nightmail

[replyandyousuckballs]

Itz Nightmail like a bawuss, NIGGAAAH.

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. aeiou.

[bnt12671]

My teacher showed it it's so funny

[jazmyn594]

my teacher showed us this in a music lesson... i think its awesome!!! :)

[chessyproductionsLTD]

where all the nazi's at?

[TheSteamdriver]

@chessyproductionsLTD it's the 1930s and it's britain not germany

[MrGoldenmine]

He turns into Busta Rhymes at 1:42.

[KevBaz78]

Really encapsulates the feeling Auden would have wanted. The lyricism of the words playing alongside the T-beam of the wheel sets.

[leothelion19]

LOL they showed me this at school

[ILikeBeingMeXX]

@leothelion19 sames and we was rapping to it :L xx

[mattbozi89]

perfectly history in motion

[MrMccarron]

would sound good with a gabber bass

[HoodedFig900]

It was not the first rap, it was a poem to publicise the GPO in 1936.

Nor is it a rave - it was and still is a perfectly serious commercial about the GPO.

The inhabitants of Scotland are not all asleep, it says thousands not all; the point being the post arrived early eg 5.30am and ready for delivery when people wake up.

[MorrisManDanceMan]

thanks l been looking for this a long time all here is that makeover shit thanks.

[Luigiderdicke]

its in my english book^^ ist very fucking shit^^

[zigzag909]

Yeah, and the jocks are always asleep, nothing new about that

[zigzag909]

Was this the first rap

[89001avocet]

Or a '1930s 'rave' lol

[01593721865]

totally fucking brilliant!!

on of the best poems ever!!!

[RufusT9]

i fucking agree!

WH Auden at his industrial best. Poetry for industry and the working man

[sandi43able]

@01593721865 I totally agree I love steam trains

[The1orangeDude]

Nightmail in da house

[boognish1975]

is this the streets

[rashhuman]

One of my favourite Grierson-era documentaries. Quite ironic given how crap the postal service is these days. Us socialists are trying to campaign against the closure of sorting offices and the privatisation of the industry.

My post now has to travel 35 miles to Wolverhampton to be sorted (after the closure of the local one) to come BACK 35 miles north to be delivered!!

[OlSkooLHipHop]

or say what's the name of oldest rap album

[OlSkooLHipHop]

what's is the album of this song ????pls say

[r0udy]

\o/ 1936 rap \o/

[epiCnIGraRiNSeOUt]

Sh*t like this has given this American a serious appreciation for the prewar British rail network.

Especially love how SLOW the locomotive is going at 1:08. What is that, like 20mph?

[Cr4zyCart3r]

This would be great remixed

[89001avocet]

BR kind-of did later...it went badly wrong

[Muteswan1]

Don't anyone DARE tamper with this. "Remix" indeed! This GPO Film Unit Film is a Gem. A captured moment of history. The poetry of W H Auden, to music by Benjamin Brittan, narrated by John Grierson; what kind of mayhem might a spotty adolescent with a modern music machine wreak on this?

[89001avocet]

Utterly brilliant..."A 1938 Rave" according to me mate!! 8-)

[2329250]

no fucking banks to shut em down unlike today or the new labour tossers to sell em off to there rich mates all the best from yorkshire

[89001avocet]

Well said!!

[2329250]

thank you

[89001avocet]

You sad-act!!

[Rainbowstunting]

srry, :( i dunno how this got here.. i never was on this video before :S plz dont call me a sad-act, because i wasnt the guy that posted that SPAM.. because thats what it is.. spam.. ow wait.. i can delete it :O gonna do that then :)

[Edwardo1993]

They were the days i would have loved too live in....i always feel sad and emotional at the same time when i see something like this, and when i wish i was living in those days. They were the days before life removed all innocence...

[tableturns77]

1:43 to 2:16 1st hiphop song ever to come out.

[CheenQueen]

>D HAHAHA! A friend of mine said the same thing when we watched this in our Doc class. Deadly.

[tuneman10]

LOL our english homework was towatch this!!!!!!! how cool is that!!!

[cremulator69]

how can you not love this

[aeolus925]

What a fine video! I always had a hard time warming up to this poem, until I saw this -- the reading is spot-on. Also, forgive my ignorance, but is the railway featured the old LMS?

[thayer61]

Yes indeed. Wikipedia has an explanation. The poem was written for the film.

[Odziz]

Brilliant film by the GPO, just love W.H.Auden's poetry.

An also must watch is Metro-Land - John Betjeman (1973)

[thebrownell]

My Wife's grandfather is the fireman on the train (takes his cap off and sweeeps back his hair). I only found this out after giving her my video of this film which I recorded fifteen years before we met. We now live happily in Granite Aberdeen ourselves.

[iainplaying]

thank you so much for posting this

i have looked for ages for it

[papergrace]

Fascinating! I'm so glad I finally got to see this. I love Benjamin Britten's music.

[clowno01]

im friends with xFallxInxLuvx ....we pissed our selves when we herd this lol its like a wrapper but failing badly

[streaky1981]

o i don't know, he doesn't miss a beat.

[ItsMyOpinion1]

'Rapper'? This is a very immature comment. What you watched was a fine and celebrated example from the British Documentary Movement. Cut to fit the visuals the verse by W H Auden rhythmically concludes the film. If you can't see the film for what it is then you really shouldn't comment.

[xFallxInxLuvx]

I love this! me and my friend actually wet ourselves when watching this! now when anyone says "mail" or "trains" we just go into fits and start crying!! lol funniest thing i have ever heard!

[biahoi]

A wonderful poem from the master!

[GrandPrix55]

Brilliant. One of favourites.

[adamps16]

Many many thanks for posting loved the poem

[ACNC1]

Its official Britian invented rap music

[FreakBeastie]

No that was Arthur Askey's seaside band,this is classed as slam poetry not rap,fantastic stuff though!

[dctim]

What a classic! I remember watching the full program on tv in the early 90s when it was reshown.

[headstandking]

2 of my pupils used this for the recitation part of their ESB examination.

[croda1960]

classic Love the old days of steam

[leoseries]

Many thanks for posting. We recited this for a competition at my school 50 years ago and I still remember it! Do kids still learn poetry today?

[euanpw]

Yeah, but it's mainly nothing about nothingness, well AQA English A GCSE is...

[whhornsey]

legend

[lim0nare]

Interesting that a few have posted thinking it was John Betjeman's voice and poetry - he had nothing to do with this, although a lot of his work did involve the railways.

[jimbob1969]

W H Auden

[xtinalovesyou]

brap brap!!

[annieqou]

Brilliant no doubt. I always thought it was an actor called John Clemments who read the poem and the commentry was by Scottish actor, Findlay Curry. Might be wrong though. Any takers...

[hebdag44]

The voices belong to Englishman Stuart Legg and Scotsman John Grierson. Both of whom were famous producer/directors of short films in their own right.

[bazza4522]

Bazza 4522

As A retired Royal Mail Employee I have watched this vidio many times and have worked on the TPOs Those were the days when royal mail did things right

[chazsmateII]

Those were the days when we did a lot of things right.

[stationendproduction]

i always liked this poem, it looks back at how Britains railways were the heart of the country. I always enjoyed looking at the little things that are no more, such as, banking engines up shap, the now gone infastructure and of course the many thousands of men and boys employed on the railway.

[HalogenBurn]

DAMN. I remember when this had 500 views. It's blown up.

So it must be a UK thing yeah?

[ruddigore28]

Well, it's pretty much the definitive British railway poem. You'd be hard pressed to find a British railway enthusiast who doesn't know at least the opening verse.

[streaky1981]

think a few teachers have found it and started using it for lessons.

[65twin]

brilliant.

Betcheman had such an amazing voice.

A 'rap' my arse - don't denegrate such brilliance by associating it with that shite.

[ashafette]

ello mr sanders this 2 my english teacher

[searleflesher]

spammeister its not pathetic nor is it rap u idiot its a poem used by the LMS i believe to promote railways nothing else

[Steam1989]

It was actually a poem written by W.H. Auden. Its a wonderful poem. With a wonderful rythmn. Its just shame at the time the Duchesses had not been built yet!

[EmilyPankhurst]

One of my favourite poems as a child, and still is now.

[Sephtons]

haha i listend to this song i school

[spameister]

This is the train, crossing the border

Pathe-tic 19-30s rap

[joeferrito]

No, this is the NIGHT MAIL, not the "train".

[spameister]

Oh please forgive me, train-God. WTF does it matter?

[joeferrito]

asshole

[spameister]

Pedant

[turdleaner]

great stuff, I'd love to hear a soundtrack to this done by John Williams

[BScar23625]

The full film is near 30 minutes long. It tracks the mail train on its journey from London to Glasgow. But the closing section acompanied by the John Betjeman poem is the most famous part of it. I am sure you can buy the full version on DVD and it can be viewed 'on demand' in the main hall at the National Railway Museum, York.

[ClaymoreWam1]

Poetry was actually by W H Auden rather than 'Betch'.

[BScar23625]

Ah!. Sorry about that mistake.

[theojohn4]

He is right actually it was written by W H Auden but it was John Betcheman who was saying it in the film, and i think he helped write it too.

[BScar23625]

Thanks for that. I was pretty sure that Betcheman had something to do with it.

[Byronik]

Didn't it use to be 25 minutes long?

[Julian9ehp]

Is the movie still in copyright?

I would never have seen this without Youtube.

[theamateurbasher]

One of the most priceless railway documentaries ever produced. Shame that nowadays, they just take bags of mail rather than sort it en route; it's just not the same as it was. Thanks for the grand clip bmbgeekclub.

[alanstarkie2001]

Great stuff!

[OldVideoPro]

Great to have found this again. Thanks for posting it.

[heatherllb]

Many thanks for posting this, a reminder of when times were in some ways simpler but people were more interdependent. I think it's Auden's finest work - mainly because I don't like any of his other stuff.

[TrampoliningLaurie]

AMAZIN! lol just what i was looking for were stying tht at school lol!

[COURTN3Yxxx]

i had to do this poem at school.//

memories..

kinda catchy

[terribleteenz]

i had to learn a line of this for the register whilst in english lessons back in 2002

[donrov07]

I like this. There was a BR advert a bit like this back in the 80's. some of the words were....... 'this is the passenger train full of commuters bound for the city to work on computers' etc. That's all I can remember, good advert though.

[OldVideoPro]

search for Britig rail advert - it's on here. The YouTube number URL End is: watch?v=ddtPI07hhA8

[TheNightMail]

This is great! I attendended a TPO event at the nenv valley and the line 'this is the nightmail, crossing the border bringing the cheque and the postal order' I heard at least 10 times from the 'night mail' veterans.

[pantherdashladyflash]

ramage we all know you learnt the words

[timmykernight]

oh dear lord....my college and university days are coming back on this one and that bloody coursework on it! having to watch it like....3 times!!!!!! ha ha ha

[Steam1989]

Interesting look Bettock in the 1930s compared to how it looks now. Very VEry nice!!! I have the original on video!!!

[HarryOmji]

Very excellent to see and hear. Thanks for posting it.

[ORBOD]

Very Nostalgic! Loved the colour fottage of Edinburgh.

Dear Chillerorchid, good luck with a remake, however the dirt has gone,

the pride has gone, the hard work has gone so I don't know what other similies you could use.

[chilledorchid]

I did this poem at school as well in the 80's. Auden was an amazing poet. I am not sure about the choice of Benajamin Britten for the music , Ralph Vaughn Williams would have been a better choice. Ramage49 is spot on about the "rap". As a film maker myself I have decided that I will re-make a contemporary version.

#

Watch this space.

[RomZomCom]

That'd be awesome to remake it.

[RomZomCom]

Excellent video. I heard this on Encarta, and was immediately taken by it.

[ramage49]

this is amazing... a 1930s rap!

[Eastanglianwarrior]

Wonderful. I remember this being shown to us in School, around 1960. Composer Benjamin Britten was from the same town as me.

[oldpaw]

Splendid....a great posting. Both the poem and the film were very much part of my childhood.

[stellasmami]

this is awesome!!!!

[raggedclown]

Thanks. Feb 21st marks the centenary of Auden's death, so I'm glad this is here.