I'm Henry The VIII, I Am

Album: Herman's Hermits (1965)
Charted: 1
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This novelty song was the seventh single by Herman's Hermits; it was released in June 1965 backed by "The End Of The World," but although it has a 1960s feel, it was actually written by R.P. Weston and Fred Murray. Weston, who died in 1936, is best remembered as the songwriting partner of Bert Lee; the two met in 1915 through the publishing house Francis, Day And Hunter, and went on to produce literally hundreds of songs.
  • "I'm Henery The Eighth, I Am" was first published in 1910, and was the signature tune of the great music hall star Harry Champion; the title is a reference to Henry VIII, the much married King of England; the twist is that here the narrator ties the knot with a much married widow. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2
  • The original "I'm Henery The Eighth, I Am" has a bunch of verses, but the Herman's Hermits rendition has just one, repeated three times ("second verse, same as the first"). That's because the band only knew the one verse, which is actually the chorus.
  • Herman's Hermits recorded this song after their track "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter" shot to #1 in America. Looking to follow it up with another old-timey single, they thought of "I'm Henry The VIII, I Am," which they had played before on stage. It worked, and the song shot to #1, knocking The Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" off the top spot.
  • Music Hall songs like this one were part of the English culture, so it wasn't a stretch for Herman's Hermits to record it. "I have the original Harry Champion recording of that, on wire," Peter Noone said in his Songfacts interview. "It's from a time when people were just lucky enough to be in the music business. If you were at my house you'd get Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and Fats Waller and a lot of that hymn stuff that my grandfather liked. Because of the BBC we were exposed to multiple types of music, and rock 'n' roll was only 30 minutes a day."
  • In the 1990 movie Ghost, Sam (Patrick Swayze) pesters Oda Mae (Whoopi Goldberg) into helping him by continuously singing this.

Comments: 14

  • Kev from Rogers, ArI remember my mom singing this song. "Second verse, same as the first!" Ah, good memories.
  • Coral Not the one I was looking for and I officially hate it
  • Todd from VirginiaHere's the music hall song Henerey the viii in it's original version:
    https://youtu.be/gkbE4URVcKY
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn July 31, 1965, Dick Clark conducted a telephone interview with Peter 'Herman' Noone of Herman's Hermits on his ABC-TV network Saturday-afternoon program 'American Bandstand'...
    At the time Herman's Hermits had two records on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" was in it's second of two weeks at #2 on the chart, the following week it would peak at #1 {for 1 week} and "Wonderful World" was at #48, a little under four weeks earlier it had peaked at #4 {for 1 week}.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn July 14, 1965, Herman' Hermits performed "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" on the Dick Clark produced ABC-TV network weekday-afternoon program 'Where The Action Is'...
    At the time the song was at #3 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; the next two weeks it was at #2, and then the following week it peaked at #1 {for 1 week} and it spent 10 weeks on the Top 100...
    It was not released as a single in the group's native United Kingdom...
    Between 1964 and 1968 the British quintet had nineteen records on the Hot Top 100 chart; eleven made the Top 10 with two* reaching #1, besides "Henry VIII", their other #1 record was "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter" for 3 weeks in 1965...
    Herman, born Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone, will celebrate his 70th birthday in four months on November 5th, 2017...
    They just missed having a third #1 record when "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" peaked at #2 {for 2 weeks} in early 1965, the two weeks it was at #2, the #1 record for both those weeks was "Stop! In The Love of Love" by the Supremes.
  • Michael Blanchette from Kissimmee, FloridaThe only song by a great British pop band of the '60s that I JUST CAN'T STAND!!! (Sorry Peter...)
  • Fred from Laurel, MdBarry: In your list of HH Top 10s, did you forget "I'm into Something Good"?
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn January 6th 1540, King Henry VIII of England wed his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves; the marriage was annulled after six months when Henry claimed that the marriage was never consummated...
    Shortly after the annulment he wed Catherine Howard*...
    * She was beheaded in 1542 after being charged with adultery.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn July 3rd 1966, "This Door Swings Both Way" by Herman's Hermits entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #78; and on August 7th, 1966 it peaked at #12 (for 1 week) and spent 8 weeks on the Top 100 (on its 8th & final week on the chart it was at #46)...
    It reached #8 in New Zealand...
    It broke the string of nine straight Top 10 records by the group (see the 3rd post below)...
    The group's next release got them back on the Top 10 when "Dandy" peaked at #5.
  • Esskayess from Dallas, TxGrant, the "Wille-Sam" connection in "Ghost" was something I hadn't noticed, so thanks for pointing it out.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyIn 1965 the word can't appeared in three of the Top 10 song titles of that year. According to Billboard's Year-End chart of the Top 100 Songs of 1965, No. 1 was "I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones, No. 2 was "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" by The Four Tops, and finally No. 8 was "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" by Herman's Hermits!!! Copy & paste: http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1965.htm
  • Barry from Sauquoit, Ny"I'm Henry the VIII, I Am" was smack in the middle of nine consecutive Top 10 records for Herman's Hermits. They were: Can't You Hear My Heart Beat {#2), Silhouettes (#5), Mrs. Brown You Got A Lovely Daughter (#1), Wonderful World (#4), I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am (#1), Just A Little Bit Better (#7), A Must To Avoid (#8), Listen People (#3), and Leaning On The Lamp Post (#9)!!!
  • Jeff from Boston, MaMy favorite part of this song is the recurring spoken rejoinder, "No Sam!" It reminds me of Monty Python's "Spam" sketch :)
  • Grant from Toowoomba,This Hermans Hermits song was used in the movie "Ghost" by Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) to get Oda-May Brown to go and see Molly. (Two of the charactors in the Film are named- Willy & Sam)- I was also told that when they were recording it- Peter Noon forgot the second verse so the "Same as the First" was add-libed and everyone thought it was so funny :) they released it that way...... PS-The Widget above dosen't play Henry 8th but Dancin' & a Prancin.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Stephen Christian of Anberlin

Stephen Christian of AnberlinSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist for Anberlin breaks down "Impossible" and covers some tracks from their 2012 album Vital.

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)Songwriter Interviews

Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai were two of Graham's co-writers for some '80s rock classics.

Zakk Wylde

Zakk WyldeSongwriter Interviews

When he was playing Ozzfest with Black Label Society, a kid told Zakk he was the best Ozzy guitarist - Zakk had to correct him.

Band Names

Band NamesFact or Fiction

Was "Pearl" Eddie Vedder's grandmother, and did she really make a hallucinogenic jam? Did Journey have a contest to name the group? And what does KISS stand for anyway?

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"They're Playing My Song

Armed with a childhood spent devouring books, Mike Scott's heart was stolen by the punk rock scene of 1977. Not surprisingly, he would go on to become the most literate of rockers.

Chris Squire of Yes

Chris Squire of YesSongwriter Interviews

One of the most dynamic bass player/songwriters of his time, Chris is the only member of Yes who has been with the band since they formed in 1968.