André Jacquemin and David Howman wrote the music and Michael Palin and Terry Jones wrote the lyrics and performed the song, which is hailed as one of the Pythons' great sketches. Viewing Python as the “great originator” of combining provocative humour and high-quality original music, "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane regarded the song as his favourite Python number, stating, “It’s so beautifully written, it’s musically and lyrically legit, the orchestrations are fantastic, the choreography and the presentation are very, very complex – it’s treated seriously.”