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

The Armadillo Song always makes me sad.

I'm an American girl that grew up on F&S. My dad had all the original recordings and I remember laughing myself stupid listening to Kokoraki when I was six. I could talk and sing along with all the albums by the time I was five, but the thing I have enjoyed the most about Flanders & Swann over the years is suddenly coming to realize what some of the political, social, environmental references were.

When I was small the animal songs were just animal songs, but I didn't really understand the idea behind the honeysuckle song until I was in my early teens and I didn't understand the specific reference until much later. I'm still "getting" nuances of their lyrics that I had never before understood.

I absolutely adore Flanders & Swann. I have the 3 CDs (my dad is guarding his orignal LPs tooth and nail) and the BBC video. I'm so glad someone has written an article on them. Thank you!

I have been known to sing the Armadillo song at parties! A friend of mine had learnt the piano bit, so it was a reasonably good party piece to do; the piano bit is quite tricky, but really makes the song.

I beleive they had written the song for a cricketting friend of theirs who was going on tour; in the event the guy never got round to performing the song that had been written for him.

My Gran always used to play 'The Hippopotamus' to me when I was very little. Then I discovered that they wrote a lot of other songs too, and I've loved them ever since!

I first heard F & S on our quirky public radio morning show on MN Public Radio ( called, oddly enough, The Morning Show) and have loved them ever since. My husband and I have been known to break out into the "hippotomus" and "in the bath" songs without warning. I have not heard the Armadillo song... where could I find it?
Lillith

It's on The Beastiary. That's a record that they did of all their animal songs. I know that you can sometimes find old albums of theirs in consignment shops, or there is a 3 CD box set that I have (it was a gift, I don't know whether it's the BBC or PBS that has it) that includes The Beastiary.

The box set's EMI, btw.