Search Henry the 8th Herman's Hermits and you land on a novelty barely two minutes long that still knocked The Rolling Stones off number one.
It happened in August 1965, and the song was already fifty-five years old by then.
Table of Contents
- A Music Hall Joke From 1910
- Cutting It Down to One Verse
- Chasing the Rolling Stones to No. 1
- What the Record Left Behind
- FAQ
A Music Hall Joke From 1910
The song was not written for a pop group, and not about the actual king.
Fred Murray and Weston composed it in 1910 for Harry Champion, a British music hall star.
Champion's original, titled I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am, ran through several verses.
The narrator is just a man named Henry, not the Tudor king.
His new wife had already buried seven husbands, all also named Henry.
Champion's version stayed a stage standard in England for decades.
Herman's Hermits Already Knew It
The band had performed the chorus on stage long before they recorded it.
Peter Noone grew up around Manchester theater and variety bills.
Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter had just become a surprise American number one.
Producer Mickie Most remembered the crowd-pleaser from their live set and pushed them to record it.
Cutting It Down to One Verse
Herman's Hermits recorded the track at De Lane Lea Studios in London on February 1, 1965.
Most produced the session, keeping the arrangement fast and stripped down.
Guitarists Keith Hopwood and Derek Leckenby swapped the music hall piano for a hard, chugging riff.
Noone sang it in an exaggerated Cockney accent, pure caricature.
Second Verse, Same as the First
Noone later said the band only ever learned the chorus off Champion's old recording.
So they built the whole track around that one section, repeating it three times.
Before the third pass, Noone announces second verse, same as the first, and the band just plays it again.
The trick made the record one of the shortest number one singles in Billboard history.
Henry the 8th Herman's Hermits and the Billboard Chart
MGM Records rushed the single out in the United States in June 1965, backed with The End of the World.
It climbed fast and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 7, 1965.
That week it pushed The Rolling Stones' (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction out of the top spot.
It was, at the time, the fastest-selling single in history.
The record spent ten weeks on the Hot 100, one of nine straight top ten hits for the band that year.
Herman's Hermits never released it as a single in the United Kingdom, the same call made with Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter.
Where the Single Landed Worldwide
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| US Cash Box Top 100 | 1 |
| Canada (RPM) | 2 |
| New Zealand | 2 |
| Sweden | 3 |
| Australia (Kent Music Report) | 27 |
What the Record Left Behind
Critics never quite knew what to do with a joke record that beat The Rolling Stones.
Critic Tom Breihan later called it overwhelmingly, adorably obnoxious, but credited its proto-punk energy.
He noted Noone's second verse, same as the first line got borrowed by Joey Ramone on Judy Is a Punk.
The song has stuck around in odd places since 1965:
- Patrick Swayze sings it to Whoopi Goldberg's character in the 1990 film Ghost
- It remains a fixture of British Invasion oldies radio despite never charting in Britain
- Wedding and novelty bands still borrow its stripped-down, three-times-through structure
Peter Noone sang lead, with Hopwood and Leckenby on guitars.
Karl Green played bass and Barry Whitwam played drums.
FAQ
Who wrote I'm Henry the VIII, I Am?
Fred Murray and Weston wrote it in 1910, and Harry Champion made it his signature stage song.
Is the song about the real King Henry VIII?
No, it is a music hall joke about a name, not a history lesson.
The narrator is just a man named Henry whose new wife had buried seven husbands, all also named Henry.
Why does the song only have one verse?
Peter Noone said the band only ever learned the chorus, so they repeated it three times.
What song did it knock off number one?
It replaced The Rolling Stones' (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on August 7, 1965.
Did the song reach number one in Britain?
No.
Herman's Hermits never issued it as a single in the United Kingdom, the same choice they made with Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter.
How long is I'm Henry the VIII, I Am?
About one minute and fifty seconds, making it one of the shortest number one singles in Billboard history.
Henry the 8th Herman's Hermits turned into a chart-topper still plays like the inside joke it always was.
Read the full Herman's Hermits story, revisit Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter, or see how The Rolling Stones answered back.
It belongs to the wider British Invasion that carried both bands across the Atlantic.
Back to the 1960smusic.net homepage to explore every genre of the decade.