE download of the first episode HERE
Cat that got the cream of British music - From Sunday Times

The music from Bagpuss is a reminder that England has its own version of Delta blues - folk music.
Bagpuss recently whupped Muffin the Mule's ass in a Most Popular Children's TV Show Ever BBC Poll, and little surprise: squatting in front of the tellymuching on jam sandwiches, all five and phlegmy, your happiness was assured as soon as Bagpuss opened his eyes and the world turned from black and white into colour.

But bless him, it wasn't Bagpuss that made Bagpuss great - he spent most of his time blinking, yawning, and bemusedly repeating things like a sleepy old nan. Nor was it the crusty old woodpecker, Professor Yaffle, the mumsy Madeline or the boring toad, Gabriel that made our hearts sing so. It was the mice of the Marvellous Mechanical Mouse Organ - the greatest Greek chorus of all time: a gaggle of wilding children who were forever seeking ways to invent a Chocolate Biscuit Machine, or falling into rotten Stilton and washing themselves in orange squash. They sang in shrill rounds as they mended each week's mystery object: and made the hitherto unnoticed observation that porcupines are alway single for: "Poor old pines, they must not mingle." And it is they that make the news that a Bagpuss album is released this week - the twentysomething equivalent of the Velvet Underground reunion.

Anyone of an age to have been affected by pixie boots may well find tears stinging their eyes when they hear the familiar shrill refrain of "We will find it/We will bind it/We will stick it with glue glue glue/We will stickle it/Every little bit of it/We fix it like new new new." And the fact that you can have this song on a CD, in your house, along with the Bony King of Nowhere and Uncle Feedle and the nine seconds long Ragtime Mice, may well prompt you to sit in front of your stereo thinking: "My God, I thought I was being quite avant-garde listening to Stereolab and the Beta Band, but I never has screwier ears, than when I was five. I was brought up on psychotic folk music sung by mice"

Lots of BAGPUSS on the media, celebrating his 50th birthday
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/feb/12/how-we-made-bagpuss-meccano-cameras-clanger-pink-cat
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pht5q/timeshift-series-9-6-oliver-postgate-a-life-in-small-films
https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/bagpuss-50-anniversary-2899381
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001w19t

CLICK TO BUY THE CD OF THE MUSIC