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The British duo "Flanders and Swann" were the actor and singer Michael Flanders (1922–1975) and the composer, pianist and linguist Donald Swann (1923–1994) who collaborated in writing comic songs.
Between 1956 and 1967 they performed some of their songs in their long-running two-man revues At The Drop Of A Hat and At The Drop Of Another Hat. Both revues were recorded in concert along with several studio-based albums.
The partnership
Flanders and Swann both attended Westminster School but went their separate ways during the Second World War. However, a chance meeting in 1948 led to a musical partnership writing songs and light opera, Flanders providing the words and Swann composing the music. Their songs were performed by artists such as Ian Wallace and Joyce Grenfell.
In December 1956, Flanders and Swann hired the New Lindsey Theatre, Notting Hill, to perform their own two-man revue At The Drop Of A Hat, which opened on New Year's Eve. Flanders sang a selection of the songs that they had written, interspersed with comic monologues, and accompanied by Swann on the piano. An unusual feature of their act was that, due to Flanders' having contracted polio in 1943, both men remained seated for their shows: Swann remained behind his piano, and Flanders used a wheelchair.
The show was successful and transferred next month to the Fortune Theatre, where it ran for over two years, before touring in the UK, the USA, Canada and Switzerland.
In 1963 Flanders and Swann opened in a second revue, At The Drop Of Another Hat. Over the next four years they toured a combination of the two shows in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the USA and Canada, before finishing up at the Booth Theatre on Broadway. On April 9 1967 they performed their last live show together. Ten days later, they moved into a studio and recorded the show for television.
Over the course of 11 years, Flanders and Swann gave nearly 2,000 live performances. Although their performing partnership ended in 1967, they remained friends afterwards and collaborated on occasional projects.
Timeline
| Date | Venue |
|---|---|
| 1956 | New Lindsey Theatre, Notting Hill |
| 1957–59 | Fortune Theatre (suspended one month because of Flanders' pneumonia) |
| 1959 | Edinburgh Festival "At the Drop of a Kilt" |
| 1959–60 | Golden Theater, New York |
| 1960–61 | 12-city tour of USA, plus Toronto |
| 1961 | Switzerland |
| 1962 | 9-city tour of UK, plus Toronto |
| 1963 | 9-city tour of UK |
| 1963 | Haymarket Theatre |
| 1964 | 4-city tour of Australia, 5 NZ, plus Hong Kong |
| 1965 | 3-city tour of UK |
| 1965 | Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud) |
| 1966 | 9-city tour of USA, plus Toronto |
| 1966–67 | New York |
source: Sleeve notes to the CD box set "The Complete F & S"
Songs of Flanders and Swann
Flanders and Swann's songs are characterised by wit, gentle satire, complex rhyming schemes, and memorable choruses. They wrote over eighty comic songs together; the following selection gives an indication of their range:
- "All Gall" — a political satire based on the long career of Charles de Gaulle. At the time of writing, de Gaulle had recently vetoed the UK's first application to join the European Economic Community.
- "First and Second Law" — perhaps the only comic song ever written about thermodynamics. Flanders And Swann - Ill Wind excerpt.ogg Media help
- "A Song of Reproduction" — satire on the (then very topical) mania for do-it-yourself hi-fi. ("Raise the ceiling four feet, move 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.")
- "Have some Madeira M'Dear" — a song about seduction, full of complex word-play, including three oft-quoted examples of syllepsis.
- "Misalliance" — a political allegory concerning a love affair between a honeysuckle and a bindweed.
- "P** P* B**** B** D******" or "Pee Po Belly Bum Drawers" — a song comparing the use of profanity among the intelligentsia to playground swearing.
- "Slow Train" — a nostalgic song about the railway stations closed by Dr Beeching.
- "The Gasman Cometh" — relating the visits of a succession of tradesmen, each coming to repair the damage done by the previous tradesman.
- "The Hippopotamus" — one of Flanders and Swann's best known songs ("Mud, mud, glorious mud"), and one of a range of songs that they wrote about different beasts, including "The Gnu", "The Warthog" and "The Armadillo".
- "The Reluctant Cannibal" — an argument between father and son, disputing the topic of cannibalism (Son: "Eating people is wrong", Father: "Must have been someone he ate" — "he used to be a regular anthropophaguy").
- "A Transport of Delight" — with an increasing refrain about the "Big six-wheeler, scarlet painted, London Transport, diesel-engined, ninety-seven–horse-power om-ni-bus".
- "20 tons of TNT" — possibly the catchiest song ever written about thermonuclear weapons.
- "The War of 14–18" — a translation of a French song by Georges Brassens, this song 'celebrates' World War I.
- "The Wompom" — a tale about a fictitious creature/plant/raw material and the British Industry that stems from it.
- "In The Desert" ("Верблюды", lit. = "camels") — a "traditional Russian" song, performed by Donald Swann, with an English-language translation after every line.
Monologues
Flanders' comic monologues include:
- "By Air" — about the vogue for air travel. "I agree with the old lady who said, 'If God had meant us to fly, He would never have given us the railways.'"
- "Tried by the Centre Court" — a Wimbledon match between Miss L. Hammerfest and Miss J. Hunter-Dunn. "They are bashing a ball with the gut of a cat".
- "Greensleeves" — about the background to the composition of the famous English air. An annotated version, explaining all the jokes, is here.
- "Los Olividados" — describing a festival akin to bull-fighting, where the bull is replaced with an olive.
- "Built-up Area" — a prehistoric inhabitant of Salisbury Plain complains about a new development.
External links
Flanders and Swann | British comedians | British comedy and humour | British culture | British music | Comedy musicians | Parlophone artists
"Flanders and Swann"