The Complete Flanders & Swann

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Davies, Serena (20 October 2007). "The Armstrong & Miller Show". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 7 November 2012. Slow Train" is a song by British duo Flanders and Swann, written in July 1963. [1] It laments the closure of railway stations and lines brought about by the Beeching cuts in the 1960s, and also the passing of a way of life. [2] Lyrics [ edit ] Midsomer Norton, a typical country station, whose closure was lamented by the song "Slow Train". The song features idealised scenes such as milk churns on a railway platform. "On the mainline and the goods siding the grass grows high": the Beeching cuts closed many rural lines, such as the Dunstable Branch Lines serving Dunstable Town.

Flanders and Swann were a British comedy duo and musicians. Michael Flanders (1922–1975) was a lyricist, actor, and singer. He collaborated with Donald Swann (1923–1994), a composer and pianist, in writing and performing comic songs. They first worked together in a school revue in 1939 and eventually wrote more than 100 comic songs together. [1] Between 1956 and 1967, Flanders and Swann performed their songs, interspersed with comic monologues, in their long-running two-man revues At the Drop of a Hat and At the Drop of Another Hat, which they toured in Britain and abroad. Both revues were recorded in concert (by George Martin). The duo also made several studio recordings. Los Olividados— a satire on bullfighting, about "the almost unbearable drama of a corrida d'olivas, or festival of olive-stuffing". "A cruel sport: some may think it so. But this is surely more than a sport, this is more than a vital artform. What we have experienced here today is total catharsis, in the acting out of that primeval drama, of man pitted against the olive." The title is a reference to Los Olvidados, or The Forgotten Ones, a 1950 movie by the director Luis Buñuel. British singer-songwriter Frank Turner covered "The Armadillo" in his "Mittens" EP. [16] See also [ edit ]P** P* B**** B** D******" or "Pee Po Belly Bum Drawers"—a song comparing the use of profanity among the intelligentsia to playground swearing. At The Drop Of A Hat" (1959 Stereo re-recording) (Parlophone PCS 3001) (Recorded during the final performance at the Fortune Theatre, London, on May 2nd 1959. Parlophone's first stereo LP release.) Re-opening of the line through Cheslyn Hay in 1989 included a new Landywood station, half a mile to the south. Michael Flanders' song treats Formby Four Crosses and Armley Moor Arram as station names, but in both cases he combined two consecutive names from an alphabetical list of stations. Leon Berger, archivist of the estate of Donald Swann, said that Flanders had taken his list from one published in The Guardian, which was the source of some of the discrepancies between the names in the songs and the historic names of the stations. [5] Other versions [ edit ] 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.

At the Drop of a Hat (Parlophone PMC 1033 mono) (Recorded live at the Fortune Theatre, London, 21st February 1957. A Transport of Delight"—with an increasing refrain about the "Big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted, London Transport, diesel-engined, ninety-seven–horse-power omnibus". (The bus was probably the AEC LT-type, which served London from 1929 until the 1950s, and had six wheels instead of the more normal four. [13]) The Only Flanders & Swann Video (recorded New York, 19 April 1967, 10 days after the close of At The Drop of Another Hat) Ill Wind"—Flanders's words sung to a slightly cut version, with cadenza, of the rondo finale of Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 4 in E flat major, K.495. It has to be sung since Flanders's French horn was apparently stolen. Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (1sted.). Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p.421. ISBN 1-904041-96-5.

Bedstead Men", a wry explanation for the rusty bedsteads dumped in ponds and lakes in the UK, including a witty reference to "A Smuggler's Song" by Rudyard Kipling in which "Bedstead Men" are substituted for "Gentlemen". Have Some Madeira M'Dear"—an old roué sings to an ingénue about the merits of that wine, hinting that he has seduction in mind, with complex word-play, including three oft-quoted examples of syllepsis. Re-opening rail line 'too costly' ". Leicester Mercury. 9 September 2009. Archived from the original on 14 October 2009. a b Williams, Michael (2011). On the Slow Train: Twelve Great British Railway Journeys. Random House. p.1. ISBN 9781848092082 . Retrieved 5 June 2018.

English folk singer-songwriter Frank Turner included a version of the song on his 2011 compilation album The Second Three Years. The Wompom"—a tale about a fictitious all-purpose plant each of whose parts is an excellent raw material of a different kind. Tried by the Centre Court"—a Wimbledon match between Miss L. Hammerfest and Miss Joan Hunter-Dunn, as told by an exasperated umpire. "They are bashing a ball with the gut of a cat". Flanders and Swann both attended Westminster School (where in July and August 1940 they staged a revue called Go To It) [2] and Christ Church, Oxford, two institutions linked by ancient tradition. The pair went their separate ways during World War II, but a chance meeting in 1948 led to their forming a musical partnership writing songs and light opera. Flanders provided the words and Swann composed the music. Their songs have been sung by performers such as Ian Wallace and Joyce Grenfell. The Hippopotamus" is among those Ian Wallace included in his repertoire; [8] "The Elephant" was written by Flanders and Swann especially for Ian Wallace, [9] although they also sang it themselves. [10]A Song of Patriotic Prejudice"—a parody of patriotic songs ("The English, the English, the English are best/I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest") Williams, Michael (3 April 2010). "So much pain in our love of the train". The Independent. London . Retrieved 6 July 2021.