Where did this come from?

I expect everyone, once in a while, wakes up with something in (not on) their mind and wonders "where on earth did that come from?". Here's something that the wee small hours brought me the other night.

I have a soft spot for a rock track called 'I will possess your heart' by the US band, Death-Cab for Cutie. It's an unusual recording in that the intro lasts for about half of its entire 8 minutes or so and, for some reason, I find its monotony quite compelling. So much so that I've clipped it out and have been known to play it on a loop continuously, particularly when I'm working in the early hours and want something non-intrusive as background music. I've always wondered where the band got its name from and had intended to find out but never quite got around to it. However, I haven't played, or thought about it consciously, for many months. And that was how I went to bed that night.

Now it gets seriously weird: at some stage I woke up confident that I knew exactly the origin of the name. It was from a track off the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band's LP from 1967 called Gorilla (believe me, that's obscure). I've got it on vinyl somewhere but haven't played it for at least 30 years. A check on Google confirmed that it was correct!  I'm not a neurophysiologist and one day someone will be able to give me a mechanistic explanation for how, and why, this sort of thing happens. In the meantime, I'm content to remain intrigued by it - that and feeling pretty smug that it's all in the memory bank  somewhere.

The above clip is taken from the TV series 'Do Not Adjust Your Set' which screened on ITV for a while after 1967. Lots of familiar names in the cast (David Jason, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Denise Coffey and Terry Jones), with the Bonzos providing a musical interlude in each episode. Given the anarchic and surreal comedy presented, it's hard to believe that it was conceived as a children's programme. Compare and contrast with the technicolour hyperactive rubbish on offer for youngsters nowadays. I can only fantasise on what the cast would have made of Tinky Winky, Bonky Wonky et al. And dontcha just love Viv Stanshall's hallmark gold lamé suit? There was a time when I wanted one but, luckily, they were impossible to find in Aberystwyth.