Alway look on the bright side of life

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...
And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...


So begins “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.”

According to a Music Choice poll, this song is one of the top three funeral songs in Britain.

The song was written by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame. It appeared in one of my favorite Easter movies, Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

For those who are not familiar with this movie, Brian is a Jewish lad whose birth is marked by the arrival of three wise men bearing gifts. They promptly take their gifts back when they realize the baby whose birth they had come to celebrate was actually born just down the road from Brian’s house (the bright light and the halos around the parents of that other baby were dead giveaways).

The movie jumps to 33 years later when Brian joins a revolutionary movement opposing Roman rule, is credited with supposed miracles he doesn’t perform, is mistaken for a messiah (though he repeatedly denies it), and is eventually crucified.

As Brian laments his fate - Pilate pardoned him, but one of the other condemned is mistakenly released, meanwhile, all his friends abandon him – one of the 139 men crucified with him tries to cheer up Brian and their fellow condemned. The other man starts singing the song. He is soon joined by the others, and the film ends with all them all singing, swaying to the music, and kicking their legs, (sort of).

It’s a comedy. Really.

Some of the routines are even funnier than John Wayne’s centurion in The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Check it out. Meanwhile, here’s the full song.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
words and music by Eric Idle

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.

So always look on the bright side of death
Just before you draw your terminal breath

Life's a piece of shit
When you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the right side of life...
(Come on guys, cheer up!)
Always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the bright side of life...
(Worse things happen at sea, you know.)
Always look on the bright side of life...
(I mean - what have you got to lose?)
(You know, you come from nothing - you're going back to nothing.
What have you lost? Nothing!)
Always look on the right side of life...