h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Interesting article on F and S, but I thought a bit short: an article about these two entertainers without refernce to the Hippopotamus song (Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud) seems almost criminal!

I have a 3 Cd set of all of their work, plus a copy of the songbook - if you are interested I could knock something together to augment your article?

Don't forget...............

"Twas on a Monday morning that the gasman came to call........."

'G'

Was that yours Gandalf?
I like "We're terribly House and Garden at number 32(?)" and "The Gnu song" best

The one that used to make me laugh the most when I was little was 'Ma's out, Pa's out, let's talk rude...'

Feel free to augment away

Which was the sequal to "Mud, Mud Glorious Mud"?
And the best bit was before the song he'd always say "Remember the line is "Follow Me Follow, and NOT Follow Me Follow Me like you all sing" and yet, when it was sung, he'd always sing "Follow Me Follow Me" and NOT "Follow Me Follow".

It makes sense to me.

I find my favourite F&S song changes over time. At first it was The Gnu (because I heard it on the Muppets). Later, when I learned some of the songs at school I liked The Whale best.
For years Medeira M'Dear meant nothing to me, then suddenly soemthing clicked and I got all the puns and wordplay.
At the moment I have a fondness for Misalliance, again much of which was lost on me as a callow youth.

The Prophet

Oh; and it was number 7B by the way.

The Prophet.

How do you spell "Kokokoraki"?

I heartily agree about the brevity of the piece (a bit more biog. would be good), and I would add that there should also be mention of the song about the honeysuckle and the bindweed being a dig at left vs. right politics, snobbishness, and totalitarianism. Their songs were very funny, but also packed with insight, satire, irony, and allegory. Who hasn't been in a record store ar a hi-fi shop and been given the kind of attitude from the assistant embodied in 'A Song of Reproduction'? "Who made this circuit up for you anyway? Bought it in a shop? What a horrible shoddy job they fobbed you off with with. Surprised they let you have it in this room, anyway, the acoustics are all wrong. If you raise the ceiling four feet, put the fireplace from that wall to that wall, you'll still only get the stereophonic effect if you sit in the bottom of that cupboard. I see you've got your negative feedback coupled in to your push-pull input-output. Take that across though your headed pickup to your tweeter, if you're modding more than eight you'll get wow on your top. Try to bring that through your preamp rumble filter to your woofer - what'll you get - flutter on your bottom."

Let's not forget that they could be serious too, with, for instance, their song 'Slow Train', about the cuts Dr. Beeching made to British Rail. That one tugs at my heartstrings every time I hear it. And if anyone thinks that British summers aren't what they used to be.....
June just rains and never stops
Thirty days and spoils the crops
In July the sun is hot
Is it shining? No, it's not
August cold, and dank, and wet
Brings more rain than any yet

I tried to get a bit more biog into it, but it kept turning into a LOT more biog, and I so desperately wanted to get the song lyrics in that this would have made the article a bit long for those who'd never heard of F&S, running the risk that they wouldn't read the lyrics.

In my original submission, I had a link to a site that I cleverly can't find any more. I also don't seem to have a link to the unedited article on my home page any more

oooh, i like the reluctant cannibal and, erm, all of them probably. How exciting.

Was it this one? http://timothyplatypus.tripod.com/FaS/ I hope I wasn't too abrasive in my previous post btw. I wholeheartedly applaud the effort of writing the entry and getting it accepted into The Guide. For me, Flanders and Swann embody an aspect of British, and particularly English culture which I can sense as a concept, but always find hard to put into words. I'm not talking about their music here, it's more of a social thing. I kind of want to say middle class socialists, but that desription has some derogatory connotations to it. The kind of people who were well off, and definately middle class (maybe even upper class), but who would have voted Labour, joined CND, marched to Aldermaston, that sort of thing. They had a conscience, and an open mind. Hmmm, I'll have to do some work on this one I think.

sounds interesting, i'm sure their very much still around

Once upon a time it was possible to be clever, witty and amusing and still be basically NICE. Don't get me wrong - I find a lot of 'alternative comedy' very funny but there's more than one way of being amusing.

Swann's political views were considered radical for his time though, and Flanders entertainer in a wheelchair - who laughed about it - long before PC was invented.

There's not enough F&S in the world...

Ma's out, Pa's out.. This was also recorded by the wonderful Beverly Sisters; at the time there was some talk as to whether the British Broadcasting Corporation would allow it to be played or not.

(for those unfamiliar with the lyrics, they start off something like:
Ma's out, Pa's out, lets talk rude,
Pee, Po, Belly, Bum, Drawers
Ma's out, Pa's out..Dance in the bathroom in the nude,
Pee, Po, Belly, Bum, Drawers .................)

Pretty innocuous really.

was it http://wwwh2g2com/a359066 ?
Thanx Prophet for 7B

The name Timothy Platypus sounds familiar, but the web page design doesn't look like the one I saw. Perhaps he re-designed his page.

A Song of Patriotic Prejudice is my favourite (now that I've grown up a bit and can see beyond Pee Po Belly Bum Drawers) because it's so tongue-in-cheek, but it still has the potential to cause apoplexy in those who can't see that, and who hold it up as an example of English arrogance.

Well, let's face it - firstly, there will always be a substantial number of people who will take something like 'Patriotic Prejudice' at face value because they see it as reinforcing their own beliefs, just as happened with 'Till Death us do Part', and secondly, the English were incredibly arrogant for hundreds of years, the result being The British Empire. Personally, I believe that as often happens, good came from evil - because of The Empire, people in Britain have a much more worldwide view than I've found since I moved to America. Here, foreign stories make up a minute percentage of news coverage compared to what I used to get from the BBC. Indeed, the only decent news bulletin I can get here is the half hour ITN News for Public Television, which is shown on our PBS channel every weeknight, and I get all my written news from The BBC news website rather than American newspapers. Ironic.

I must add (speaking as an Englishman) that I still find the English quite arrogant in believing that they are still the world player that they imagine themselves to be. We're simply not top nation any more. All that history doesn't guarantee current status.

No real nation is Top Nation, alas it is all top companies...

Yes, http://timothyplatypus.tripod.com/FaS/ has been redesigned. I did it. enjoy.

Tim