I know this is an old thread but I just discovered it and I can clarify a few of the lyrics in “King Canute.”


King Canute's been and got his boots wet through,
Boo-hoo!
Oh, wouldn’t he relish a go at Hore-Belisha, too!
That’s true.
At thirty miles an hour going strong
Till PC Mary Jane comes along,
Then the little dear says, like the auctioneer says,
“Going, going, gone!”
Beacons thrive, and we’ve got to drive like mutes.
No hoots!
Sing, boys, sing; we’re just a lot of King Canutes.


Leslie Hore-Belisha was Minister for Transport in the 1930s. He was responsible for the 1934 Road Traffic Act which introduced driving tests, set speed limits at 30 mph, and restricted the honking of car horns (hence the reference to driving like mutes—no hoots), all of which improved traffic safety but angered many entitled drivers. However, Hore-Belisha is best known today for his “Belisha beacons,” the now-familiar pair of yellow lights that demarcate zebra (pedestrian) crossings in the UK.

[Thanks, guest. Corrections have been made above.--A Mudelf.]