Sometimes, the bizarre way my mind works (if you can call it that) disturbs even me. Working on a sermon, pondering the meaning of the phrase “Saviour of the World”, what should pop into my head but the words of the 1968 (I think) hit “Lily the Pink” by The Scaffold. Such thoughts have to be got rid of, and this is the only place I know of. And its a great song. Sing it with me…
Lily The PinkWe’ll drink a drink a drink
To Lily the Pink the Pink the Pink
The saviour of the human race
For she invented medicinal compound
Most efficacious in every case.Mr. Frears had sticky-out ears
and it made him awful shy
and so they gave him medicinal compound
now he’s learning how to fly.Brother Tony Was notably bony
He would never eat his meals
And so they gave him medicinal compound
Now they move him round on wheels.We’ll drink a drink a drink…
Old Ebeneezer
Thought he was Julius Caesar
so they put him in a Home
where they gave him medicinal compound
now he’s Emperor of Rome.Johnny Hammer
Had a terrible stammer
He could hardly say a word
And so they gave him medicinal compound
Now he’s seen (but never heard)!We’ll drink a drink a drink…
Auntie Millie
Ran willy-nilly
When her legs, they did recede
And so they rubbed on medicinal compound
Now they call her Millipede.Jennifer Eccles
had terrible freckles
and the boys all called her names
but she changed with medicinal compound
Now he joins in all their games.We’ll drink a drink a drink…
Lily the Pink, she
Turned to drink, she
filled up with paraffin inside
and despite her medicinal compound
Sadly Picca-Lily died.Up to Heaven
Her soul ascended
All the church bells they did ring
She took with her medicinal compound
Hark the herald angels sing.Oooooooooooooooo Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’ll drink a drink a drink
To Lily the Pink the Pink the Pink
The saviour of the human race
For she invented medicinal compound
Most efficacious in every case.
They just don’t write them like that anymore.
Another reblog, I’m afraid
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
fat prophet 12.16.10 at 9:44 pm
We sang this at Crystal Folk Club a few weeks ago - went down very well with lots of people joining in.
Kim 12.16.10 at 10:16 pm
From Wikipedia:
Lydia Estes Pinkham (February 9, 1819 – May 17, 1883) was an iconic concocter and shrewd marketer of a commercially successful herbal-alcoholic “women’s tonic” meant to relieve menstrual and menopausal pains.
Lydia and her “medicinal compound” are memorialized in the folk songs “The Ballad of Lydia Pinkham,” and “Lily the Pink”. A sanitized version of Lily the Pink was a number one hit for The Scaffold in the United Kingdom in 1968/69. This song was successfully adapted in French in 1969 by Richard Anthony, describing humorously the devastating effects of a so-called “panacée” (universal medicine). It should not pass without mention that the reason a humble women’s tonic was the subject of such and sundry ribald drinking ballads and an increasing success in the twenties and early thirties was its availability, as a 40-proof patent eye-opener, during Prohibition.
Gives a whole new meaning to a demythologised incarnational soteriology, Richard. Good luck in the Methodist disciplinary proceedings that you are now likely to face.
Richard 12.17.10 at 7:12 am
I’m getting used to those, Kim!
fat prophet 12.17.10 at 7:34 am
big words again Kim! Three in one sentence!!
Richard 12.17.10 at 10:32 am
I confess to have forgotten the stuff about Lydia Pinkham. I’ve put one of her newspaper ads in the post.
Incidentally, Kim — you know it’s only a short step from quoting wikipedia as a source to getting a Facebook account? You’re on a slippery slope…