Added: 4 years ago
From: LeonPFB
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  • If you had not been British you may have been French or German. If you vote to break up the Union between England and Scotland a nasty little man called Salmon will achieve what powerful Dictators with large armies failed to do!

  • These guys are great! I remember sitting with my parents, loving the jokes that I got and watching my parents roar with laughter at the ones I was too young to understand :D.

  • If you hadn't been born English, you could all be Spanish and waiting for the Inquisition!

  • Proud to be english ...though self critical too, good old fashioned bluster still sounds and feels good, though the english no longer hold the monopoly on bluster; there is still a wealth of huberis here.

  • These people are geniuses, and I'm Welsh! :D

  • I feel so foreign right now :)

  • A funny endearing song which in essence makes fun of the English

  • aaahh, Vote for Lloyd George. Yachi da!!

  • LOL Good entertaining

    

  • I think this is absolutely hilarious! Even if it does call me "bony and blotchy and covered with hair!" I haven't laughed that hard in ages.

  • Geez, I laughed so hard I had to stop it in the middle and go potty!

  • This is a good fun song a bit of a laugh and put together perfectly i have sung this at rugby matches and it got a laugh and on a St.George day parade... although i thought the organizers were going to cry...its a joke you humorless swines!

  • Their song abot President de Gaulle was the first really amusing satire I remember.

    It still has the power to amuse.

  • I'd never heard of them until I saw the Armstrong and Miller parody of them.

  • I am proud to say i am related to donald swann.

  • I really want to believe that all those people whining about how today we're too PC are being ironic because of that nature of this song, a piss take of national pride. I wish I could believe that...

  • Flanders adn Swann were true and hilariously funny entertainers. Sadly the likes of them are no longer and we are now subjected to filth and revolting debauchery. Wouldnt waste my time or money to go see these so called entertainers.

  • @steinwaygrande1 - Amen! Thank you for saying what I feel in my heart.

  • I wish I could have been alive during this time of true talent and comedy. Now comedy is more often dirty and inappropriate. You will never hear a song about a hippopotamus or a warthog anymore and I wish you could.

  • ten out of ten they should play this on the radio and tv once a day at least

  • Absolutely priceless, and thank heavens they were able to record this before the Thought Police sank their ponderous weight onto us all..

  • Flanders looks like he's having a bit of trouble breathing....

  • @martythetickler

    He always had trouble breathing. It was part of the paralysis from polio that put him in the wheelchair.

  • The is the armstrong and miller parody of this "foreigners" is funny too

  • The song was pretty controversial when it was coined in 1963. They originally called it 'Anthem Anathema' - but that was too highbrow. Members of the audience would sidle up to them and say "We're so glad you feel this way too". So to make the satire totally explicit they renamed it 'Song of Patriotic Prejudice'. Some right-wingers still don't get it and trot it out as a quasi- national song. Twits!

  • @LeonPFB Leftist twit, obviously the song is satirical, but we like England only the better for laughing at her. It's a sympathic laughter in which Englishness is tumbled and tossed about in a sort of merry horseplay. It has an air of patriotism in spite of the intentions of the song writer.

  • @LeonPFB Hmm, i didn't know it was called that originally, interesting.

    Although i'm of scotto-Irish Origins this song has always made me laugh, first heard it in 1994, still just as good as i remember it (as compared to present day Comedians which by in large just do not have the same knack as the classics).

  • @LeonPFB similar to neo-nazis appropriating 'Tommororw Belongs to Me', written by a homosexual for a play whose backdrop was the growing Nazi menace. :-/

  • Also notice how Flanders has to take huge breaths holding the sides of his chair. As a Doctor I will propose he is quite a high level paraplegic and lacks some of the full breathing mechanism. Makes it all the more impressive his abilities to sing !!

  • @fordlandau

    I think I read somewhere that he only had one lung. It's an impressive effort!

  • Brilliant. But today, I wonder how many would actually be offended? Probably quite a few!

  • Was introduced to these guys on vinyl by an eccentric private school master in 1971. In love with them ever since. Genius like this is not repeated easily

  • "If it hadn't been for the English, you'd all be Spanish."

    Brilliant.

  • I haven't heard this for about 40 years, and it's the first time i SEE them. That's lovely. I used to listen to the BFN in Germany as a schoolgirl and simply loved this song. I'm missing my favorite verse here: And all the world over each nation's the same, and they've simply no notion of playing the game. They argue with umpires, they cheer when they've won, and they practice beforehand, which ruins the fun...

  • "You know that bit between your testicles and your anus..."

  • @magicmarc101 the bit that's sometimes covered in downy hair??

  • These chaps are Brilliant!

    Witty!

    Musical!

    And Entertaining!

    And if they were alive today they would be flogged, crucified and ritualistically disembowelled.

    Figuratively speaking, of course.

    And then sent on a compulsory 3 month 'diversity' course, so they'd know more about 'tolerance'.

    God, I hate political correctness!

    I may be a one legged, mixed race Irish satanist (of indeterminate sexual orientation!)

    But I will lay down my life for someone's right to have a laugh.

  • @2sepgorillas Amen.

  • @2sepgorillas bollocks they would, they're mocking xenophobic attitudes, this is a piece of satire, and I think less people would mistake its meaning now than before. As for political correctness, well, if you search "stuart lee political correctness" on here, he gets the point accross rather well I think.

  • @2sepgorillas When I get very tired of PC I play my old Tom Lehrer vinyls. They remind me of Flanders & Swann.

  • @2sepgorillas Ha ha ha ha haaaa! I quite agree with you!! I've just discovered Flanders and Swann on Youtube and am reliving some wonderful memories! I grew up with these songs - they made me laugh then and they make me laugh now!!! Bring back some good honest British (or should I say English??) humour, I say.

  • @2sepgorillas - I don't how this song clashes with the values of those who promote tolerance, diversity or political correctness, given that it's actually satirising nationalism and racism.

  • video clip youtube watch?v=BSF8OUyuldc

  • Hooray!!

  • Why is Flanders so out of breath?

  • @ghtjdjdhfjeosnvcurth

    I believe he contracted polio whilst in the navy, and it resulted in him losing a lung and being confined to a wheelchair.

  • That's the worst Welsh accent I've ever heard...

  • @howling100 Thumbs up if you read that with a Welsh accent!

  • @howling100 I don't know. I've heard some pretty bad ones in Wales.

  • @howling100

    it was quite a dreadful Welsh accent wasn't it? On the CD I have they do it much better.

  • The piano is funny

  • @TigerAmongstMen

    Yup, it's a brilliant piano track. Donald Swann was regarded as one of the finest pianists of his generation - he was a serious musician as well as incredibly inventive and funny.

  • This should be our National anthem

  • I'm for Scotland, and whoever's playing England.

  • @ianjcameron Haha mate I totally agree

  • I didn't know about that last last verse, these guys are so funny even now!

  • Am from there

  • @ravensmead About finding the song or about having a useless team in the World Cup?! ;)

    Regarding the song, very happy, wanting more, and wishing I was old enough to have seen them live! World Cup - put it this way, I'm no longer singing the English are best!

    And anyone who thinks this is a dig at anyone BUT the English should listen to Song for the Weather (a dig at English weather) or The Gasman Cometh (a dig at English workmanship!)

  • This song came on my ipod this morning & I thought what an excellent World Cup anthem it would make! I searched youtube not expecting to find anything, so was delighted when I found this!

    It's amazing to see this, I've grown up listening to their songs and have most of them on my ipod still, but never thought I'd actually get to watch them - thank you so much for posting this!

  • Great song - and every word of it is true!

  • im scottish and im not offended lol, funny song!

  • actually, we'd all be German, but oh well.

  • @spinynorman230 the Spanish were vying for an empire before Germany was a united country.

  • @TheDavynator0 I am well aware. Also, when Germany BECAME a "united country" spain was kaput. From about 1450-1600 all the gold coming in from Spanish exploration inflated their economy so that it collapsed until after WWII, pretty much the same thing happened to portugal.

  • @spinynorman230 I dunno, Spain were neutral during the war, so maybe we'd have been safe :P

  • @Booshman they aren't talking about ww1 or ww2 they mean the spanish armada vs the english rose

  • @spinynorman230 lmao, he means the Spanish Armada v. the English Rose XD

  • @Kiariad I know, and that accured around the end of the fall of Spain. Even if the Spanish won, they never would've had enough soldiers, to completely invade England, and the supply lines are too long.

  • @spinynorman230 To be clear, I took it from your comment that you were talking about the war, rather than the Armada - quite the time difference! However, it has been far too long since I went of the Armada to have a debate with you, so shall accede gracefully to what seems like your superior knowledge!

  • @spinynorman230 ...I meant 'over the Armada', pardon the typos.

  • For those wishing both to take lyrics in a po-faced manner wherever possible, and read unintended unpleasantness where none is implied, may I offer these lines from Michael and Donald elsewhere in "Another Hat".

    I can see the one salvation of the poor old human race, in the bath.

    Let the nations of the world all meet together face to face, in the bath. . . . .

    Then we'll have some peace, perhaps,

    provided Swann and Flander get the end without the taps, in the bath.

  • Ironic song- they were both French, don;t you nkow? ;)

  • @cataloguetown

    are you sure?

    Michael Flanders - born 1922 in London - died 1975, Betws-y-Coed, Wales

    Donald Swann - born 1923, Llanelli, Wales - died 1994, London

    *Note - this is not directed as a hate comment towards anyone, simply as a helpful bit of information :)

    Sad that one feels the need to put that bit!

  • @Flutician91 you are very sad I agree.

  • Delicious, intelligent satire!

  • I think he had only one working lung at this time due to his polio, which is why he had to breathe so much.

  • Hilarious! My English boyfriend gave me a soundfile of this a long time ago. Just great!

  • Why is Flanders heaving all through this like he has Parkinson's or something?

  • I think it's from his polio, which put him in the wheelchair.

  • He just looks very sickly, like he's trying to escape from his own body.

  • It probably doesn't help him any that he only had one working lung.

  • haha.. this is priceless

  • although I am Welsh(and proud of it) I thought that was really funny

  • Good old days when the wonderfull lack of PC allowed us to laugh at each other without being called racist !......Flanders and Swan only missed out here with a lack of referance to us Welsh and Sheep !

  • never knew what they looked like till recently...it is nice to be able to put a face to a voice :p

    Thank you for putting them up!!!

  • Thanks for uploading this, I stumbled on to it! My Dad played their tapes over and over when I was a kid, I never thought I'd actually be able to SEE them. :)

  • I'm so glad I stumbled on to this. I grew up with these guys. They were priceless and are missed. Thanks LeonPFB for posting!

  • haha i love the '60s audience!

  • Magnificent, except for the unfortunate flutter. Still, good to be able to see this at all!

    I think there's a verse missing/replaced: something like:

    "And all the world over, each nation's the same

    They've simply no notion of playing the game.

    They argue with umpires; they cheer when they've won;

    And they practise beforehand, which ruins the fun!"

    I always liked that verse, because it added a little self-deprecation, in a roundabout way :)

  • I'm mixed English and Scottish. Born in Scotland, Raised in Scotland, Living in England. If the union breaks up I'm stuffed... And won't have a blanket term to describe myself to curious Americans. Lol.

  • I'll be stuffed too, because not only am I Scottish, Scotland is the only nice place in the country where I'll be able to afford to live when I disentangle myself from my mother, I wish my ancestors had stayed in Bonnie Scotland instead of upping sticks and moving to the vast toilet known as Manchester.

  • manchester was only a toilet when those turds from glasgow rangers entered her.

  • If you think you got problembs......my sons a mix of Welsh,Inuit ( Greenlandik Eskimo ) and Danish. !

    Me...on my Dad's side Welsh, on Mams Welsh, Scottish ( Clan Gunn ) Anglo saxon Wostershire, Devon/ Somerset Celt.....Takes ALLSORTS to make Liquorice !

  • greatness.

    didn't know them but now I know whom armstrong and miller are paying tribute to.

  • "If it wasn't for the English, we'd all be Spanish!"

  • Love the faces of the audience at the end!

    Were they amused, or not?

    Ambiguity takes a nod.

  • What can you expect? They are Americans listening to English humour! Americans do not know their own history,let alone English history - this is a lesson from Swann and Flanders on English history!

  • Constipated wasp audience.

  • Assimilating something SO british has never been easy. Think of British CUISINE.... hardly a great ambassador for its country.

    But the Noel Cowardesque whimsy IS quite fetching. I LOVED their childish THE BESTIARY.

  • I feel that the great affection in the Armstrong and Miller parody is pretty obvious, and that's the main reason that it works so well.

  • Any Ideas where the dvd of this is available, in great britain if possible?

  • Try HMV music stores

  • I think its rather a highbrow parody, and definitely quite reverential, I get the feeling that Armstrong and Miller are quite the fan.

  • Although it's technically a parody, they aren't openly insulting Flanders and Swann. Their songs are funny, the link is obvious, and it gets people who don't know about F+S into them too. So I don't see anything bad about it ;)

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  • **giggles** The English equivalent of Naziism and xenophobia!!

  • The most ironic thing about this is the fact that England hasn't been a country for over 300 years.

  • Strange. I live in England.

  • Because it Eh Decided to take over all the Other countries around it It. You wouldn't say rome wasn't a place becasue it had an empire.

  • I didn't say it wasn't a place, It is, the funny thing is that no one thinks Prussia is a country anymore, even though it was an independent state for a long time after England ceased to be.

    (PS. Scotland took over England, not the other way around)

  • Of course - that'e why the Scots slaughtered so many Englishman taking over and the English spent so much time trying to bring back the "rightful king" from France.

    And bombing Edinburgh police stations.

  • Scotland signed up to be part of England's domain. Then, as a sign of sportsmanship and jolly good egg-edness, we let Scots be Prime Minister. I can't wait until Alec Salmond is replaced by an Englishman... that would be real fair-play!

  • Of course they did, thats why westminster owns 80% of scotlands national bank. England has propped up scotlands economy for years. Lets see what clout scotland would have with a population of 5m and a gdp of 194 billion compared to 2.2 trillion gdp in england. Scotland would be like Georgia.

  • James VI of Scotland became the English King in 1603. Neither country took over each other as it was only a personal union of the crowns of both nations.

    In 1707 Scotland & England formally entered into an incorporating union. Legally both countries were abolished and replaced with a new nation - the United Kingdom of Great Britain & France.

    In 1801 Ireland was incorporated into the UK.

  • England is a country.

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  • Probably no fun for them to have to live near something like you either!

  • England is definitely a country.

  • From Wikipedia;

    In geography, a country is a geographical region. The term is often applied to a political division or the territory of a state, or to a smaller, or former, political division of a geographical region. Usually, but not always, a country coincides with a sovereign territory and is associated with a state, nation and government.

  • What was Prussia now stretches across the borders of Modern Germany, including most of Poland. However; it was abolished de facto by the Nazis in 1934 and de jure by the Allies of World War II in 1947.

  • @RJMoxey NOOOO REALLY?!!!

  • Technically this is correct. England has not been a country since the act of Union.

    Even Scotland is more of a nation than England as it has it's own parliament. No parliament - no nation.

    Westminster is the UK parliament not England's parliament - hence it being overrun by patriotic Scotsmen that can't stand living in Scotland.

    However that need not always be the case. Join the fight for English independence.

    A just cause for the 21st century.

  • I'm Scottish, so I have somewhat different opinions.

  • That's fine - what part do you disagree with?

  • I support the union, I think it's been a great thing for both England and Scotland, just because a lot of Scots in positions of power aren't especially loveable doesn't mean we're all like that.

  • Join the fight for English independence. ! Yep vote SNP, Plaid Cymru or

    Mebyon Kernow. Freedom for The English people who are ruled by a Scottish Priminister and a german Royal family

  • "He sleeps in his boots and he lies in his teeth"

    :o)

  • Brilliant, I'd forgotten all about these two until I saw Amstrong and Miller doing a skit on them.

  • Brilliant comedy that is denied to future generations by political correctness

  • Amen to that Butty !

  • Total Class- oh for the days when we used wit and satire to make points.........Nowadays it's all " f..... you, you idiot", especially on Youtube

  • absoulty brilliant this should be britains new national anthem

  • Anybody else see the simialrity between him and John Cleese? In the way they speak

  • The English, the English, the English are best.

  • So deliciously non PC.

  • tell you what m8 thats what we do best, I.E. geting Worket up,Ijust got a cd of theres from asda its good

  • I often wondered who Armstrong and Miller were making fun of

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  • This should be compulsory viewing for all foreign nationals as part of their citizenship test. A perfect example of English humour , don't be offended or we'll come and take our flag back!

  • looooooooooooooool

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  • Great fun reading all the comments - almost as funny as F & S! Some of you do get worked up, don't you?

  • Not only a great Flag starfishsuz....but not too shabby on the Castles...and the Vikings didn't mess with the Welsh as much as "all the rest"

    Because The Vikings and would be Castle invaders weren't quite sure that dragon wasn't going to come out and light them up like a Stonehaven Fireball....

  • Flanders and Swann are awesome! "If we weren't English we'd be Spanish" - lol!

  • Being a Scot...well, yes, I do like salted porridge every day. :)

  • Maybe so.....but the Welsh have a far more interesting flag....Considering the large red heraldic dragon and dual colored field.....LOL

  • Starkey the xenophobe would have loved this, if only that "historian" had a sense of humour

  • hilarious!!

  • As a Welshman, I must say, this is wonderful! :)

  • Speaking seriously and sincerely as a Welshie, I'd just like to say..... LMFAO!

  • How did this get on the air? Because in those days people would have understood that this was a light hearted form of mockery (maybe even self mockery) that was not to be taken too seriously.

    Sadly, todays intolerant PC zealots would not understand this style of humour and would be quick to 'be offended' and brand Flanders and swann racist xenophobes, which would be a serious injustice.

  • HOLY SHIT!?! TAKING THE PISS?!?

  • What a very lame-looking audience (sincere apologies to anyone who might recognize themselves) and how funny that the ladies in pink are sitting in one spot and the ladies in yellow in another!

    That being said, absolutely brilliant to actually see F&S, whose music I have known and loved for decades. And performing what I think should be verse 2 of "God Save the Queen", to boot! Thanks for sharing!

  • It's a shame we are not allowed to be like this any more (respectfully of course!) I for one am damned proud to be english! english first brittish second :)

  • Epic

  • i love these guys and great in the car

  • hi dad

  • we rule the waves forever !!!!

    go us english

  • Go England! We rule the world!

  • I think you've missed the point.

  • No I haven't

  • Actually you might be right.

  • Excellent.

  • Splendid.

  • Brilliant.

  • Excellent.

  • Excellent.

  • Excellent.