I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am is a 1910 British music hall song by Fred Murray and R. P. Weston. It was a signature song of music hall star Harry Champion. In the well-known chorus, Henery explains that his wife had been married seven times before:

"Every one was a Henery
She wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam
I'm her eighth old man named Henery
I'm Henery the Eighth I am."

The song is often sung with a Cockney pronunciation, "I'm 'er eyeth ol' man nymed 'Enery."

It was popularized for a new generation by Herman's Hermits in 1965 in their album, Herman's Hermits On Tour. Herman's Hermits omitted the scene-setting verses and merely repeated the chorus over and over. One story says that Hermits vocalist Peter Noone simply forgot the words to the verses and spontaneously called out "Second verse, same as the first." The song topped the US charts, but was considered too old-fashioned to release in the UK.

In the 1990 movie Ghost, Sam (Patrick Swayze) pesters medium Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) into doing his bidding by singing the chorus to I'm Henery the Eighth I Am over and over again. It was also used in the 1993 movie "Guess Who's Talking Now."

It has spawned many parodies; one, typical of the genre, emerged during Bill Clinton's impeachment: "I'm Henry the Hyde, I am/Henry the Hyde, I am, I am/I'm the G.O.P. prosecu-tor/After I get Clinton, I'll get Gore".

See Also

• I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am Full lyrics in Wikisource
• Henry VIII, British monarch known for having had six wives. (A listener to the song assumes the narrator is claiming to be Henry VIII until the joke is explained).

External link

• I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am (http://www.know-britain.com/songs/im_henery_eighth.html) Full lyrics