Flanders & Swann

Subject: Flanders & Swann
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 09:00 AM

Can anyone out there tell me where I can get a recording of Michael Flanders & Donald Swann, or a book of their songs?

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: nutty
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 09:27 AM

I have a Flanders and Swan Song Book published in 1974 by CHAPPELL & CO , 50 New Bond Street, London W1 .... it has these songs>>>>
The Elephant
The Gas Man Cometh
A G-nu
Have Some Madiera, M'dear
The Hippopotamus
The Rhinoceros
A Song of The Weather
A Transport of Delight (The Omnibus)
The Wharthog
The Whale(Mopy Dick)
Your local library or bookshop should be able to tell you if it is still in print

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 10:13 AM

Thanks Nutty,

But I took the trouble to surf a web bookshop and found the book I was looking and duly ordered it.

Maybe I should have done that in the first place!

Thanks again.

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 10:15 AM

Thanks Nutty,

But I took the trouble to surf a web bookshop and found the book I was looking and duly ordered it.

Maybe I should have done that in the first place!

Thanks again.

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 06:01 PM

There are several CD's available, notably 'At the drop of a hat' and 'At the drop of another hat' and 'Bestiary', all available as one set. I have a vinyl copy of the first as well.....

I scare people at work by quoting them. Usually 'January brings the snow', and 'House and Garden'.

LTS

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Ralphie
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 06:40 PM

Liz
"Have some M'Deira M'Dear....!"
Ralphie x

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 07:18 PM

Ah, once it's been opened, you know it won't keep....

My favourite was always 'misalliance'. And the canibal song.

LTS

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 07:25 PM

'Slow Train' is my favourite for poignancy

'In The Desert' continues to cause me to laugh out loud even though I've heard it hundreds of times

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Ralphie
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 07:38 PM

"From Selby to Goole"
"From St Earth to St Ives....."

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 10:55 PM

Gaudeamus Wompom! Philanthropic fruit!

troll

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Troll
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 11:03 PM

lost my cookie. There! Thats better!

troll

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: nutty
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 02:42 AM

Could have just come straight to the website I suppose

Flanders and Swann

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Mr Red
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 11:51 AM

I always found the "Canibal Song" a bit hard to swallow
IN NZ the Moari had a delicacy called "long pig". Suspect it was always an in joke.

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Skipper Jack
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 03:03 PM

Isn't it marvellous? I didn't think that so many people would remember Flanders & Swann! Thank you Liz The Squeak for the recordings information. That's my next task - to see if I can get hold of those.

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: GUEST,Willa
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 04:07 PM

Skipper Jack; coincidentally, I just looked at the thread titled 'practice clicky thread'. Under Individual Performers you'll find Flanders and Swann - the site gives information on album availability. Thanks for the thread, Marion!

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 04:45 PM

Great site but littered with popups... my popup killer sounded like a popcorn factory.....

I must learn the rest of P**P*B****B**D******.....

LTS

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Morticia
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 06:09 PM

"So do drink it up......it will help you to sleep"...only got about a quarter inch in my bottle.....doubt that sleep will come easy on that.

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 11:32 PM

CAMSCO Music--"..If it's in print we'll get it for you..."

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Tiger
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 01:17 PM

I got mine at eBay - especially good for OOP stuff.

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 05:05 PM

And once it's been opened, you know it won't keep....

Morty - the 1988 port is still here for you.....

LTS

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: ChanteyMatt
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 06:55 PM

Amazon UK has a box set. Ours arrived on Saturday. Yahoo!

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Susan A-R
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 09:37 PM

Recently had friends who called a plumber in to fix their hose and had to get someone to sheetrock their wall . . . It all makes work for the working man to do.

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:33 AM

August, cold and dank and wet...

Brings more rain than any yet...!

LTS

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Nov 15 - 12:26 PM

"House and Garden," a post in this thread gives that as one of the "At the Drop of a Hat" songs.

The title is "Design for Living." The phrase "House and Garden" appears in almost every verse. Leon Berger, in webpages and recording notes, says this was sung by no less than Moyra Fraser and Max Adrian, two of the biggest names in revues of the time.

"At the Drop of a Hat" was recorded more than once. If you acquire the boxed CD set (EMI probably) called "Hat-Trick," the first compact disc presents "At The Drop of the Original Hat." This is the Fortune Theater recording made for West End/London audiences. I grew up with this long-playing album and memorized its spoken bits as well as the sung lyrics.

In fact, "Design for Living" is in the DT database here. And the version preserved there is the one from the LATER "At the Drop of a Hat" performance on record; I believe this one was intended for audiences who were not limited to the UK and so there were monologues changes that took out some of the jokes that only a UK insider would know. Of course, for better or worse, I grew up with the earlier, "insider" performance and lived for years with the mystery of, "what did THAT joke mean?"

After the big-laugh line,
"The garden's full of furniture
And the house is full of plants!" line,

with the Fortune Theater audience bringing the performance to a screeching halt with clapping and guffawing, Flanders and Swann (they sure knew how to adapt their timing and delivery to a full, responsive theater of people) resume the chorus with this insider lyric:

"It doesn't make for comfort,
But it simply has to be:
You mustn't be left behind the times --
[da da da Dum da Dum da DUM]
You mustn't be left behind the Times Furnishing Com-pa-ny!
[da DUM!]"

So for fifty-odd years, in the back of my mind, was: someday, somebody has to explain to me about the Times Furnishing Company....since I'm outside the UK, I don't have a clue.

When I search online, it seems that yes, Virginia, there really is/was a Times Furnishing Company. True?

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: keberoxu
Date: 08 Nov 15 - 07:40 PM

And then they wrote:


'Twas applauded by the masses
The middle classes too - oo
And even by the Harewoods
And the County Set
Yes, even by the Doggy Doggy Few.

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 09 Nov 15 - 04:58 AM

"History of The Times Furnishing Co.
    Buying your furniture on hire purchase was the unique selling point of the Times Furnishing Company, begun by Jewish entrepreneur John Jacobs, which traded out of High Holborn. They had many stores across London and the rest of the country, aimed at the mass-market."

   Book ad online

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: keberoxu
Date: 09 Nov 15 - 12:35 PM

Hey, Thanks, M! So much for Times Furnishing, Liberty's, and Heal's. I didn't know what a coracle was either....live and learn.

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 20 Apr 17 - 05:46 AM

It might be worth checking dates for
"...multi-award winning comedian Tim FitzHigham and BBC Radio 4 musical maestro Duncan Walsh Atkins ..." in At The Drop Of A Hippopotamus
http://flandersandswann.info/tour.php 

---

I don't read posts from 'GUEST         ' or 'GUEST,Guest'

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Apr 20 - 04:22 PM

What do you all make of this?
Someone has uploaded to YouTube
a video of Flanders & Swann live.

And Leon Berger has responded , in a comment to the video upload,
saying that it is illegal to reproduce the video
and its reproduction will be removed 'shortly'
but his comment dates back four months...

April 1967, Broadway, New York ('Another Hat')

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: The Doctor
Date: 17 Apr 20 - 05:05 AM

Many years ago now, in a second-hand bookshop in Hay-on-Wye, I came across a video copy of this performance. There is also currently a copy on ebay.

Subject: RE: Flanders & Swann
From: keberoxu
Date: 18 Apr 20 - 07:40 PM

Already there are bits and pieces of performances
from said USA-performance video on YouTube,
and have been for some time now.
This is the first time anyone has ventured
to upload the entire presentation at once.