Lyr Req: Captains and the Kings (Brendan Behan)

Subject: LYR REQ: The Captains and the Kings
From: Håvard
Date: 14 Nov 97 - 04:05 AM

Hi
Ronnie Drew sings an excellent ironic song about England and Englishmen called "The Captains and the Kings" Does anyone have the lyrics for this song?
Håvard

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Captains and the Kings
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 14 Nov 97 - 05:07 PM

Sorry, I don't, but when you get them you might want to compare them to Kipling's poem "Recessional" .

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Captains and the Kings
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 20 Nov 97 - 04:43 PM

Song was written by Brendan Behan, the Dublin playwright. I'll post words if I can find them.

Regards

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Captains and the Kings
From:
Date: 22 Nov 97 - 07:51 PM

"Recessional" was the best poem Kipling ever wrote.

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Captains and the Kings
From: Nonie Rider
Date: 25 Nov 97 - 12:45 PM

Now, let's not start a "best" contest. It's one of his damned good ones, no argument. However, some might say it was a little inaccesible to unschooled ears: "Such boastings as the Gentiles use/Or lesser breeds without the Law," and so on, when he's NOT talking about being Jewish.

Myself, my favorite Kipling to SING is the section from "Song of the Dead": "We have fed our sea for a thousand years/And she calls us, still unfed." Fits pretty damned well into "Haul Away, Joe", and gets good sing-along for the incremental "If blood be the price of admiralty" line.

My favorite to LISTEN to? Of all things, "The First Chantey", as performed by Leslie Fish. I'd always dismissed it as neo-prehistory with a little too much (metaphorical) bashing one's cave-wife over the head with a rock, but Fish conveys the SENSE of it, and with a most haunting tune.

Of course, Michael Longcor's version of "The Irish Guards, 1915" ain't half bad either... including his hilarious introduction: "In World War I, the Irish suddenly found themselves in the unusual position of being on the SAME SIDE as the English!"

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Captains and the Kings
From:
Date: 17 Dec 97 - 07:55 PM

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Captains and the Kings
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 18 Dec 97 - 04:55 PM

If the blank entry above is intended as a hint - I'll take it after Christmas!

Regards

Subject: Lyr Add: CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS (Brendan Behan)
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Jul 07 - 03:12 PM

Captains and the Kings

I remember in September when the final stumps were drawn
And the shouts of crowds now silent when the boys had gone to tea
Let us oh Lord above us remember simple things
When all are dead who love us well the Captains and the Kings
When all are dead who love us well the Captains and the Kings

We have many goods for export Christian ethics and old port
But our greatest boast is that the Anglo Saxon is a sport
When the darts game it is finished and the boys their game of rings
The draughts and chess relinquished well the Captains and the Kings
The draughts and chess relinquished well the Captains and the Kings

Far away in dear old Cyprus or in Kenya's dusty land
Where all bear the white man's burden in many a strange land
As we look across our shoulder in West Belfast the school bell rings
And we sigh for dear old England and the Captains and the Kings
And we sigh for dear old England and the Captains and the Kings

In our dreams we see old Harrow and we hear the crows loud caw
At the flower show our big marrow takes the prize from Evelyn Waugh
Cups of tea and some dry sherry vintage cars these simple things
Let us drink up and be merry for the Captains and the Kings
Let us drink up and be merry for the Captains and the Kings

As I wandered in a nightmare all around Great Windsor Park
Well what do you think I found there as I wandered in the dark
It was an apple half-bitten the sweetest of all things
Five baby teeth they'd written of the Captains and the Kings
Five baby teeth they'd written of the Captains and the Kings

By the moon that shines above us in the misty morning light
Let us cease to run ourselves down and thank God that we are white
And better still we're English tea and toast and muffin rings
And old ladies with stern faces well the Captains and the Kings
Old ladies with stern faces well the Captains and the Kings

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Captains and the Kings
From: Effsee
Date: 22 Jul 07 - 03:30 PM

Why is the name "James Joyce" echoing round my memory banks?

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Captains and the Kings
From: Jim McLean
Date: 22 Jul 07 - 06:01 PM

Second line, Guest, 'When the boys to tea had gone' (from memory but I have the EP sung by Dominic Behan)

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Captains and the Kings
From: masato sakurai
Date: 22 Jul 07 - 06:28 PM

See also this previous thread: The Captain and the Kings.