Song That Won't Go Out Of My Head

[Mme. Hermine]

I knew of the names of Flanders and Swann, but hadn't seen any of their work until I found this video, and

this one has set up shop in my head today:

[bart]

Hey, I remember that! Mme. Hermine, as long as the tune is stuck in your head, why not sing along? Here are the lyrics :

http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/songs/madeira.html

I kind of like the way the man remembers to "put out the cat" before he starts his seduction routine.

[dirac]

Thanks for this, Mme. Hermine.

[leonid17]

I knew of the names of Flanders and Swann, but hadn't seen any of their work until I found this video, and

this one has set up shop in my head today:

What a wonderful reminder of a more carefree era.

Flanders and Swann were very popular on stage and for a much wider audience on the BBC.

For me they never failed when singing solo or duet and remind me of the days when there was only black and white television.

Thank you for bringing back happy, happy memories. As Simone Signoret said, “Nostalgia is not what it used to be (La nostalgie n'est plus ce qu'elle etait)”

today its just manufactured.

[Mashinka]

My favourite Flanders & Swann number was probably 'Transport of Delight', a kind of hymn of praise to London buses.

http://www.nyanko.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fas/hat_trans.html

How we used to laugh at the very idea that a bus ticket could ever cost a pound! Seems as if economic prediction may have been a latent talent of this pair, an inheritable talent too as Flanders's daughter Stephanie is a top economist at the BBC.

I've always loved clever lyrics and for that reason I'm a big fan of Cole Porter and Noel Coward too. It may well have been a more carefree era when those songs were written but in many ways it was a more sophisticated one as well.

[leonid17]

"... but in many ways it was a more sophisticated one as well."

Ditto!

[Juliet]

Not necessarily more carefree.....

definitely more sophisticated!

thank you so much for these-----

[bart]

I've always loved clever lyrics and for that reason I'm a big fan of Cole Porter and Noel Coward too.

Me too. I remember their first visits to New York. Somehow I got the mis-impression that this number WAS by Coward or someone like that, parodying music hall.

F&S were among a number of clever, witty, highly verbal British musical and non-musical comedians -- Anna Russel and Beyond the Fringe among -- who redefined the meaning of "sophistication" on Broadway in the 50s and 60s.

I always loved the slightly slimy, rather amoral quality of the narration in this song. Nowadays, however, find myself having mixed feelings about this. I certainly see a darkness in this song that I don't remember experiencing the 60s. The concept of "date rape" exists now, which it probably did not when F&S wrote the song. Different times, different manners. But the verbal wit remains still impressive.

[papeetepatrick]

The clip was fun, but I had never heard the song but once before--in a First Avenue club called the Grenadier sometime in the late 70s. The singer was not blue ribbon and was wearing a bad toupee, but I still remember the song just because it isn't like any other.

[sandik]

Oh, I love Flanders and Swann -- I first heard them when I was in high school, and their songs were so different than my suburban, white bread experience. Along with Tom Lehrer, their songs were witty and pointed -- you felt a little smarter for understanding the references.

I loved their version of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. "Heat can't move from a cooler to a hotter, you can try it if you like, but you're far better not to."

I must go listen again!