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ADD: Could Lloyd George Do It? (Weston/Lee)

DigiTrad:
ALBERT AND THE LION
ARKANSAS FLYERS
ASPARAGUS.
GOODBYE


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GUEST,Colin Whyles 13 Jul 24 - 11:21 AM
Mick Pearce (MCP) 08 Jan 13 - 07:11 AM
GUEST 08 Jan 13 - 04:11 AM
Joe_F 07 Jan 13 - 08:46 PM
Jim Dixon 07 Jan 13 - 06:34 PM
GUEST 07 Jan 13 - 01:49 PM
Joe_F 04 Nov 12 - 07:55 PM
McGrath of Harlow 03 Nov 12 - 08:21 PM
GUEST 03 Nov 12 - 06:58 PM
Jim Dixon 31 May 07 - 05:53 AM
GUEST 29 May 07 - 03:13 PM
Joe_F 13 Apr 07 - 09:29 PM
iancarterb 12 Apr 07 - 11:41 PM
Joe_F 12 Apr 07 - 09:30 PM
Joe Offer 12 Apr 07 - 03:28 AM
Peace 11 Apr 07 - 11:40 PM
Peace 11 Apr 07 - 11:38 PM
Peace 11 Apr 07 - 11:34 PM
Peace 11 Apr 07 - 11:28 PM
Joe_F 11 Apr 07 - 10:38 PM
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Could Lloyd George Do It? (Weston/Lee)
From: GUEST,Colin Whyles
Date: 13 Jul 24 - 11:21 AM

If anyone is still interested in this topic, I have just posted the complete song here: https://musescore.com/user/58/scores/19711018

I am digitising as many R. P. Weston-Bert Lee songs as I can find to a set on Musescore.org at https://musescore.com/user/58/sets/7094749


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Could Lloyd George Do It? (Weston/Lee)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 08 Jan 13 - 07:11 AM

Here are a few corrections to the last transcription:

v1.l1:
  There are lots clever men but the ordinary hen

v2.l1:
  Now the ordinary cat takes its meals upon the mat

v3.l3:
  When you stuck him with a fork he will fly away and walk

v3.l10:
  You swear at the fly and you flare just like a trooper

v4.l3:
  For a fortnight he will stand with his head stuck in the sand

v4.l4:
  With perhaps amusing tales


Mick


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Could Lloyd George Do It? (Weston/Lee)
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Jan 13 - 04:11 AM

Well Done!
I've filled in a few gaps - my additions are in caps and I've bracketed two bits where I think you've misheard.

I ought to get on with a transcription of the tune! It won't be today though.

I'd forgoten I'd made a video of this record. It and the gramophone it was played on are in France. The record is running slightly slow, it's a shade flat of D major, so it's probably playing at 78 instead of 80. I didn't have a stroboscope or any means of printing one at the time I recorded it. I was going through a batch of 78s I'd just picked up in England and recorded most of them as I was going.

BTW I came across this thread when I was trying to find the recording date of the record.

Cheers

Rob the fiddler


There's a lot of clever men (that) BUT the ordinary hen
Can take them down a peg.
Whilst they're laying down the law, the old chicken in the straw
Sits her down and she lays an egg, that's all.
She lays UP new-laid egg.
But could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!
Could Ramsay Mac and the other clever men
Do the same as the poor old hen?
The hen lays an egg; nobody has ever
Said that it was wonderful or marvelous or clever,
But could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!

Now the ordinary cat takes MEALS upon the mat
Without the aid of knives,
And its SONGS upon the tiles can be heard for thirty miles,
And it also has nine lives, that's all,
With perhaps two thousand wives.
But could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!
Could Peckham Rye or even Shepherd's Bush
Do the same as the sweet little puss?
The cat leads a life that is nothing else but clover.
With his little tongue he can wash himself all over,
And could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!

See the flighty little fly dancing round the apple pie,
Or your bacon nice and brown,
When you SLOG him with a fork he will fly away and walk
On the ceiling upside down. He walks
On the ceiling upside down,
But could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!
Could Wellington or Napoleon Bonaparte
Sit for two hours in (the) A raspberry tart?
You swear it's a fly and you … just like a trooper,
But that wouldn't stop him sitting on the (bacon … super) FACE OF GLADYS COOPER,
And could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!

In the wilds of Africa WITH HIS TAIL UP hip hoorah
The ostrich roams the dales.
But a fortnight he will stand with his head stuck in the sand,
And he eats horseshoes and nails, that's all,
With perhaps amusing ….
But could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!
Could Henry Ford out in Oshkosh, Mich.
Eat horseshoes like the poor ostrich?
It's only a bird and it's ugly and it's skinny,
But on its fluffy part it grows a feather worth a guinea.
And could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Could Lloyd George Do It? (Weston/Lee)
From: Joe_F
Date: 07 Jan 13 - 08:46 PM

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Even more than the image of Lloyd George walking on the ceiling, I fancy the image of (say) Winston Churchill licking himself clean all over.


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Subject: Lyr Add: COULD LLOYD GEORGE DO IT? (Weston/Lee)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Jan 13 - 06:34 PM

Here's my attempt at a transcription based on the YouTube recording linked above. Note there are several gaps indicated by ellipses, and the words adjoining them should be regarded as doubtful. Corrections would be appreciated:


COULD LLOYD GEORGE DO IT?
Written by R P Weston ; B Lee
As sung by Stanley Lupino on Columbia 3718.

There's a lot of clever men that the ordinary hen
Can take them down a peg.
Whilst they're laying down the law, the old chicken in the straw
Sits her down and she lays an egg, that's all.
She lays … new-laid egg.
But could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!
Could Ramsay Mac and the other clever men
Do the same as the poor old hen?
The hen lays an egg; nobody has ever
Said that it was wonderful or marvelous or clever,
But could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!

Now the ordinary cat takes … upon the mat
Without the aid of knives,
And its … upon the tiles can be heard for thirty miles,
And it also has nine lives, that's all,
With perhaps two thousand wives.
But could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!
Could Peckham Rye or even Shepherd's Bush
Do the same as the sweet little puss?
The cat leads a life that is nothing else but clover.
With his little tongue he can wash himself all over,
And could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!

See the flighty little fly dancing round the apple pie,
Or your bacon nice and brown,
When you … him with a fork he will fly away and walk
On the ceiling upside down. He walks
On the ceiling upside down,
But could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!
Could Wellington or Napoleon Bonaparte
Sit for two hours in the raspberry tart?
You swear it's a fly and you … just like a trooper,
But that wouldn't stop him sitting on the bacon … super,
And could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!

In the wilds of Africa … hip hoorah
The ostrich roams the dales.
But a fortnight he will stand with his head stuck in the sand,
And he eats horseshoes and nails, that's all,
With perhaps amusing ….
But could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!
Could Henry Ford out in Oshkosh, Mich.
Eat horseshoes like the poor ostrich?
It's only a bird and it's ugly and it's skinny,
But on its fluffy part it grows a feather worth a guinea.
And could Lloyd George do it? Could Winston do it?
Could Baldwin do it? Why, no!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Could Lloyd George Do It? (Weston/Lee)
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Jan 13 - 01:49 PM

There you go it's here
http://youtu.be/1zJcKGnhPQs

Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to it.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Could Lloyd George Do It? (Weston/Lee)
From: Joe_F
Date: 04 Nov 12 - 07:55 PM

Hear, hear!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Could Lloyd George Do It? (Weston/Lee)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Nov 12 - 08:21 PM

Excellent idea, GUEST. The best Music Hall songs tended to be "very silly".


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Could Lloyd George Do It? (Weston/Lee)
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Nov 12 - 06:58 PM

I've got the record. It's a very silly song, I can post a video on you tube if anyone's interested.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Can Lloyd George do it?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 May 07 - 05:53 AM

The British Library Sound Archive Catalogue has this information:
    COULD LLOYD GEORGE DO IT?/Lee
    Performer: Lupino, Stanley
    Performance notes: Stanley LUPINO (vocal) with Orchestra
    Columbia 3718
And the British Library Integrated Catalogue has this:
    System number: 005060537
    Author - personal: Weston, R P.
    Title: Could Lloyd George do it? : Sung in Revue : Better Days / R P Weston ; B Lee.
    Publisher/year: c1925.
    Physical descr.: 1 score.
    Added name: Lee, B.
    Holdings (All): Details
    Holdings note: Music Collections VOC/1925/WESTON Awaiting full cataloguing
    Shelfmark: VOC/1925/WESTON Request
    ISBN: No price


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Can Lloyd George do it?
From: GUEST
Date: 29 May 07 - 03:13 PM

Hi!
I am a student researcher for the Bertrand Russell centre at McMaster University, and happen to be looking for the same song from Russell's paper. If you had any leads or know who originally sung the song it would be of great help to me! If you have info, please email me at varga.emily@gmail.com, anything would help, thanks!

-Emily


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Can Lloyd George do it?
From: Joe_F
Date: 13 Apr 07 - 09:29 PM

iancarterb: That's quite another song. I gather than originally it was an affectionate political song in Britain, but somehow it got taken up in the U.S. by Girl Scouts. In my undergraduate days (1954-1958) it was sung by sufficiently drunken Caltech students under the impression that the knowledge was carnal. (As Tom Lehrer put it, "When properly viewed, Anything is lewd".)


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Can Lloyd George do it?
From: iancarterb
Date: 12 Apr 07 - 11:41 PM

Lloyd Gorge knows my father,
Father knows Lloyd George.
Lloyd Gorge knows my father,
Father knows Lloyd George...
    to the tune of Onward Christian Soldiers. Fits the whole tune.
Sing it long enough and you'll THINK you're walking on the ceiling!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Can Lloyd George do it?
From: Joe_F
Date: 12 Apr 07 - 09:30 PM

Joe: No. It seems clear that, as I speculated in my original post, the title of the pamphlet alludes to the song.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Can Lloyd George do it?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Apr 07 - 03:28 AM

Wodehouse also used the phrase...
This page speaks of the song "Could Lloyd George Do It?" being performed in a revue in Australia in 1925; and this page says it's on a Columbia 80rpm record by Stanley Lupino. Released September 1925.
Most notable seems to be an article entitled 'Can Lloyd George Do It?', which was published in May 1929 (John Maynard Keynes and H.D.Henderson, 1929; JMK.9, pp.86-125).

So, is this a song about economics?
-Joe-


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Can Lloyd George do it?
From: Peace
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 11:40 PM

Now I am buggered up.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Can Lloyd George do it?
From: Peace
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 11:38 PM

STOP the press. "Why I am Not a Christian" was published in 1927. So, please allow me to revise those dates to the early 1920s or late 1910s.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Can Lloyd George do it?
From: Peace
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 11:34 PM

Note that the date is 1957, and I would suggest that 'A little while' would mean years, not decades. Do maybe it's a popular song from the early 1950s or late 1940s.

Joe, you have one heck of a memory.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Can Lloyd George do it?
From: Peace
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 11:28 PM

"A little while ago there was a popular song about the cleverness of flies in walking upside down on the ceiling, with the chorus: "Could Lloyd George do it? Could Mr. Baldwin do it? Could Ramsay Mac do it? Why, NO." On this basis a very telling argument could be constructed by a theologically-minded fly, which no doubt the other flies would find most convincing."


Death as the Final Event of the Self

By Bertrand Russell

from

Why I Am Not a Christian, 1957.


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Subject: Lyr Req: Can Lloyd George do it?
From: Joe_F
Date: 11 Apr 07 - 10:38 PM

Bertrand Russell, somewhere, recalls a music-hall song about the ingenuity of flies in being able to walk upside down on the ceiling. It asks "Can Lloyd George do it? Can Ramsey Mac do it?" etc., and answers "Why, no!" Neither Google nor the DigiTrad recovers it, tho the former does bring up a pamphlet by Keynes & Henderson in 1929 with the title "Can Lloyd George Do It?", which I suspect alludes to the song. If I knew the words & music, I would be glad to take on the task of fitting it to more recent personages.


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