Lyr Req: songs by Noel Coward

Subject: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: GUEST,jane
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 04:33 AM

Hi
I just got referred to this site as being the best place to get a couple of questions answered that I have about obscure Noel Coward song lyrics. The web has a complete dearth of them since I believe they are still in copyright! I'm trying to find both the context and the song title. Can anyone help please? Thanks in advance
jane

They are definitely Coward lyrics, so the first one is not from the brothers Sherman's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

to be what is it absolutely scrumptious?

where must the heat and smell be hell?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 07:39 AM

The first is probably:

It's simply scrupmtious to be mad about the boy

from Mad About The Boy (from Words and Music).

The second is:

The heat and smell
Must be sheer hell
On the road to Samarkand.

from I Like America (from Ace of Clubs).

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: GUEST,jane
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 09:54 AM

Mick - thankyou!

You just made several people very happy...

jane

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: Amos
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 11:59 AM

Once again the Mudcat solves in a few hours obscure puzzles that could easily haunt ordinary life for years!! Way to go!

A

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: GUEST,GUEST Barbara
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 12:55 PM

Thanks for those answers. Guess we are all doing the King William Quiz!
Here are another two:
      what did Cyril scream prior to debagging himself?

      to what extent could Indian army officers read?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 01:17 PM

Barbara - :-)

Don't suppose you're any good on Archbishops are you? Specifically ones being clouted by Kings?

oh, not sure that first lyric is right - I hunted the whole lyric of Mad about the Boy and scrumptious ain't there... :-(

jane

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 03:12 PM

jane -

Refrain:

Mad about the boy,
It's simply scrumptious to be mad about the boy
I know that quite sicerely
Houseman really
Wrote The Shropshire Lad about the boy.
...

(follows the 2nd verse - Home work, home work,Every night there's home work...., sung by Schoolgirl). My probably referred to the fact the lyric gives simply scrumptious rather than your requested absolutely scrumptious (I'll see if it appears in that form anywhere else if you like).

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: Dave Swan
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 03:29 PM

Indian Army officers could read.....a bit.

Can't think of the song's title. "I Wonder What Happened to Him", I think.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 03:43 PM

Don't read further if you don't want to spoil your quiz:

The Grand Duke was dancing a foxtrot with me
When suddenly Cyril screamed Fiddledidee
And ripped off his trousers and jumped in the sea,
I couldn't have liked it more

From I've Been To A Marvellous Party (from Set To Music).

and

Though Indian army officers can read
A bit
Their verbal wit - has rather run to seed.

As Dave said from I Wonder What Happened To Him (from Sigh No More)

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: GUEST,jane
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 05:58 PM

Mick - thanks. I guess like other much performed songs (a certain parrot springs to mind!) lyrics sometimes change

I looked at
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/faithfull-marianne/22157.htm originally, hence the source of my confusion. Perhaps she's not so faithful after all!

jane

ps what's the rest of your name so we can credit you properly on our answers page?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 06:03 PM

At your libary, plea for them to get "Noel Coward, The Complete Lyrics," Barry Day, Editor, Overlook, 1998. It is a fairly expensive book.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Noel Coward lyrics
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 06 Jan 03 - 06:27 PM

That must be the more recent version of my book - "The Lyrics of Noel Coward" - Overlook, 1978 my edition.

I have a copy of the Noel Coward Songbook, Michael Joseph, 1953, which also (like all the copies I looked at online after your comment above) has a more restricted set of words for Mad About The Boy (it must be said not nearly as restricted as the online copies I saw - The Marianne Faithful one included).

As to the simply/absolutely scrupmtious I don't know; except that (in cabaret especially) Noel did rewrite things and may have sung/recorded it like that. I'm still certain it's Mad About The Boy.

Mick (Pearce - MCP really are my initials. MCPearce0ATaolDOTcom)

Subject: Lyr Add: MRS WORTHINGTON (Noel Coward)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Nov 18 - 05:31 PM

You can hear this recording at the The Internet Archive:


(DON'T PUT YOUR DAUGHTER ON THE STAGE) MRS. WORTHINGTON
Words and music by Noel Coward
As recorded by Noel Coward (1935); also on “Vintage British Comedy, Vol. 2” (2011)

Don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs. Worthington.
Don’t put your daughter on the stage.
The profession is overcrowded and the struggle’s pretty tough,
And admitting the fact
She’s burning to act,
That isn’t quite enough.
She has nice hands, to give the wretched girl her due,
But don’t you think her bust is too
Developed for her age?
I repeat, Mrs. Worthington,
Sweet Mrs. Worthington,
Don’t put your daughter on the stage.

Regarding yours, dear Mrs. Worthington, of Wednesday, the 23rd:
Although your baby may be keen on a stage career,
How can I make it clear
This is not a good idea?
For her to hope, dear Mrs. Worthington, is on the face of it absurd
Her personality
Is not in reality
Exciting enough,
Inviting enough,
For this particular sphere.

Don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs. Worthington.
Don’t put your daughter on the stage.
She’s a bit of an ugly duckling, you must honestly confess,
And the width of her seat
Would surely defeat
Her chances of success.
It’s a loud voice, and though it’s not exactly flat,
She’ll need a little more than that
To earn a living wage.
On my knees, Mrs. Worthington,
Please, Mrs. Worthington,
Don’t put your daughter on the stage.

Don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs. Worthington.
Don’t put your daughter on the stage.
Though they said at the school of acting she was lovely as Peer Gynt,
I’m afraid, on the whole,
An ingenue role
Would emphasize her squint.
She’s a big girl and though her teeth are fairly good,
She’s not the type I ever would
Be eager to engage.
No more buts, Mrs. Worthington.
Nuts, Mrs. Worthington!
Don’t put your daughter on the stage.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs by Noel Coward
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 03:07 PM

What about that extra verse with

in addition to which
the sonofabitch
can neither sing nor dance !?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs by Noel Coward
From: Joe_F
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 09:42 PM

Could I write as witty
As Noel Coward,
By self-esteem
I'd be devoward.             -- Ogden Nash