Flanders & Swann

[5610winston]

Swann's playing here sounds a bit more elaborate than in the LP and CD recordings.

[TheMimifur]

My parents used to play Flanders and Swann to us when we were little but they always censored this one!

[emmag1959]

Leon, you've brightened my Monday morning considerably. I could only be happier if it was the English lyrics but heyho. There's a smile on MY lips now.

[greytabbysfriend]

Tony Randall sang this on the Carol Burnett Show; I've not found a copy of it, but I remember hearing it before I knew about F&S.

[dehydrogenated]

Wow, never seen footage of them before, only listened to the records. Can't believe I never thought of looking on here before!

[Razkali]

I love how these two are of such high quality and I find it quite amazing, if a little sad, how there's not one moment of swearing in any of their acts and yet they're so wonderfully funny.

Kind of shows how much our humour has changed slowly over time. I don't think humour like this would work so well with nowaday comedians.

[rwm1]

Great Great. I still remember Tony Randall telling how incensed a lady in the audience was when he did this song. A very funny anecdote to a whimsical song.

[ccdesan]

By the silken breast of Mogg's mother... thank you so much for posting this wonderful memory. I saw this show by these two indescribably wonderful gentlemen in that very year, and purchased their Bestiary album as a memento. Comedic genius distilled...

[johngal56]

Fantastic and absolutely brilliant.

[mdgm88]

Leon it would be great if there was a DVD released of Flanders & Swann. It would be great for those of us who've only been able to listen to the CDs and see the few video clips posted on YouTube. Are there video recordings of all their songs or just some of them?

[OofusTwillip]

@mdgm88 - There are fewer than a dozen video clips of them, primarily due to the widespread practice of wiping videotapes to re-use them. This was common until the 1980s, because blank videotape was so expensive that it was considered far more valuable than the shows that were taped on it...and because nobody imagined that future generations would have any interest in those shows.

The BBC is actively trying to find copies of lost shows, through its "Missing - Believed Wiped" scheme.

[Forkygolach]

Brilliant performers - lyrics to die for !

[LeonPFB]

There is footage of 'high fidelity' (ie. Song of Reproduction). I'll see if it's in good enough condition to post

[82Lukeskywalker]

Please, Any one got high fidelity out there, searching...................

[hsg2]

I was brought up with this, and although I did know it wasn't about cake :-) it is not until seeing this performance that it comes across just how filthy it is. Glorious.

F and S RIP.

[oldpossum]

Noel Coward did an excellent version of it, too!

[Offshoreorganbuilder]

Perfection.

[bihonning]

pmatzner1,

You are absolutely right, although I remember him singing:

"and a beard in her earhole that tickled and said......."

[ishtarg8]

There's a moment during At the Drop of a Hat, when they explain to the audience that the show is being recorded, "for posterity", and if the audeince want to say "Hello" to posterity, now is their chance. Good naturedly, they all chorus "Hello."

When I heard that I suddenly realised that I was "posterity", and that all these people, on a night out in London before I was even born were saying "Hello" to me. Which made me feel kind of strange, and still does.

[JimC]

@ishtarg8 It's at 2:34 in the track "A Song of Reproduction". Yes, it is eerie.

[Thisisace]

@JimC "And wherever you're sitting now, that's where you'll be on the record!" ;-)

[bihonning]

pmatzner1 You are aboslutely correct. These are also the lyrics one hears sung on my little 45 recording. Still, perhaps, no great harm is done on this video.

[typesoontv]

 youtube watch?v=BSF8OUyuldc

[CobinRain]

Listen to "Slow Train"..a sad protest song about the draconian (and as we all see now) incredibly stupid government policy of closing literally hundreds of miles of branch lines all over Britain so that the Rail "network" no longer really worked and we all set about making our beautiful countryside over to car sand busy roads.

Nostalgia, beautiful, quintessentially English

[talshiarr]

They really should have slowed it down a bit, this is quite rushed.

[oldpossum]

@talshiarr , not rushed at all, I found it done in excellent tempo! Love it!

[NicolaSyms]

Has anyone else, like me, ever wondered what pearls of wisdom Mother spoke with her penultimate and last breaths? Her anti-penultimate was such a cracker!

[oldpossum]

@NicolaSyms agree 100%

[NicolaSyms]

Love this!!! Have been listening to Flanders & Swann for years but never seen video before, hope there are more to come!

The Madeira lyrics are some of my favourites - so clever, they really were geniuses with word play! Shame they toned parts down for this show - I've been listening to this song since I was about 10 but the more risque parts just went over my head back then! It's fantastic to actually be able to see this - especially exciting to see what the Edwardian Hat really looked like!

[Alcagaur]

Teaching actors English, I sadly find myself preferring to present only the audio of these wondrous works, for so many of them, exposed only to clips, can't get past the wheelchair, and reassess the performance with that "handicap" front and centre. If I can ever locate any of their whole evenings in a video format, I believe my students, like me, will find, that one only really notices the wheelchair when Michael highlights it as one of the most versatile props imaginable.

[WayneTuber]

This lyric is THE object lesson in zeugma. (That's a little search-engine goodie for all you students of rhetoric.)

[procrustesuk]

That's exactly what I came here to say, you beat me to it! Race you to the first example of synecdoche we can find!

[firestartertwistedfi]

and there was me thinking zeugma came gushing out of volcanoes...

[chrystalballs]

great entertainers.

[lskarin]

A review was written called Madeira M'Dear where the two performers (not counting the pianist) did a collection of F&S. The Sloth is usually performed upside-down. I last saw it performed in Toronto about 20 years ago. It deserves a rebirth.

[pmatzner1]

Versions of Lyrics????

Thank you Thank you!

I remember different lyrics from the album "At the Drop of a Hat" and from the touring production I saw in the 60s

Gin- "Besides it's inclined to affect my prowess" for "finesse" in this version

Awoke in morning and "a voice in her ear overtickled and siad..." "and a beard in her ear..."

And

.. slyly inveigled her up to his flat to view his collection of stamps ("all unperforated")

Can anyone elucidate the when and where of these?

[LeonPFB]

This video was a made for a US TV audience and MF presumably felt he had to tone down some of the more suggestive lines.

Leon

[pmatzner1]

Thank you Leon for this clarification. I am an an american and have ben besotted for years with the work of Flanders and Swan and sing these songs to my self all the time. One of my favorites is the "Reluctant Cannibal" I am a poet and the lyrics are brilliant. What is the origianl source of "Madeira" Will there be any revivals in the states or in England. I would plan trip around hearing these songs done well. Are they still performed??? What about Swann's Tolkien Cycle? .

[Hugh7777]

@LeonPFB I guess that's also why he says "A voice that tickled her earhole" and not "a beard..." since a voice could be imaginary, but it's a fine point.

[npetrikov]

@LeonPFB I believe it's "beard in her earhole."

[rachaelannedonnelly]

@pmatzner1 Yes, i've always known the lyrics to be yourse, I think they did it in london on THE DROP OF A HAT performance.

[EffieMcB]

@pmatzner1

The line is "a voice in her ear 'ole that tickled and said".

They did this show for many years and consequently there are multiple versions of it. Wonderful to see video too, many thanks.

[ant501UK]

The original lyrics are almost as pmatzner1 says and are to be heard on the LP live recording of the show at the Fortune Theatre in London in 1957. In fact the original last line goes: "... and a beard in her ear'ole that tickled and said.... " If you listen carefully to the above clip you can hear that Flanders sings ".. a voice in her ear'ole.." Dropping the aspirated h sound in 'earhole' is Flanders' affecting a Cockney accent on this line.

[oldpossum]

@pmatzner1 , I think it was:

"And a beard in her lug 'ole that tickled and said: "

;-)

[OofusTwillip]

@pmatzner1 - "...in her EARHOLE, that tickled and said..."

In England, "Earhole" (pronounced, "ear'ole") is a slang term for "ear", or, more accurately, the opening of the ear, to distinguish it from the outer ear (which is sometimes referred to as the "shell-like").

[cogidubnus1953]

Thanks so much for posting this...it's my favourite of all the Flanders and Swann pieces, (such a difficult choice but it's the really witty triple entendres that really crack it)...

[cogidubnus1953]

Not to mention the bloody clever quadruples!

[elephantbarbiegirl]

Fantastic. Really enjoyed this. I went to see a Flanders and Swann tribute act at the Edinburgh Festival last week and very good they were too. Due to time constraints however, this song lost out to Transport of Delight in a public cheer-off. Glad I got to hear it after all

[hummmmmmingbird]

in my collection of F&S he says 'prowess' not 'finesse' :)

[LeonPFB]

This film was made for American TV ... so there was a little cleaning up for a family audience ("Mum, what does 'prowess' mean?")

[hummmmmmingbird]

haha, although to be fair they might also ask what was going on in this song which would provoke the same response of 'ummm'

[SANumber169]

I can certainly think of an explanation that is appropriate for children; can't Americans? Oh the English, the English, the English version is best.

[IHaveTheQi]

The CD boxset is a different recording. This one is recorded on Broadway, the CD (and LPs, for that matter) were both recorded in London, although they were from different performances

[kneenack]

Thank you for this posting of two great entertainers!

[unclemuntze]

Zeugma!

[Yrior]

Best literary device EVER. :D

[lhommeler]

They were craftsmen of their art. Such skills seem to have vanished these days. I feel priviledged to have been around when they were in their prime; unfortunately I didn't get to see them live. Thank you the Internet.

[jaylovesstacey2009]

cheers

[jaylovesstacey2009]

how did flanders end up in a wheel chair :S:S:S:S:S

[LeonPFB]

He was serving in the Navy during the war and contracted polio at the age of 21 (it's a waterborne virus). After 4-5 years in an iron lung he was confined to a wheelchair fir the rest if his life.

[simiansapiens]

OH, boy! I used to have a fragment of this video on VHS, but when it got to "carved one more notch" it always cut out into the middle of Jemima Puddleduck...I've never heard the rest of this performance before

[nokidding63]

Flanders is popping wheelies in his chair! I love it!

[gm4fam]

I shall forever thank my late dad for bringing home 2 F&S albums (LPs in those days) - timeless stuff, witty and beautifully crafted songs ... The Slow Train is one of the most poignant.

Thank-you so much LeonPFB for sharing these gems.

[321bytor]

Wonderful.

[BudTuba]

Our local PBS station, WXXI, has a relocated Brit Simon Pontin, who plays a great Saturday morning show call Salmagundy (meaning common folk or something like that). He features Flanders and Swan from time to time and last Sat played High Fidelity. Great tune and great lyrics. These guys are "da Best".

[sunsdomain]

When I was a child the old LP "At the Drop of a Hat" (the "beard in her ear" version) was played countless times. But till now I'd never *seen* F&S except in a few photos.

It means a lot to me to see them in the flesh, so to speak. :-)

I knew Mr. Flanders was disabled (by polio, no?). But seeing him on film I'm startled by the extent of his paralysis. He's clearly breathing from his shoulders. I presume this means his diaphragm was affected by the paralysis. Yet he performed as a singer!?

[BethDiane]

I believe he was also missing a lung. And compared with the earlier video, it's clear that he's lost a good bit of weight since the 50s; I think all that was taking its toll!

[lispyloo1]

i never knew that flanders was disabled, i grew up listening to these guys and love their songs. noone else does comedy songs like these two...genius.

[FelineLover2007]

If it weren't for the photo on the "At the Drop of Another Hat" LP cover I wouldn't've known either! Not for many years anyway!

I grew up listening to F & S too - I got bored with the kids' records when I was about 10 or so and started looking through my parents' collection... Had heard the Gnu Song and the Hippopotamus Song before I found the LPs tho!

[umpqua99]

glad I found this, recently came across the song on the radio. Thanks for posting.

[Krzyszczynski]

"O my child, should you look on the wine when 'tis red ...... "

Actually, Madeira is a WHITE wine!! (But I guess we have to cut the guys some slack, 'cos otherwise the world would never have heard a superlative comic song.)

[PJTraill]

Technically white, but being maderised (!), it is actually a shade of brown, ranging from deep (Malmsey) to pale (Sercial), corresponding to the richness ... but her mother's words were doubtless intended to guide her in dealings with wine of any colour.

[funkymonkey11179]

YAY

[eversoplucky]

Loved these guys since Mud, Glorious Mud, which i heard aged 4. Wonderful performers.

[richintalent]

These guys have Pryor, Carlin, even Cosby beat by a VERY long shot!!!

[thomsonfly645k]

Michael Flanders and Donald Swann are the best

comic song Writers

[slacknhash]

Michael Flanders made a very convincing dirty old man.

[JimC]

Thank you so much for posting the videos!

Please, PLEASE get their show on DVD. I'd buy it at the drop of a...well, as soon as it's available! :)

[Savannah55]

moi aussi XD

[kyanelia]

i love flanders and swann!! unfortunatly i'm too young to have ever had a chance to see them live...thank you so much for posting this!!

[russlerks]

I've listened to this and all their other stuff over and over since I was about 6 years old. Now my 2 year old is reciting F&S songs. Timeless! Thank you so much for posting. Any chance you could post the rest of the show?

[LeonPFB]

Well, we're hoping to go for a commercial release of a complete AT THE DROP OF ANOTHER HAT - when the lawyers have finished thrashing it out!

[russlerks]

That would be the perfect Father's Day gift. I'll tell my kids to look out for it

[IHaveTheQi]

Fantastic news! I know of many huge F & S fans who would be over the moon if this was successful!

[rjjenkins]

I have this on VHS and always thought the tape wow (and probably flutter on the bottom) was just my copy - glad (in a way) to see it's not.

[DeaconBlues0217]

Thank you!! for posting, I remember listening to "At the Drop of a Hat" when I was a young lad of about 5 or so.... of course I didn't get all the jokes until I was 15....

[fundude365]

Did you think it was about cake too? :D

[DeaconBlues0217]

Actually.... I think I did!!!

[m11051970]

very nostalgic and very professionally sung. A pleasure to hear.

[xen300]

I've known their songs for years and this is the firt time I've seen them moving! I'm really pleased you've posted this clip.

[herrylaw]

wonderful to hear this again! thanks

[sirstrongbad]

Such a brilliant pair!.. thank you kindly for posting!.

[floatingdebris]

Brilliant!

[FelineLover2007]

We've got Flanders & Swann on a couple of LPs at home, but this is the first time I've seen video clips of them!

Great to watch! Thanks for posting :D

[gilgamess]

Thank you for this wonderful footage! It seems there is a bit of alteration, one bit for American audiences, ("...his flat(apartment)") and two which I believe were probably deemed a bit too blue for broadcast: "...affect me prowess" is now "...affect my finesse" and "...a voice" has been substituted for "...a beard".

[LeonPFB]

Spot on! F&S obviously adapted and self-censored for the delicate ears of the American TV audience!

Leon

[gilgamess]

The first time I heard this was Tony Randall "reciting" it, on The Carol Burnett Show.

[ohreally2667]

Same here--I was about 11 at the time. I didn't think it was about cake. But then, I was a very dirty-minded child . . .

[winston5610]

Like a fine madiera, it improves with age. I saw them on TV in 1967, I think, when I was about ten.I still remember the "First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics" song from that show.

[headwuss]

It's a shame they had to do that, yeah.

There's nothing like the way Michael growls 'And a BEARD in 'er ear'ole...' on the UK recording.

[greenphantom]

This song is exquisitely written... thanks for uploading.

[Jatoas99]

At last, the best comedy singing duo ever. Thank you for posting!

[Pyat]

Excellent!