The gall, the Gaul, de Gaulle and Flanders & Swann

For some reason, I started singing this to myself tonight on the walk from the office to the tube station. For the tune, unless you can work it out from the scan and the allusions, you need to hear this

ALL GALL

This old man, he played one,
He played knick-knack at Verdun.
Cognac, Armagnac, Burgundy and Beaune,
This old man came rolling home.

This old man, World War Two,
He told Churchill what to do,
Free French General, Crosses of Lorraine.
He came rolling home again.

This old man, he played trois,
Vive la France, la France c’est moi.
Gimcrack governments, call me if you please,
Columbey-les-deux-Eglises.

This old man, he played four,
Choose de Gaulle or civil war!
Come back president, govern by decree,
Referendum, oui, oui, oui!

This old man, he played five,
France is safe, I’m still alive!
Plastique Pompidou, sing the Marseillaise
Algerie n'est pas francaise!

This old man, he played six,
France and England, they don't mix.
Eyetie*, Benelux, Germany and me,
That's my market recipe.

This old man, sept et huit,
NATO give me back my fleet!
Mwah, Mwah, Adenhauer, ratified in Bonn,
One old man goes on and on.

This old man, nine and ten,
He'll play Nick** till God knows when.
Cognac, Armangnac, Burgundy and Beaune
This old man thinks he’s Saint Joan!

(c) Michael Flanders and Donald Swann

* These were less politically correct times. Eyetie = Italian. It was used purely to make the line scan

** In the only text version I could find, this is spelt ‘knick’ as in ‘knick-knack’ but I think it’s a reference to ‘Old Nick’ – an old English term for the Devil.

Now at their best, as here, Flanders and Swann are, should be, a national treasure. Writing in a style more akin to the long dead age of 'English Music Hall', they captured a spirit of the times which was almost unsurpassed. The song was written in 1963, after the first exclusion of Britain from the European Economic Community (later the European Union). We were too far in bed with the Americans to warrant inclusion in Europe. I well remember the second time we tried. The headline in the 'Daily Mirror' (a red top - tabloid) was 'De Gaulle says "Non!"' In 72 point! Well he would, wouldn't he?

For more info about the background to the song go here.

One can just imagine the pair, musing over possible ideas, when Flanders (the lyricist) says to Swann(the pianist) : "I once had a whim and I had to obey it, to buy a French horn in a second-hand shop. I polished it up and I started to play it, in spite of the neighbours who begged me to stop" "Do you think we could do that to Mozart's 4th Horn Concerto?"

"No problemo!"

So they did! And called it 'An ill wind'!