"He blows up policemen or so I have heard and blames it on Cromwell and William the Third" Absolutely fucking genius.
@TheAlps36
3 ай бұрын
Best line of the song imo
@Stevensonnnnnn
14 жыл бұрын
I feel that the great affection in the Armstrong and Miller parody is pretty obvious, and that's the main reason that it works so well.
@gemmadunandoras3986
Жыл бұрын
I grew up listening to these guys and it's really nice to see them. I'm 37 now and these guys are one of my few happy childhood memories :)
@RatelHBadger
10 ай бұрын
Glad to have you in the club... You aren't, from Belgium are you?
@blessall4ever
13 жыл бұрын
I haven't heard this for about 40 years, and it's the first time i SEE them. That's lovely. I used to listen to the BFN in Germany as a schoolgirl and simply loved this song. I'm missing my favorite verse here: And all the world over each nation's the same, and they've simply no notion of playing the game. They argue with umpires, they cheer when they've won, and they practice beforehand, which ruins the fun...
@Fummy007
4 жыл бұрын
Exactly
@jftsang
16 жыл бұрын
This should have been the Eurovision entry.
@timhowley9197
3 жыл бұрын
At least we would get 'nil points' for a good reason.
@Jamie_Pritchard
3 жыл бұрын
We've no chance of winning ever again so we might as well upset a few folks along the way 🤣
@vhawk1951kl
2 жыл бұрын
Johnny foreigner would have hated it, almost as much as I cannot abide that ghastly contest. Once the fog in the channel was so thick that the continent was almost completely cut off.
@fordlandau
13 жыл бұрын
Also notice how Flanders has to take huge breaths holding the sides of his chair. As a Doctor I will propose he is quite a high level paraplegic and lacks some of the full breathing mechanism. Makes it all the more impressive his abilities to sing !!
@richardharrold9736
3 жыл бұрын
Left paralysed by polio.
@madelinerodgers1954
3 жыл бұрын
Mud mud glorious mud
@andrewcoates8906
2 жыл бұрын
It’s quite possible that the very reason he took up singing was as therapy for his breathing.
@vhawk1951kl
2 жыл бұрын
Of course being English he does not let a little thing like that stop him, and does remarkably well in spite of his handicap.
@TigerPrawn_
Жыл бұрын
@@vhawk1951kl I don't think we use the word handicap anymore
@nia.j.h
11 жыл бұрын
I grew up listening to them, my dad used to play them in the car and I would demand that the show 'At The Drop Of A Hat' be played on repeat for long drives. This is the first time I've ever actually seen a video of them and it's quite emotional for me really. They had such an impact on me and my developing sense of humour that I wouldn't know how to thank them enough if I somehow ever had the chance to meet them in person. Brilliant men.
@Outspoken.Humanist
3 жыл бұрын
"It's knowing you're foreign that's driving you mad". With apologies to the sensitivity of our overseas cousins, you know it's true 😂
@drgreensteam
3 ай бұрын
I'm 70 and grew up to all of their wonderful songs. I got taken to Drop of the Hat as a nipper.
@penguinmama88
3 ай бұрын
perfect antidote to these fractiou times...Cheers
@fordlandau
13 жыл бұрын
Was introduced to these guys on vinyl by an eccentric private school master in 1971. In love with them ever since. Genius like this is not repeated easily
@JediVulcanTimeLord
13 жыл бұрын
I think this is absolutely hilarious! Even if it does call me "bony and blotchy and covered with hair!" I haven't laughed that hard in ages.
@nbenefiel
3 ай бұрын
I’m 72 and grew up listening to these guys.
@rumpleman99
16 жыл бұрын
Now this SHOULD be our national anthem :)
@ishtarg8
13 жыл бұрын
"If it hadn't been for the English, you'd all be Spanish." Brilliant.
@alicemi4155
7 жыл бұрын
ishtarg8 And why would that be bad?
@richard6440
5 жыл бұрын
@@alicemi4155 if you do not understand why that would be bad, then please do not use any sharp implements :)
@captainwin6333
3 жыл бұрын
@@richard6440 You didn't understand the song was an attack on people like you.
@anglewoden
3 жыл бұрын
@@captainwin6333 The way the Spanish government are behaving at the moment I'm with Richard.
@theylivewesleep.5139
2 жыл бұрын
@@captainwin6333 your foreignness is driving you mad.
@joehiggs100
11 жыл бұрын
Thanks for posting, great to see them again. People still miss the point of their gentle pointed satire. Regarded as 'quintessentially English', Donald Ibrahim Swann was born in Wales of Russian and Azerbaijani parentage.
@TigerPrawn_
Жыл бұрын
*Turkmen not Azerbaijani :)
@G6JPG
3 жыл бұрын
"The Germans are German". An excellent sentiment, often missed as it goes by so fast! And it's so true. (I partially grew up in Germany, and am very fond of it and its people. But they _are_ very German - both irritatingly and endearingly/wonderfully so.)
@brianletter3545
3 жыл бұрын
Sometimes . . .
@PeterBrownPianist
2 жыл бұрын
I love that quote from Willie Rushton, "Where would we be without our sense of humour?" Answer, "Germany!". Someone on here said the English are good at laughing at themselves. True, but not in the same league as the Jews...witness Jackie Mason...kzitem.info/news/bejne/kZ6wnqN5jWR5h5g
@MG-dd9kj
Жыл бұрын
Can‘t deny it: I definitely am - frightfully so - German!
@matthew-dq8vk
Жыл бұрын
The fuck does this even mean. Sperg
@bricefuqua3567
9 ай бұрын
Happy 100th birthday, Donald Swann.
@321bytor
9 жыл бұрын
Marvellous. I love these two. Much missed
@Sapphire848
12 жыл бұрын
These guys are great! I remember sitting with my parents, loving the jokes that I got and watching my parents roar with laughter at the ones I was too young to understand :D.
@meredith218461
10 жыл бұрын
Satire on a sublime level.
@suekay4486
2 жыл бұрын
I have just discovered Flanders and Swann, absolutely marvellous, thank you for posting this video
@gilgamess
16 жыл бұрын
As a fan of these fellows, I cannot express the joy of seeing footage of them for the first time. I have heard various versions of their songs, but it is almost as much fun to see the interplay. Thank you very, very much!
@joannegray5138
5 жыл бұрын
Beautifully satirised by Armstrong and Miller as Brabbins and Fyffe, but the originals are sublime :)
@rswem
10 жыл бұрын
They were comic geniuses - I loved their comedy albums.
@jamesbull890
4 ай бұрын
Played this to a Welsh friend they fell off their chair laughing.
@MrCjsb
4 жыл бұрын
Complete, absolute and utter genius.
@mooiwiele
9 жыл бұрын
Reminds me of a plaque in the wireless office on a RN warship, 1983: There are four kinds of people in the UK. Firstly, the Scots who keep the Sabbath - and everythin' else they can lay their bluidy hands on; Then there are the Welsh - who pray on their knees and prey on their neighbours; Thirdly the Irish who don't know what the dickens they're fighting for, but they're willing to die for it, and fourthly and finally the English who consider themselves a race of self-made men, thereby ridding the Almighty of a dreadful responsibility."
@nadinepotten7060
7 жыл бұрын
I have the tea-towel
@flickfi
6 жыл бұрын
Brilliant!
@Simon_Nonymous
5 жыл бұрын
Selfmade men were always supposed to be an example of why you should never try DIY.
@flickfi
3 жыл бұрын
A song for St George's day!
@toppaz79
14 жыл бұрын
This should be our National anthem
@G6JPG
3 жыл бұрын
Along with Barwick Green, of course :-)
@EnclaveOfObsidian
8 жыл бұрын
I'm from New Zealand, so I'm right as rain. :D
@blazednlovinit
7 жыл бұрын
New Zealand is the Wales of Australia :P
@philster611-ih8te
7 жыл бұрын
Except New Zealand plays better rugby.
@adrianwilliams6908
5 жыл бұрын
Baaa
@keepthemusicplaying0
9 жыл бұрын
...... you'd all be Spanish ... Wonderful !!
@42dmisso
12 жыл бұрын
They forgot to mention that the British are the very best at laughing at themselves! No other nation does it better.
@Nobilangelo
4 жыл бұрын
Brilliant! And true, of course... ;-)
@Fummy007
4 жыл бұрын
Damn that was good.
@swimdeep189
Жыл бұрын
How well before their time they were.The Gas Man Cometh is the Tree that gave us Victoria, Stilgoe, Brandreth ,2 Ronnie's
@G6JPG
7 ай бұрын
And Dillie.
@HenryOrientJnr
16 жыл бұрын
Finally - Flanders and Swann on KZitem! Thanks for posting1
@lisekartakmcdonald
11 жыл бұрын
wow I have not heard this since I was like 11... I will be 50 in August. :) Thank you thank you!!!!! Such memories.
@LeonPFB
11 жыл бұрын
Their songs continually evolved over the 11 years they toured the two HAT shows, so variations are bound to occur - yes, I miss the 'Playing the Game' verse too!
@donaldclark6339
9 жыл бұрын
I thoroughly enjoyed the several videos of F & S on my computer. They have a great sense of humor. They are among my favorite comedians. Too bad so little of their work is on DVDs.
@leonberger5749
8 жыл бұрын
We tried to release all the available footage through EMI about 8 years ago, but the original film contracts about who owns which bits are a mess and would be very costly to sort out. The trouble is that the lawyers and agents of 60 years ago had no notion of home distribution.
@jenniferh6813
7 жыл бұрын
CDs (and now MP3s) of most of their songs are readily available, though. We play them often!
@LadyBunion
10 жыл бұрын
marvellous - "it's knowing you are foreign that's driving you mad" Of course even better when you look at Swann's ancestry - Russian Father / Azerbaijani mother and born in Wales
@eminzeynali6325
9 жыл бұрын
His father of English descent
@philipm06
9 жыл бұрын
English isn't a nationality, it's an attitude.
@liesemiller4786
6 жыл бұрын
Like eating 'fake' sausages, getting pissed on lager and filling up on curry?
@MarkJSau
15 жыл бұрын
gm137 (comment Dec08 or Jan09) has it exactly right! In this song F&S were engaged, as they were often, in parody. Poking at the prejudices of the English, and the prejudices of others, as hard as they could.
@Gledster
14 жыл бұрын
Thanks for uploading this, I stumbled on to it! My Dad played their tapes over and over when I was a kid, I never thought I'd actually be able to SEE them. :)
@Neashadia
14 жыл бұрын
Hilarious! My English boyfriend gave me a soundfile of this a long time ago. Just great!
@Selly_2007
16 жыл бұрын
I've always loved this song, however it's even funnier with video!! Thank you for posting these!!
@theendofeverything6356
2 жыл бұрын
Sublime!
@humphriedboswell
15 жыл бұрын
Splendid.
@alexodonnell6191
3 жыл бұрын
@ Elayne Kingston...you are SO right...a simpler and gentler time in a way...as a Scot I find this HILARIOUS...we used to listen to it and 'sing' it ( a tolerance of crows would have done a better job..,..lol ) back in our Uni days....
@yellowlabrador
16 жыл бұрын
thank for posting, some of my childhood favorites
@moominpic
16 жыл бұрын
True. In Bridge on the River Kwai, when he gets released from the jail, Guinness actually based his walk on how his son had walked while recovering from Polio. Ian Dury also had polio. This song, by the way, is wonderful.
@Idrisjj
8 жыл бұрын
Even though I am Welsh, this song makes me proud of being British!
@LisaHawkinsHotJava
7 жыл бұрын
But as a Welshman (or woman) you ARE most def British!
@G6JPG
7 ай бұрын
That _makes_ you British (the ability to laugh at ourselves). [The Welsh, of course, sing beautifully; that's probably the point.]
@michaelswanson9627
7 жыл бұрын
I've loved them since I first heard them. I love all their songs--at least the one's I've already heard.
@boundsie99
15 жыл бұрын
Brilliant, I'd forgotten all about these two until I saw Amstrong and Miller doing a skit on them.
@humphriedboswell
15 жыл бұрын
Brilliant.
@iaco4ever
16 жыл бұрын
Thanks Mikee to share this amusing show!!!5/5 * thousand compliment!! Pino
@rogerstill71
13 жыл бұрын
Geez, I laughed so hard I had to stop it in the middle and go potty!
@KAF128
3 жыл бұрын
Brilliant ! I haven't heard this since the 70s. But the words seems slightly different... I remember something about one of nations who "practice beforehand, which ruins the fun" - I'll have to dig that EP of my Mum's out and check !
@G6JPG
3 жыл бұрын
Yes, this performance was in the US (hence "you'd all be Spanish", and maybe they thought that line wouldn't be "got"? (With "cheer when they've won", which is the preceding line to rhyme, it's obviously a reference to cricket.)
@dreamwell2020
Жыл бұрын
A dangerous concentration of anglophilia, such as has been known to induce a terminal condition, was a major ingredient in our childhood growth medium. Tom [my kid brother, who died recently] refused to be mired in it, but did suffer from a lifelong susceptibility to the assorted amusements peddled under the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" banner. We grew up (to a certain extent, eventually) listening to the records (pronounced "rec-ore-ds") of Michael Flanders and Donald Swan. Whilst I was but a lad, I thought this song was our national anthem. Extensive research has determined that the deft humor developed by Michael Flanders as a lyricist is matched only by Noel Coward and Randy Newman. P.S. I notice that here they've left out my favorite verse from the studio recording - a pity putdown of Americans. "They argue with umpires, they cheer when they've won - and they practice beforehand, which ruins the fun."
@G6JPG
7 ай бұрын
I agree, the lyrics of MF certainly bear comparison with Coward. Modern (-ish) ones include (Victoria Wood of course and) Dillie Keane (and on the US side, though more F&S contemporary, Tom Lehrer, who DK acknowledges as one of her muses). Yes, I miss the cricket verse - but they probably thought the US audience wouldn't "get" it.
@mush1955
14 жыл бұрын
Good old days when the wonderfull lack of PC allowed us to laugh at each other without being called racist !......Flanders and Swan only missed out here with a lack of referance to us Welsh and Sheep !
@Choicelady320
4 жыл бұрын
Well, they weren't. They made fun of themselves, of those in power not those who were already exploited. That's why they're so deliciously funny.
@kinkyplunk
11 жыл бұрын
Such a misunderstood song. People don't actually listen to realise that it makes a mockery of prejudice
@kinkyplunk
3 жыл бұрын
@TheRenaissanceman65 Flanders had stated himself that it's a satirical song, meant as irony, not nationalism
@kinkyplunk
3 жыл бұрын
@TheRenaissanceman65 Getting it wrong and then covering your error by pretending it was wit? That isn't irony
@kinkyplunk
3 жыл бұрын
@TheRenaissanceman65 Believe that if it makes you feel better
@kinkyplunk
3 жыл бұрын
@TheRenaissanceman65 And here, ladies and gentlemen, we see the first signs of a total breakdown in logical argument
@kinkyplunk
3 жыл бұрын
@TheRenaissanceman65 Case in point, thank you
@ThePigeon5734
3 жыл бұрын
These days you couldn't get away with this. It's truly tragic.
@GeoffreyBronson
3 жыл бұрын
Yeah you can. Al Murray's made a career of a less musical version of this.
@blackcountryme
13 жыл бұрын
This is a good fun song a bit of a laugh and put together perfectly i have sung this at rugby matches and it got a laugh and on a St.George day parade... although i thought the organizers were going to cry...its a joke you humorless swines!
@sirstrongbad
16 жыл бұрын
I think we all know someone like that.. who pretty much won't stop working to keep themselves alive... thank you for posting this, I wasn't aware there was any actual film of them!.
@troberts1
11 жыл бұрын
This is actually the first time I've seen a video of the two of them. Also interesting hearing a more updated version, about Americans. I kinda miss this bit, though: And all the world over, each nation's the same, They've simply no notion of Playing the Game: They argue with umpires; they cheer when they've won; And they practise beforehand, which ruins the fun! Thanks for posting this. :D
@TheBrataccas
12 жыл бұрын
Im scottish and I love this O_O
@traceycrossman1295
8 ай бұрын
Just Brilliant
@brainsquashed
15 жыл бұрын
This should be compulsory viewing for all foreign nationals as part of their citizenship test. A perfect example of English humour , don't be offended or we'll come and take our flag back!
@realtijuana5998
7 ай бұрын
One of the greatest songs of all time.
@LeonPFB
16 жыл бұрын
He only had one working lung because of the polio, plus his weight was by then a strain to his system. Leon Administrator: Thr Flanders & Swann Estates
@666izzy
3 жыл бұрын
If you look at the version of The Wompom you posted, from 1962, he'd lost quite a bit of weight by the time of this performance.
@rogeralsop3479
5 жыл бұрын
Excellent!
@elaynekingston8802
7 жыл бұрын
Brilliant! If anyone is offended then they are lacking sense of humour!
@sb6678
5 жыл бұрын
I am an Englishman and I find this totally offensive. They are nothing but a couple of racists
@lovelybitofbugle219
4 жыл бұрын
@@sb6678 why do you find this offensive?
@RenaissanceEarCandy
4 жыл бұрын
@@sb6678 I read somewhere that it was written to take the piss out of racism. It's satire.
@mackworsfold4087
4 жыл бұрын
@@sb6678 m8 it's just a funny song so stop being offended and enjoy it
@captainwin6333
3 жыл бұрын
@Seine O'More His brains already fallen off.
@julianhomer
11 жыл бұрын
This is great!
@andreaprodan5616
14 жыл бұрын
Love the faces of the audience at the end! Were they amused, or not? Ambiguity takes a nod.
@rickydicky100
13 жыл бұрын
ten out of ten they should play this on the radio and tv once a day at least
@Whitemonkey510
5 жыл бұрын
Now this! This is humor!
@irkibby
13 жыл бұрын
@fordlandau I think I read somewhere that he only had one lung. It's an impressive effort!
@gordonsmith56
13 жыл бұрын
A funny endearing song which in essence makes fun of the English
@busybee720
15 жыл бұрын
Flanders and Swann are awesome! "If we weren't English we'd be Spanish" - lol!
@anniegill1
8 ай бұрын
I dont remember ever seeing them . Im 67 in a few weeks and knocking boots with the devil 😂😂😂. Its the first time I've ever heard them as far as I can but I really do like them . I remember. Al Jolson i remember him very well . My dad had every record of his and i used to love listening to him
@G6JPG
7 ай бұрын
I hope you've now found and enjoyed much of their other work. (Hippopotamus and Gasman probably being their best-known.)
@Faliat
14 жыл бұрын
I'm mixed English and Scottish. Born in Scotland, Raised in Scotland, Living in England. If the union breaks up I'm stuffed... And won't have a blanket term to describe myself to curious Americans. Lol.
@Kwodlibet
13 жыл бұрын
I feel so foreign right now :)
@philipm06
9 жыл бұрын
Never a truer word was spoken, in jest.
@blazednlovinit
7 жыл бұрын
... The English the English the English are best?
@monello198
16 жыл бұрын
bloody excellent stuff.. lol ;-}
@stizzulka
14 жыл бұрын
greatness. didn't know them but now I know whom armstrong and miller are paying tribute to.
@DavidMiller-ps5rr
4 ай бұрын
"If it hadn't been for the English, you'd all be Spanish"! Classic.
@LeonPFB
13 жыл бұрын
The song was pretty controversial when it was coined in 1963. They originally called it 'Anthem Anathema' - but that was too highbrow. Members of the audience would sidle up to them and say "We're so glad you feel this way too". So to make the satire totally explicit they renamed it 'Song of Patriotic Prejudice'. Some right-wingers still don't get it and trot it out as a quasi- national song. Twits!
@captainwin6333
3 жыл бұрын
Most right wingers are dimwitted,.
@Bethi4WFH
3 жыл бұрын
Captain Win Well, your comment might not be racist, but it sure is prejudiced! 😃
@LeonPFB
16 жыл бұрын
PS - of course the song is ironic - it's meant to be!
@jjdecani
11 жыл бұрын
It's knowing you're foreign that's driving you mad.
@ShoshiPlatypus
13 жыл бұрын
@2sepgorillas Ha ha ha ha haaaa! I quite agree with you!! I've just discovered Flanders and Swann on KZitem and am reliving some wonderful memories! I grew up with these songs - they made me laugh then and they make me laugh now!!! Bring back some good honest British (or should I say English??) humour, I say.
@virilevilc
9 жыл бұрын
brilliant & true
@gilgamess
15 жыл бұрын
According to the radio special I heard about them, they felt that the times were changing, but if you had asked both of them, Flanders would have been more than likely to continue. Swann wanted to do other things musically and did, such as "The Road Goes Ever On". Their parting was amicable, as far as I can tell. Thanks for the facts about Flanders, Leon!
@humphriedboswell
15 жыл бұрын
Excellent.
@Emikero
16 жыл бұрын
Me being English, take what they say into consideration, and do agree that there is a different verse. mainly because my mum told me and she found Flanders and Swann absolutely hysterical when she was younger. XD
@pauldockree9915
3 жыл бұрын
Brabbins and Fyffe? Yes Knowing I am foreign is driving me mad.
@thomsonfly645k
16 жыл бұрын
nice to see Flanders and Swann in action as they are now dead
@Charsiupao
11 жыл бұрын
Love this song - nothing racist or prejudicial about it. People who would criticise them for being bigoted obviously don't even know that Donald Ibrahim Swann was Muslim. Didn't stop him for writing hymns for the church and whatnot. You'd struggle to find more open-minded individuals with music which delight everyone regardless of nationality, race or religion.
@TheTomhamilton8
12 жыл бұрын
I'm a Scot great song
@PuissantAlgernon
13 жыл бұрын
@2sepgorillas - I don't how this song clashes with the values of those who promote tolerance, diversity or political correctness, given that it's actually satirising nationalism and racism.
@Emikero
15 жыл бұрын
Epic
@Vieweracc99
13 жыл бұрын
@steinwaygrande1 - Amen! Thank you for saying what I feel in my heart.
@keithrn9447
Жыл бұрын
Thanks to youtube &LeonPFB for preserving this for posterity! I am old enough to remember Flanders and Swann and their witty sons, e.g Twas on a Monday Morning the gasman came to call! Mudd Mudd glorious Mud nothing quite like it for soothing the blood! And if my memory serves me well " I'm a Gnu a G N U. I shall google the songs and wallow in nostalgia!
@G6JPG
7 ай бұрын
I presume you've found them (and lots of others) by now, but if not, the titles are "The Gasman Cometh" and "The Hippopotamus Song" (also seek "Hippo Encore"). [And this one is "A song pf patriotic prejudice".]
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