Flanders & Swann

Madeira M'Dear
AT THE DROP OF ANOTHER HAT
on Broadway 1967
By Permission of THE FLANDERS & SWANN ESTATES

[@ishtarg8]

There's a moment during At the Drop of a Hat, when they explain to the audience that the show is being recorded, "for posterity", and if the audeince want to say "Hello" to posterity, now is their chance. Good naturedly, they all chorus "Hello." When I heard that I suddenly realised that I was "posterity", and that all these people, on a night out in London before I was even born were saying "Hello" to me. Which made me feel kind of strange, and still does.

[@zacmumblethunder7466]

I'm very familiarity with that recording but have never thought of that. I shall make sure to say hello back next time I listen.

[@kyuniverse718]

omg same!!!

[@DavidPhilipNorris]

I love the followup to this song on the record, where Flanders relates how his eight-year-old nephew liked this one the best because he thought it was about cake. ("... So does Swann!")

[@lindamanas6735]

What a wonderful pianist Swann was!

[@oldjagman]

I saw them live in Adelaide South Australia in the 60s or 70s and they were brilliant. I can attest that it was a beard in 'er ear-ole that tickled and said. It definitely was his prowess, the dirty old man was not interested in finesse. One thing missing from this recording was part of the line, "he slyly inveigled her up to his flat - to see his collection of stamps - all unperforated", that all unperforated was delivered in the filthiest tone imaginable

[@brianphillips1374]

This is certainly cleaned up, but this is one of several songs that exist in more than one version. There are two versions of the "At the Drop Of a Hat" show. They even have a different song list. The banter is not entirely the same, either. The earlier version of the album has the better version of "Madeira...". The second pressing is from a later show. Flanders seems a bit tired of singing the same songs, but it does feature "The Wompom". Both are recommended.

[@robertireson1564]

@@brianphillips1374One is called “at the drop of another hat” Several years ago a CD box set came out of all of their work, I was fortunate enough to get one.

[@LeonPFB]

He was serving in the Navy during the war and contracted polio at the age of 21 (it's a waterborne virus). After 4-5 years in an iron lung he was confined to a wheelchair fir the rest if his life.

[@WiggaMachiavelli]

And wasn't thereafter able to take his degree at Oxford because they hadn't the facilities for a student in a wheelchair.

[@philipstevenson5166]

@@WiggaMachiavellisounds somewhat unlikely. you dont need to do acrobatics.

[@WiggaMachiavelli]

@@philipstevenson5166 You are a twit.

[@MStrat1106]

Tony Randall, who did this song on Carson and Carol Burnett, doesn't hold a candle to Flanders in a wheelchair, accompanied peerlessly by Swann. Two true performers with genuine class.

[@The_Old_Wolf]

I was privileged to attend a performance of these two on Broadway in 1967. What a team they were! ❤‍🔥

[@jenniferh6813]

For many a Briton, I think, the alcoholic drink "Madeira" evokes a pavolvian response similar to the near-universal one Brits have to the word "mud". I certainly can't hear mention of it without a voice in my head responding: "Have some Madeira m'dear!"

[@andrewgrainger3681]

And, indeed, 'gnu'.

[@peterward8630]

Have a m,my dear,love this.

[@ianwright490]

You're exactly right. The cake or the wine are both followed by m'dear

[@WiggaMachiavelli]

Perhaps my favourite part of this song is that Madeira very much does keep once opened.

[@stevenlowe3026]

I've always loved "her antepenultimate breath" - what a wonderful word; antepenultimate - It's amazing the opportunities you get to trot that one out in conversation.

[@MrRQBQ]

A masterclass in lyrics.

[@rob-rs2jp]

I always loved "When he asked 'what in heaven,' she made no reply, up her mind and a dash for the door."

[@G6JPG]

It's excellent, isn't it? I think it's called zeugma. "She left in tears and a carriage."

[@Razkali]

I love how these two are of such high quality and I find it quite amazing, if a little sad, how there's not one moment of swearing in any of their acts and yet they're so wonderfully funny. Kind of shows how much our humour has changed slowly over time. I don't think humour like this would work so well with nowaday comedians.

[@wdd3141]

Right. In today's nightclubs funniness is equated with edginess -- if a joke isn't edgy, it isn't funny. This song is almost a rap, in that not all of it is sung. Yet it shows an old-fashioned sensibility in that ribald subjects are described without foul language; it was an art form to describe sexual or scatological matters in language that is elegant. Today's rappers with their "thug" culture are very "in yo face" by contrast.

[@andyb9378]

No swearing? Clearly you haven't hear them sing "Pee, poo, belly, bum, drawers". kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4TViaSFfp5sbpo

[@xen300]

I've known their songs for years and this is the firt time I've seen them moving! I'm really pleased you've posted this clip.

[@richardcleveland8549]

Ditto!

[@Elitist20]

On the original record he said 'to view his collection of stamps - all...unperforated! [filthy laughter].' It was years before I realised what he really meant...

[@cogidubnus1953]

Thanks so much for posting this...it's my favourite of all the Flanders and Swann pieces, (such a difficult choice but it's the really witty triple entendres that really crack it)...

[@annabelthegreat]

'Antipenultimate breath' is my favourite.. the breath after the one befor the last one... :) makes me laugh every time

[@vibraphonics]

Annabel Laver "antepenultimate" the prefix ante- meaning "before" while anti- means against or opposite

[@smwca123]

@@vibraphonics The second breath before the second-last, as Rolf Harris explained it in his 1965 cover.

[@allenwilliams1306]

@Jamie Pritchard 🤣

[@ScepticPJ]

They were craftsmen of their art. Such skills seem to have vanished these days. I feel priviledged to have been around when they were in their prime; unfortunately I didn't get to see them live. Thank you the Internet.

[@TheMimifur]

My parents used to play Flanders and Swann to us when we were little but they always censored this one!

[@LeonPFB]

Spot on! F&S obviously adapted and self-censored for the delicate ears of the American TV audience! Leon

[@lizcademy4809]

And Lou Gotleib of the Limelighters added it all back in - and more! Being American I heard Lou's version long before F&S (who I just heard of now). Both are excellent, but Lou's version will always be the first one my ear recalls.

[@westcentralmanagement881]

Thank you thank you thank you! Cheered us up in the virtual office.

[@richardcleveland8549]

One of the wonderfulest comic songs of all time!

[@johngal56]

Fantastic and absolutely brilliant.

[@estherbradley-detally9803]

Knew the from the 50s. They practiced on Betty and don Bradley’s piano. I adore them

[@leonberger5749]

Can you tell us more? Who were the Bradleys, and where did they live?

[@estherbradley-detally9803]

@@leonberger5749Happy to. I think my father and stepmother, and my brother John and I (Esther) discovered them in 1959. I was at Emerson college in Boston and used the Madeira piece as a school speech class assignment. Years later, I lived in California and Don and Betty were retired and their home was in west Dennis on Cape Cod and my father. Saw Michael Flanders at a market. This all led to Sean and Flanders coming to Dad and Betty’s to practice for future shows. I am now 85, a writer, a Baha’i and lived in Ukraine and Belarus and traveled to Siberia I wrote two books, Without A Net: a Sojourn in Russia and another. Not related to Russia, You Carry The Heavy Stuff. Look up Esther Bradley-DeTally, these 2 books should show up. I still love Swann & Flanders. So brilliant. I think Misalliance would make a wonderful piece regarding prejudice! That’s all I know. And you, how do they call to you? Cheers! Y

[@estherbradley-detally9803]

Did u get this. Cell phone - cant find send

[@wdd3141]

Lou Gottlieb called this an Edwardian ballad, so I was under the impression that it was a bawdy song from the Edwardian era, which would have immediately followed Queen Victoria, but Wikipedia gives it as a song from 1956!

[@zacmumblethunder7466]

On one of the versions he has implies he wrote it because he'd got a Edwardian hat.

[@kyanelia]

i love flanders and swann!! unfortunatly i'm too young to have ever had a chance to see them live...thank you so much for posting this!!

[@Thisisace]

@JimC "And wherever you're sitting now, that's where you'll be on the record!" ;-)

[@TheMikester307]

Wow! I did not know there was footage of them performing! I heard Tony Randall sing this on the Tonight Show, then years later I discovered their records at the library! Total Fun!

[@LeonPFB]

Well, we're hoping to go for a commercial release of a complete AT THE DROP OF ANOTHER HAT - when the lawyers have finished thrashing it out!

[@bigverybadtom]

They play this song on the radio on the "Midnight Special" program every New Year's Eve.

[@oorrbbcc1]

OH, boy! I used to have a fragment of this video on VHS, but when it got to "carved one more notch" it always cut out into the middle of Jemima Puddleduck...I've never heard the rest of this performance before

[@BudTuba]

Our local PBS station, WXXI, has a relocated Brit Simon Pontin, who plays a great Saturday morning show call Salmagundy (meaning common folk or something like that). He features Flanders and Swan from time to time and last Sat played High Fidelity. Great tune and great lyrics. These guys are "da Best".

[@andyb9378]

Salmagundi: an assortment of things mixed together. (Originally, a dish made with chopped meat and other ingredients).

[@thomsonfly645k]

Michael Flanders and Donald Swann are the best comic song Writers

[@lskarin]

A review was written called Madeira M'Dear where the two performers (not counting the pianist) did a collection of F&S. The Sloth is usually performed upside-down. I last saw it performed in Toronto about 20 years ago. It deserves a rebirth.

[@laurielovett8849]

Isn't there really something about the old music hall acts.they draw you in. The performers had something indefinable that modern acts don't seem to have. Many thanks to all those old entertainers

[@G6JPG]

Look out for TomFoolery, if it's still on anywhere - a similar revival, of the songs of Tom Lehrer (who was probably the US equivalent of F&S),

[@ianjeffery6744]

The zeugmas are just priceless....

[@keepthemusicplaying0]

Have some Madeira m'dear... wonderful !!!

[@elephantbarbiegirl]

Fantastic. Really enjoyed this. I went to see a Flanders and Swann tribute act at the Edinburgh Festival last week and very good they were too. Due to time constraints however, this song lost out to Transport of Delight in a public cheer-off. Glad I got to hear it after all

[@sirstrongbad]

Such a brilliant pair!.. thank you kindly for posting!.

[@LeonPFB]

There are gags on several levels in this song; and the words of the chorus are no exception. '"m'dear" is, of course, a contraction of "my dear". It's contraction alone shows a certain era and class of speaker. Moreover by using it it forms a clever rhyme - almost a pun - with "Madeira". And don't get me started on the zeugmas .....

[@eamonngaines9887]

My favourite example(s) of zeugma, indeed 😄

[@dehydrogenated]

Wow, never seen footage of them before, only listened to the records. Can't believe I never thought of looking on here before!

[@JimC]

Thank you so much for posting the videos! Please, PLEASE get their show on DVD. I'd buy it at the drop of a...well, as soon as it's available! :)

[@rwm1]

Great Great. I still remember Tony Randall telling how incensed a lady in the audience was when he did this song. A very funny anecdote to a whimsical song.

[@kneenack]

Thank you for this posting of two great entertainers!

[@njcornett]

Thanks for comments. I'm 72, When I was a teenager, I came into possession of a 78 of this song. I played it a few times, enjoying the lilt of it, then finally broke it over my knee. At that time I had not yet experienced the horror of rape through the use of alcohol or date-rape drugs, but was aware of a former relative's excessive interest in me, as well as in the recording. The video is delightful, though the words still have a sting for me.

[@gilgamess]

The first time I heard this was Tony Randall "reciting" it, on The Carol Burnett Show.

[@Selly_2007]

We've got Flanders & Swann on a couple of LPs at home, but this is the first time I've seen video clips of them! Great to watch! Thanks for posting :D

[@fundude365]

Did you think it was about cake too? :D

[@321bytor]

Wonderful.

[@andynew2]

Wonderful!

[@CobinRain]

Listen to "Slow Train"..a sad protest song about the draconian (and as we all see now) incredibly stupid government policy of closing literally hundreds of miles of branch lines all over Britain so that the Rail "network" no longer really worked and we all set about making our beautiful countryside over to car sand busy roads. Nostalgia, beautiful, quintessentially English

[@LeonPFB]

There is footage of 'high fidelity' (ie. Song of Reproduction). I'll see if it's in good enough condition to post

[@Pyat]

Excellent!

[@Elite942]

Madeira is a wine, and the character of the song is claiming he isn't trying to seduce the woman, but he's offering her wine, while saying while any other alcoholic beverage won't do.

[@jolyonjenkins1]

I have this on VHS and always thought the tape wow (and probably flutter on the bottom) was just my copy - glad (in a way) to see it's not.

[@LeonPFB]

This video was a made for a US TV audience and MF presumably felt he had to tone down some of the more suggestive lines. Leon

[@emmag1959]

Leon, you've brightened my Monday morning considerably. I could only be happier if it was the English lyrics but heyho. There's a smile on MY lips now.

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

Perfection.

[@Selly_2007]

If it weren't for the photo on the "At the Drop of Another Hat" LP cover I wouldn't've known either! Not for many years anyway! I grew up listening to F & S too - I got bored with the kids' records when I was about 10 or so and started looking through my parents' collection... Had heard the Gnu Song and the Hippopotamus Song before I found the LPs tho!

[@makebritaingreatagain2613]

"You Talkin' To Me?: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama" brought me here :)

[@hummmmmmingbird]

in my collection of F&S he says 'prowess' not 'finesse' :)

[@GrizzledGeezer]

Pretty much a perfect comic song, one that G&S would have been proud of. "Besides, it's inclined to affect me finesse" should be "prowess". Talk about censorship! There is such a thing as Madeira cake (which might be what Swann was thinking of). As far as I know, it has no alcoholic content.

[@georgewillment3943]

GrizzledGeezer somebody else Madeira means Maderia wine, which is a Portuguese fortified wine from the Islands. Like Port is a fortified wine from the country's Duoro region.

[@GrizzledGeezer]

Though the song is about wine, there is such a thing as Madeira cake.

[@leonberger5749]

'Prowess' was changed to 'finesse'' at the insistance of American TV, for whom this was filmed!

[@starababa1985]

Flanders is so vigorous and agile in his wheelchair, it doesn't occur to you that he is physically challenged, rather like Roosevelt.

[@gilgamess]

Thank you for this wonderful footage! It seems there is a bit of alteration, one bit for American audiences, ("...his flat(apartment)") and two which I believe were probably deemed a bit too blue for broadcast: "...affect me prowess" is now "...affect my finesse" and "...a voice" has been substituted for "...a beard".

[@pmatzner1]

Thank you Leon for this clarification. I am an an american and have ben besotted for years with the work of Flanders and Swan and sing these songs to my self all the time. One of my favorites is the "Reluctant Cannibal" I am a poet and the lyrics are brilliant. What is the origianl source of "Madeira" Will there be any revivals in the states or in England. I would plan trip around hearing these songs done well. Are they still performed??? What about Swann's Tolkien Cycle? .

[@jenniferh6813]

"But people have ALWAYS eaten people!" :-)

[@j2thadog]

The greatest song about Date-Rape ever recorded.

[@grahamturner97]

This is not about rape: it is about seduction. You can resist inveigling, rape is another matter.

[@comically_large_cowboy_hat3385]

@@grahamturner97rape is any sexual act when consent is not given or one or more party is unable to consent….a child for example cannot consent to sex and so any sex involving a child is automatically rape….the same is true with a drunk person

[@JimC]

@ishtarg8 It's at 2:34 in the track "A Song of Reproduction". Yes, it is eerie.

[@oldpossum]

@talshiarr , not rushed at all, I found it done in excellent tempo! Love it!

[@JoeHarkinsHimself]

but it's not about rape at all. It's about seduction, something not limited to Male v Female. It runs the other way too, but usually with more subtlety when the female is the seducer. If you are as fortunate as I, you have encountered one like the beautiful redhead, complete with freckles, who caught my attention at a party in 1963 by deliberately tipping over a glass of wine into my lap - and later that same evening, wooed me with the first version I'd ever heard of this song.

[@WiggaMachiavelli]

It's about a very underhanded form of "seduction" that involves taking advantage of and befouling the innocent.

[@comically_large_cowboy_hat3385]

people cannot consent when inebriated….therefore getting someone drunk and then having sex with them is rape

[@cogidubnus1953]

Not to mention the bloody clever quadruples!

[@Hugh7777]

@LeonPFB I guess that's also why he says "A voice that tickled her earhole" and not "a beard..." since a voice could be imaginary, but it's a fine point.

[@AECEntertainment]

I think it's funnier because he speaks most of it

[@5610winston]

Swann's playing here sounds a bit more elaborate than in the LP and CD recordings.

[@LeonPFB]

This film was made for American TV ... so there was a little cleaning up for a family audience ("Mum, what does 'prowess' mean?")

[@oldpossum]

@pmatzner1 , I think it was: "And a beard in her lug 'ole that tickled and said: " ;-)

[@npetrikov]

@LeonPFB I believe it's "beard in her earhole."

[@jeanrobinson705]

It is, but I believe at the time US sensibilities were such that they had to say "finesse" instead of "prowess", and "voice in her earhole" rather than "beard ..." because of the implications. In the same way that in movies they weren't allowed to show a man and a woman in bed together. OK to kill each other, but sex? ... heavens, no! "Beard" is definitely funnier. I always giggle at "antipenultimate breath".

[@G6JPG]

@@jeanrobinson705 As another comedian said in another context, "kill him - fine; kiss him ..."; or another (Jewish) "can kill a man on a Friday, but can't eat him ...."

[@ThinkingSk3ptically]

I am no sommelier, but, technically Madeira is NOT a Sherry; Sherries are from Spain, Madeira is Portuguese.

[@jenniferh6813]

I didn't know that - thank you! Like many Brits, I believe, I always thought of it as sherry! But in the sing he does say that he doesn't care for sherry, so I suppose I should have realised!

[@peterscrafton5592]

The other point which I have not seen anybody make yet, is that Madeira (the Bual historically served as an alternative to Port) does not go "off" - as MF says it will, if unconsumed. Only a few of the audience seem to appreciate that joke

[@peterscrafton5592]

The dry (Serial) Madeira is served before meals, rather than sherry

[@grahamturner97]

I worked in the alcoholic beverage industry for more than 30 years. Fortified wines are like all other wines, once opened they will go 'off', but it takes a lot longer because of the higher alcohol content. Even spirits eventually go 'off' once opened, but that normally takes too long for the bottle to survive undrunk. I have tasted gin - in the house of a deceased relative - that had gone 'off, but we suspected it had been around for more than 30 years.

[@pmatzner1]

Versions of Lyrics???? Thank you Thank you! I remember different lyrics from the album "At the Drop of a Hat" and from the touring production I saw in the 60s Gin- "Besides it's inclined to affect my prowess" for "finesse" in this version Awoke in morning and "a voice in her ear overtickled and siad..." "and a beard in her ear..." And .. slyly inveigled her up to his flat to view his collection of stamps ("all unperforated") Can anyone elucidate the when and where of these?

[@G6JPG]

... beard in 'er 'ear'ole that tickled and said ... (I think rather than "overtickled").

[@oldpossum]

Noel Coward did an excellent version of it, too!

[@emmag1959]

I think the laughs are also for the comic delivery! Lewd old men seducing young women were proper material for comedy then.

[@digitig]

And, to be fair, the young woman willingly going along with the seduction.

[@krisslee]

Madeira is a Sherry and he is trying to get the young lady drunk enough for . . .

[@grahamturner97]

Madeira is a fortified wine, as is sherry, but they are not the same thing. Sherry is from the area around Jerez, in southern Spain - once again the British genius for mispronunciation of foreign names strikes - Madeira is from the island of the same name, more than 1,000km away.

[@ruthbarron625]

I need some more hints about this Flanders & Swann song I'm trying to guess please. Maybe 2 more clues should be enough. Oh but before you tell me the 2 more clues let's recap over the clues you gave me so far shall we?

[@BethDiane]

I believe he was also missing a lung. And compared with the earlier video, it's clear that he's lost a good bit of weight since the 50s; I think all that was taking its toll!

[@hummmmmmingbird]

haha, although to be fair they might also ask what was going on in this song which would provoke the same response of 'ummm'

[@SANumber169]

I can certainly think of an explanation that is appropriate for children; can't Americans? Oh the English, the English, the English version is best.

[@LeonPFB]

"She made no reply, she made up her mind and she made a dash for the door" Not as elegant ......

[@bee-of2we]

envigled her up to flat... "apartment'...

[@Bfdidc]

Why? It's just about cake.

[@Krzyszczynski]

"O my child, should you look on the wine when 'tis red ...... " Actually, Madeira is a WHITE wine!! (But I guess we have to cut the guys some slack, 'cos otherwise the world would never have heard a superlative comic song.)

[@oldpossum]

@NicolaSyms agree 100%

[@ThinkingSk3ptically]

Why this song is so funny? I love it, but i don't get it... I mean: why people laugh after Mr Flanders sings "Have some Madeira, m'dear!'"? I am not a native English speaker, maybe because of that I can't understand it?

[@Conchobhar]

It's too bad this song is about rape because it's so well written and I love Madeira.

[@johne7100]

Not rape: in the UK when this was written the age of consent was 16. Could still be for all I know.

[@annabelthegreat]

Age of consent in UK still 16

[@jenniferh6813]

As another poster pointed out, it's not about rape - it's about seduction. Notice that the young woman wakes up the following morning with a "smile on her face". Women subjected to the horrror of rape don't smile afterwards. The man in this song is dishonourable,, to be sure, but - thankfully - he's not a rapist.

[@wdd3141]

You're getting statutory rape confused with rape per se, which can happen at any age.

[@grahamturner97]

It's not about rape, it's about seduction. You don't 'inveigle up to your flat' someone when you rape them. It is possible to resist inveigling: resisting rape is a different proposition.

[@danielburger1775]

Ro Ro Rohypnol

[@Heldermaior]

Ah yes. These amateur date rapers nowadays using roofies and whatnot... Truly modern society is killing all art forms... XD I can see old men at cafés drinking and arguing "these youth nowadays... When we were young now those were rapes... Nowadays they hardly have to break a sweat. You know, I blame the parents of nowadays for going too easy on them."

[@grahamturner97]

This is not about rape: it is about seduction. You can resist inveigling, rape is another matter.

[@richintalent]

These guys have Pryor, Carlin, even Cosby beat by a VERY long shot!!!

[@G6JPG]

@@wtbi Sharks gotta swim, bats gotta fly ...