Max Bygraves - Decimalisation (1970, Pye)

a snappy tune about decimalisation, what more could you want!

[@stoffer6365]

This slaps way harder than it has any right to.

[@Bob-fh4ht]

I know right lol

[@chaotic_pineapple]

Yea

[@roberthorwat6747]

I challenged myself to ten seconds for old times sake despite the cheese but damn it I couldn't stop and I went right to the end. Just....how?????

[@Screech9]

♫ The half crown too is gone for good; a coin that foreigners never understood ♫ Man's spitting FIRE

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

Unironic banger. Definitely better than my country's decimalisation jingle, which itself is already quite iconic.

[@anglobostonian]

"In come the dollars and in come the cents.........."

[@spiffyflinger9174]

great this is going to be in my head every time i take a math test now

[@spiffyflinger9174]

the proto-rap bridge goes very hard though

[@angelacooper2661]

The correct word is mathematics with an S on the end, shortened to maths!

[@Bob-fh4ht]

bruh how did he make a banger song about decimalisation

[@cde.zhaletscou9421]

Ok I think this is the only eductional jingle I like. It’s got a great singing and slappin’ music

[@peterdalton200]

You should hear Australia’s jingle from 1966’ In come the dollars, and in come the cents…’ (sung to the tune of ‘Click go the shears’, by Slim Dusty.)

[@roddyteague6246]

Just heard this on the latest episode of Endeavour.

[@justmoritz]

I love this song ((👆🏻))

[@annoldham3018]

Does anyone else think this is like Cliff Richard's Congratulations?

[@angelacooper2661]

This record is as old as me. Decimalisation took place when I was just eight months old and in my pram, so I never had to deal with the changeover!

[@arfareandaneswara3286]

Hello again! It's 52 years today since Britain went decimal. Oh yes. I remember it well or as well as you can when you're only five and haven't started getting pocket money yet. Cheers! The country went to sleep on Sunday night with 240 pennies to the English sterling, and woke up on Monday morning with 100 pennies to the English sterling. Silver coins continued in circulation (with the shilling and florin worth 5p and 10p respectively), including the heptagonal 50p which had been around for a few years in place of the ten shilling note. But it was only on February 15th 1971 that we got our hands on the new coppers. These had no direct pre-decimal equivalent, so lots of people went shopping with helpful cardboard ready reckoners to aid conversion. As a numerate infant I coped pretty well, having barely had to engage with the previous system. My year at school was the first to use special decimal workcards in maths lessons. Those older than me had had to learn complex duodecimal and vigesimal arithmetic to carry out even the simplest of money calculations, but decimal was far easier. I guess my class never realised at the time how lucky an escape we'd had. Conversion was tougher for adults, so the government launched a public information campaign to ease them in. The Central Office of Information released this short film to get the basics across, plus this rather patronising short to try to persuade housewives to think decimal. I particularly remember a 26 minute film called Granny Gets The Point, in which the Collins family tried to persuade grandmother to cast her half crowns and thruppeny bits aside, with supposedly hilarious results. No promotional tool was too crass, including sending two girls called Penny into Harrods on the arm of the Chairman of the Decimal Currency Board. And then there was Max Bygraves. He recorded a song of terrifying jollity, entitled "Decimalisation", in which he attempted to get Radio 2's core audience singing along with the New Money basics. I was shocked to discover that the lyrics to this 1971 classic aren't online, so I've transcribed them diligently below. Notice how the words are aimed at Sun reader level, with the exception of one highly technical term slipped into the middle because it rhymes. The days when twelve old pence added up to make one shilling are gone, not much sense. The half crown too has been away for good, a coin that foreigners never understood. Now some people who were feeling very bright have put their heads together just to make things right. They have done it very easy for every citizen, because all we have to do is count from one to ten! Soon it's gonna be time to change the money round. Because we've adopted decimalisation, then we'll have 100 new pennies now for every pound. Decimalisation was an act of fundamental economic change, especially in an era when most things cost less than a pound, but the British public switched surprisingly successfully. I would refer you to an excellent Radio 4 documentary on the subject, except they last broadcast it 8 days ago so it's fallen off iPlayer just in time for today's anniversary. Instead let me point out that the old system had some arithmetical benefits over the new, in that 240 divides exactly by more numbers than does 100. Two friends share a £7 check. How much does each pay? 3 pounds and 50 pence 3 pounds and 10 shillings A majority of those first decimal coins have already bitten the dust. The titchy halfpenny was withdrawn in 1984, while the five, ten and fifty were resized in the 1990s. Our pockets are no longer full of shillings and florins - a tangible link to Kings and Queens past. But at least there are no plans on any immediate horizon to swap pence for cents. Decimalisation may have been an upheaval, but I bet Euro Switchday would be far more traumatic.

[@th8257]

You're not British are you. You just talked about sharing a "check". Nobody in Britain has ever referred to a bill as a "check".

[@TGamesTmedia01]

​@@th8257nah, lots of ppl in the south do

[@SALTOWNPRODUCTIONS2]

Excellent!

[@purwantiarif2267]

thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with a funny punchline. she was in a mood to tell jokes make jokes; talk humorously or flippantly.

[@merseydave1]

I remember this when I was a kid

[@markh9749]

If my mother, now aged 86, is anything to go by, then Max Bygraves was a singularly unsuccessful salesman for decimalisation! She still deals in pounds, shillings and peace! This is not the worst record Max Bygraves has in his discography. Connoisseurs of the truly awful should seek out his 1979 LP "Discolongamax"

[@angelacooper2661]

My mother is the same age as you, although she has no problem with decimalisation. I am fifty two (eight months old when the changeover occurred, so no confusion to deal with).

[@Bob-fh4ht]

be thankful you don't have to deal with the shit show known as pre decimalisation brit

[@thebobbrom7176]

Your mother deals in peace? Does she work for the UN?

[@Alystas]

French here, we still got some older folks who still count in "Ancient Francs" despite our currency changing twice since 1960 and inflation going up by 1171% in 60 years

[@Candolad]

My mother did too. Let's face it, decimalisation was just drumming down and is hardly taxing in the brain.

[@shirtymop6463]

feel like shit rn. just want her (fun coin names that are actually worth anything) back

[@mandalorian_guy]

Shit slaps hard in the whip.

[@ObsessedCollector]

1:07 the 1st rap?

[@user-js1mf7gg8t]

real

[@borusa32]

Iam pleased to say I forgot this.

[@KansaiSamurai]

This is the only song I know that falls under the subject of numismatics!

[@arfareandaneswara3286]

Specifically, conversion of the currency in 1971 from pounds, shillings and pence to a decimal system in which one pound was worth 100 new pence (later renamed simply pence).

[@freeman10000]

So just to clarify, this jingle was released as a 45 single? Edit: yes

[@YoshiYoshiYoshi999]

can I have a download link (flac or mp3)?

[@Elora5009]

mega.nz/folder/g1RACYRA#rIJr7eOIUsQx4VEzJwvE1A here ya go!

[@YoshiYoshiYoshi999]

@@Elora5009 thanks!

[@ComradePoop]

make a video of this but replace decimalisation with undecimalisation. aka AI then their grandparrnts will teach them it

[@aliburns2150]

Similar to Eagles' 'Take It to the Limit' 😮

[@christown2827]

Another thing to upset Brexiteers with!

[@NickFlack]

Lyric PLZ

[@Elora5009]

D, E, C-I-M, A-L-I-S ATION! We call it... decimalisation, decimalisation, Soon it's gonna be time to change the money round, 'Cause we've got... decimalisation, decimalisation, There's a hundred new pennies now for every pound. Five new pennies are like a shilling, and ten new pence is a two bob bit, A fifty pence piece hasn't got a milling, it's seven-sided and a half a quid, With a half and a one and two new pence, decimal shopping will commence. Then we'll have... decimalisation, decimalisation, Soon it's gonna be time to change the money round, 'Cause we've got... decimalisation, decimalisation, There's a hundred new pennies now for every pound. Gone are the days when twelve old pence added up to make a shilling, not much sense, The half crown too has gone for good - a coin that foreigners never understood, Now some people who were feeling very bright have put their heads together just to make things right, They have made it easy for every citizen, 'cause all we have to do is count from one to ten We call it... decimalisation, decimalisation, Soon it's gonna be time to change the money round, 'Cause we've got... decimalisation, decimalisation, There's a hundred new pennies now for every pound. We call it... decimalisation, decimalisation, Soon it's gonna be time to change the money round, 'Cause we've got... decimalisation, decimalisation, There's a hundred new pennies now for every pound.

[@purwantiarif2267]

she could laugh and joke with her colleagues he was pretending to joke his daughter the others were playing a joke on her the transportation system is a joke

[@purwantiarif2267]

Synonyms: funny storyjestwitticismquippleasantrypunplay on wordsshaggy-dog storyold chestnutdouble entendrein-joke informal:gagwisecrackcrackfunnyone-linerrib-ticklerkillerknee-slapperthigh-slapperboffola rare:blague

[@dapperdaniel4050]

what are you saying?

[@lekevire]

@@dapperdaniel4050 He is speaking the language of the gods

[@momoqin9296]

Why we don’t allow people to use the new system and the old system at the same time, it’ll be a time capsule.

[@marioirl1569]

cos we've got Decimalisation

[@momoqin9296]

@@marioirl1569 they removed the shilling ;(

[@bodacious12]

Shillings were cool, 12 is a far better number than 10, the problem was pounds, fractions of pennies and all the weird coins like guineas

[@momoqin9296]

@@bodacious12 and the slangs of the weird coins too…

[@th8257]

Why would anybody ever want to do that?

[@johnb6723]

With the UK now independent of the EU, It would be a good idea to go back to £ s d. We only went decimal to join the EU way back in the 70s.

[@th8257]

No, we didn't. We went decimal because every other country in the commonwealth had. Get your facts right. I don't know if you're trolling or just an idiot, but I don't think anybody in their right mind wants to go back to the old system.

[@lekevire]

No, because EU or not, pre-decimal currency is a pain in the arse. I'd rather have a system of 100 pence in a pound rather than 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound. It's just unnecessarily convoluted and annoying.

[@kaithescreaminglemon8768]

Exactly, I don’t think it would be that difficult. I think we should do what we did in 1971 but in reverse by setting up ad campaigns. Also, it would make the Pound easily more divisible by a lot more numbers.

[@bobbills2953]

Wouldn’t mind bringing the old coins back. I’m sure computers would be able to get accustomed to it to.

[@joaovitormatos8147]

Sure, let's just turn off every computer and hope for the best 😒