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What Kind of a Noise Annoys an Oyster?

  • Jan. 1st, 2009 at 1:38 PM
Voguegirl
Yesterday, making shepherd's pie from leftover lamb roast from Dec. 25th dinner, I put on a cd of comic songs and recitations. Most of them are British (although there's Jimmy Durante singing "Inka Dinka Doo," including a note Bing Crosby gave him. . . . and boy, was he glad to get rid of it. ). There's Stanley Holloway doing "The Lion & Albert" (anybody ever hear "The Lion & Albert"?) and Noel Coward singing "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" and Groucho Marx doing "Lydia the Tatooed Lady."

There's also a little number, by a gentleman called Frank Crumit called "What Kind of a Noise Annoys an Oyster," which has one of those flypaper tunes that won't go out of your head and utterly simple-minded lyrics. So, instead of Noel Coward or "Brush up Your Shakespeare," what have I got stuck in my brain?

Yeah.

I think I'll go put on some Flanders and Swann and get on with the tidying up. [info]scbutler and his wife are Coming To Tea after Ellen's 1 o'clock performance.

Anybody else out there a Flanders and Swann fan?

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[info]desperance wrote:
Jan. 1st, 2009 06:42 pm (UTC)
Anybody else out there a Flanders and Swann fan?

*waves*

One of those things I have to thank my stepmother for: she introduced my father to Flanders & Swann, and Dad promptly introduced me when I was early teens. I believe I have their entire oeuvre. And can sing it. (Also Swann's settings of Tolkien's songs...)
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[info]deliasherman wrote:
Jan. 1st, 2009 07:44 pm (UTC)
I grew up with "At the Drop of Another Hat." So I have "Status Symbols" pretty much by heart, and a great deal of the "Horn Concerto." I'm afraid I rather lost my taste for Swann's settings of Tolkein as I got older--they're a bit sweet for my taste, as is a lot of his serious music. But boy, could he write the hell out of a parody!
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[info]calimac wrote:
Jan. 2nd, 2009 06:05 am (UTC)
The recording of Swann's Tolkien settings doesn't really show them at their best. I've heard the cycle performed live by different people, and was much more impressed. There are better Tolkien settings, but there aren't many better in the classical art-song genre.

I like some of the lighter Flanders and Swann work as you do, but alas, my taste for one of their most famous songs, "Have Some Madeira, M'Dear", was rather spoiled by having heard the late Randall Garrett sing it. On several occasions. Once was more than enough.
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[info]deliasherman wrote:
Jan. 2nd, 2009 03:19 pm (UTC)
It's the classical art-songiness I'm objecting to. But I've never heard them performed live.

I've never much liked "Have Some Madeira, M'Dear." The situation remains utterly icksome, despite all the winks and nods and "we're really kidding here, folks." It creeped me out as an adolescent, and it creeps me out still.
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[info]kortirion wrote:
Jan. 1st, 2009 07:31 pm (UTC)
"There's a famous seaside place called Blackpool, that's noted for fresh air and fun,
And Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom went there with young Albert, their son..."

If pushed I can recite most of it, but my party piece is the 'Battle of Hastings'... "That 'appened in days long gone by,
When Duke William became king of England,
And 'Arold got shot int' eye." ~_^

As for Flanders and Swann... a tune of my childhood radio was 'mud, mud, glorious mud!' aaahhhh... it takes me back.... ;)
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[info]deliasherman wrote:
Jan. 1st, 2009 07:50 pm (UTC)
I adore recitations. When I was doing the Victorian Revels in Boston in the early 80's, I heard the one that end "'Not Love,' said he, 'but Vanity, gives Love a task like that." often enough to retain odd lines, but not (clearly) the title.

My party piece is "Jabberwocky." Also large swathes of the King James Bible, which I had to learn in grade school and recite every morning with the other little girls in Prayers.

Since I only had "At the Drop of Another Hat" when I was a kid, I learned the sequel to the Hippopatomus Song before I'd even heard the original. The amorous Hippopotomus, whose love song we know, is now married and father of ten. He murmurs Godrot'em as he watches them grow, and longs to be single again. . . .
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[info]intelligentrix wrote:
Jan. 1st, 2009 09:05 pm (UTC)
In my brief stint as a fill-in DJ at WORT in Madison, I had to take over a show called "audities" for one episode. I played Tom Lehrer and some other amusing things, and "Have Some Madeira, M'dear" by Flanders & Swann. It was a great deal of fun. Alas, I did not and do not own any of their albums. I should rectify that.
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[info]deliasherman wrote:
Jan. 2nd, 2009 03:37 am (UTC)
Oh, do. There's a complete boxed set, which is just dandy, and has liner notes and all.
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[info]sararyan wrote:
Jan. 2nd, 2009 12:32 am (UTC)
Oh yes. We had both Hat albums, the Bestiary, and the sheet music for the Tolkien settings. (I used to try to play the melodies on my violin...)

And like Pogo, Flanders and Swann gave me some early political/historical education (cf. "All Gall" among others) in addition to all the amusement.
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[info]deliasherman wrote:
Jan. 2nd, 2009 03:36 am (UTC)
Y'know, I hadn't thought of that, but it's true, isn't it? "No fire Profumo," and all (which I never would have gotten if I hadn't read Punch as well--the compeate Anglophile, that's me).

Do you cry when you hear the song about the train stations that don't exist any more? I do.
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[info]wild_irises wrote:
Jan. 2nd, 2009 01:03 pm (UTC)
Okay, no one else did it:

A noisy noise annoys an oyster.
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[info]deliasherman wrote:
Jan. 2nd, 2009 03:13 pm (UTC)
So it does. Thank you, my dear. I should have known I could count on you. ;)

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