1993 Autumn Budget Mini-Opera Based On Various Tunes From Oliver!, NewsRevue Lyrics, 8 November 1993

On the whole I remember the better of my lyrics well and have forgotten some of the less interesting ones. But just occasionally I surprise myself and this mini-opera falls into that category.

The conceit of these lyrics was to speculate a few weeks before the Autumn Budget as to its possible content.

Not only am I immensely proud of these lyrics on rereading them in April 2019, but I recall what a stunning job John Random and his NewsRevue cast did with this piece.

Ken Clarke, then Chancellor and the central villain of the mini-opera, is, 25 years later, seen as a voice of Tory moderation. Times change, to some extent. Yet the closing number seems as apt today as it did in 1993.

_ 1993 AUTUMN BUDGET RUN UP MINI OPERA _

(To various tunes from “Oliver”)
 
FOOD TAXABLE FOOD (tax inspector’s chorus to “Food Glorious Food”)
 
If we tax the sick and poor, will they live to 84?
Lets put V.A.T. on fu-el;
When they can’t pay off their loans, put them into paupers homes,
Then we’ll also tax their gru-el;
Duty on crusts, every crumb shall be fined, till they beg or they borrow or cadge;
Then charge more for prescriptions, when they get the flu, then we’ll tax funerals, just imagine:
 
Food taxable food,
VAT putting the lamp on;
Tax songs that are crude,
Excise a large tampon;
Huge levies on orange juice,
That’s normal in Denmark;
Which fruit was let on the loose?
Must be Ken Clarke……
(‘ere ‘ee comes fellers; the Clarkful Bodger)
 
I’M REVIEWING THIS NEW TAXATION (Ken Clarke is “Reviewing the Situation”)
 
I’m reviewing this new taxation,
I’m a lawyer and my sums are not so good;
With my budget for reinflation,
I should tax the rich and be like Robin Hood.
 
Cos I have the autonomy,
To fuck up the economy,
So don’t expect much bon hommie,
On budget day from John or me,
I’ll tax the wealthy hopefully,
But then they might not vote for me;
(thinks)….I think I’d better think it out again.
 
CON EVERYONE BUT THE RICH (tax inspector’s chorus to “Consider Yourself”)
 
Con everyone but the rich,
Con everyone who’s not a Conservative,
We’ve burdened the poor so long,
It’s clear, we’re, doing the numbers wrong;
See if yer chancella’s la-di-da or uppity,
Tax yer cup of tea ‘n’all;
But there’s a chance that Ken will end up at number ten,
‘less the Tory party falls.
Con everyone but your mate,
The poor never vote for us,
So after fiscal legislation Ken can state,
KEN:Con everyone not one of us.

Below is Food Glorious Food from Oliver! with the lyrics on the screen:

Below is Ron Moody singing Reviewing The Situation:

Here is a link to Reviewing The Situation lyrics.

Below is Consider Yourself from Oliver!

Here is a link to Consider Yourself lyrics.

Panto Act, Written For Ben Murphy, 2 November 1993

Ben Murphy must have asked for material along these lines and I must have written this. Reading between the lines, he was playing Baron Hardup in Rhyl. This short set is a mish mosh of:

I don’t think anyone will be telling their grandchildren about this one.

_ PANTO ACT _

(Ian’s wierd attempt to write panto material)
 
SHAGGY BARON (Ugly Duckling)
 
There once was a shaggy Baron,
With whiskers all stubbly and grey;
And the audience,
Yelled “Ben you are dense,
But find a song to play.
Sing a song,
Sing sing a song,
Sing sing a song today.”
 
[Perhaps insist that children yell the sing sing stuff and refuse to continue until they have done so loud enough etc]
 
FILLER 1
 
Oh alright then.  As you asked so nicely.  The only thing is, I am a very poor Baron.  Baron Hardup.  So I have to travel all over the country singing nasty songs to try to scrape a living.  Do you mind if I sing you nasty songs?   Really?   Are you sure?  See if you can work out who I am now.
 
BETTER FACE (Heal The World)
 
There’s a mug that you see on your TV frequently,
‘Though I look differently I’m Michael Jackson;
It may be a surprise ‘cos you may not recognise,
The new bits that my plastic surgeon tacks on.
I may have a face lift, a nose job or a skin shift,
To have a better face and a different race.
 
Every year, I’m gonna have a better face,
Both my eyes and my nose will be in a different place;
Now my cheeks need grouting,
And my lips have been fixed pouting,
It’s the strangest face that you’ve ever seen.
 
FILLER 2
 
I like children.  Really I do.  Hey kids; what’s orange and sounds like a parrot?  A carrot.  Kids, you’ll have to sing along to the next song.  Here we go. 
 
IF I HAD A STAMMER (If I had a hammer)
 
Oohh oohh, oohh, oohh, oohh oohh, oohh, oohh,
Oohh oohh, oohh, oohh, oohh oohh, oohh, oohh;
If I had a stammer,
I’d stammer in the morning,
I’d s s s s s s;
 
FILLER 3
 
This next one’s a slower number for all you parents out there.
 
MARIO (Maria)
 
Mario, I’ve just bought my kids a Nintendo,
And suddenly that game, seems boring and seems tame, to them;
Mario, I am singing this in the wrong key-o,
And suddenly each note, is catching in my throat badly;
Mario, in one day my kids clocked your new meter,
Now they’re bored sitting watching Blue Peter;
Mario, how I wish that your upgrades were free-o.
 
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (Nellie the Elephant)
 
Sonic the hedgehog has packed his punch,
And made a pile for the Sega,
Off he goes with a jumpety jump jump jump jump.
 
FILLER 4
 
Do you like Take That?  I can’t hear you.  Do you like Take That?  Pardon?  etc
 
TAKE THAT FANS PANTO (Teddy Bear’s Picinic)
 
If you go down to the pantomime you’re in for a big surprise,
If you go down to the pantomime you’d better go in disguise;
For every kid that’s sitting in Rhyl,
Is sure Take That are totally brill,
Today’s the day the Take That fans go to panto.
 
IT ONLY TOOK FIVE MINUTES KIDS (It only took a minute girl)
 
It only took five minutes, kids,
To write this act,
And gosh it shows,
It only took five minutes kids…..
 
Goodnight!!

Below is Danny Kaye singing the Ugly Duckling Song with lyrics on the screen:

Below is the song Maria with lyrics on screen:

Below is Mandy Miller singing Nellie The Elephant:

This link shows the lyrics to Nellie the Elephant.

Below is It Only Takes A Minute sung by Take That! with lyrics on the screen.

Submission To Jonathan Linsley’s 1993 Christmas Run, 31 October 1993




LIST OF SONGS SUBMITTED AND TAPE TRACK LISTING

JONATHEN LINSLEY XMAS 1993 RUN
 
Dear Jonathen
 
I enclose your fun pack “best of 1993” lyrics and tape.  I have included the ones you requested plus a few others for you to consider.  They are all 1993 songs and most of them had successful runs during the year.  There are also one or two new ones that might interest you, including the “Oh what a year” opening number that I sent you a few weeks ago.
 
I am only around for another 10 days or so and then I am away for several weeks, so please let me know if there are any others that you want or any rewriting that you wish to discuss.  I should be at the writers meetings 4 Nov and 11 Nov before I go, or you may try to reach me by phone on the above number.
 
See you soon.

Penis In Blue Jeans, NewsRevue Lyric, 29 October 1993

I can only assume that this lyric was triggered by some silly news story about men being exploited by the fashion industry.

I don’t think it was used but it does have one or two good lines in it.

                                                   _ PENIS IN BLUE JEANS _

                                (To the Tune of “Venus in Blue Jeans”)
 
INTRO – MELVYN BRAGG
 
Good evening and welcome to the South Bank Show.  Politics and the performing arts.  Tonight we welcome Ivor Tripod.  Through his songs, Ivor argues that performers are exploited by powerful, faceless corporations.  His first song tonight is a scathing polemic about the exploitation of men by the denim trouser industry.
 
(Enter female chorus)La la, la la la, la la la la, la la;
(Enter well endowed male singer) La da, da de da, da de de da, dee dum;
 
VERSE 1
 
My penis in blue jeans,
Macho Levis with a pony tail;
See the action in your swimming pools,
Of my cue and snooker balls.
 
VERSE 2
 
My Penis in blue jeans,
Outlined in a range of underwear;
Denim Wranglers can’t prevent the pain,
When horse-dragged cross the plain.
 
MIDDLE BIT
 
There’s more than seven wonders in the world,
Because my friend is number eight;
To keep my golden wonder neatly curled,
I must not masturbate…
 
VERSE 3
 
…my Penis in blue jeans,
Is a massively uplifting sight;
My pitch increases more and more,
(strains for the last few notes) These jeans are much too tight.

Below is Mark Wynter singing Venus In Blue Jeans with the lyrics on the screen:

Raping Drunks Is Hard To Do, NewsRevue Lyric (Probably Unused), 26 October 1993

Tough topic to try to cover, this and I’m not too sure what point I was trying to make or what news story triggered it. Presumably some confusion at a major university somewhere over what to do about drunken students who didn’t know what they had done, with whom and/or how consensual whatever it was might have been.

Mercifully, I don’t think the lyric was used.

_ RAPING DRUNKS IS HARD TO DO _

(To the Tune of “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”)

INTRO/BACKING REFRAIN THROUGHOUT – COLLEGE DONS

Clear the college town too-tee-too town town,

Send the buggers down doo-dee-doo down down,

Wear a silly gown goo-gee-goo gown gown,

Raping drunks is hard to do.

VERSE 1 – THE BOY

They say our love was not p.c.,

When we were at University;

You’re a girl that I once knew,

For taking pot and sniffing glue.

VERSE 2 – THE GIRL

Remember when we got so tight,

I stayed with you all through the night;

Can’t recall what I went through,

But waking up was hard to do.

MIDDLE BIT – ALTERNATELY

BOY:You know that making love is hard to do,

GIRL:When you’re both as pissed as a newt;

BOY:(looks down) Don’t say that this is me end,

GIRL:Instead of making love I think we may be throwing up again.

VERSE 3 – THE BOY

I beg of U-niversity,

Please don’t add to my adversity,

College court’s a kangaroo,

Cos raping drunks is hard to prove.

OUTRO – COLLEGE DONS

Clear the college town too-tee-too town town,

Send the buggers down doo-dee-doo down down,

Wear a silly gown goo-gee-goo gown gown,

Raping drunks is hard to do.

Below is a video of Neil Sedaka singing Breaking Up Is Hard To Do with the lyrics on the screen:

Submission To John Random’s NewsRevue Run, 23 October 1993

To my regret and subsequently also to Random’s, this submission did not succeed in placing one of my favourite songs, She’s So Moral (about Mother Teresa) – click here for the song lyrics.

LIST OF SONGS SUBMITTED AND TAPE TRACK LISTING

JOHN RANDOM NOVEMBER 1993 RUN
 
Dear John
 
I enclose your starter pack of lyrics and tape for my offerings.  The pack includes some rewrites of older ones and some that have been cruelly overlooked before but still have life in them.  I haven’t included any chestnuts from earlier runs, but if you want one that you remember, just let me know.
 
Please do call me and let me know if you are short of any subjects or styles and I shall try to oblige.  Also, if any of these need a bit of rewrite then I shall be happy to change them on request.
 
I shall try to write some new ones for you over the next 10 days or so if the inspiration comes.
 
See you soon.

A Pre Run Offering To John Random, Covering Letter, 23 October 1993

A letter to John Random dated 23 October 1993, which, to my regret and subsequently also to Random’s, did not succeed in placing one of my favourite songs, She’s So Moral (about Mother Teresa) – click here for the song lyrics :

   LIST OF SONGS SUBMITTED AND TAPE TRACK LISTING

   JOHN RANDOM NOVEMBER 1993 RUN

Dear John

I enclose your starter pack of lyrics and tape for my offerings.  The pack includes some rewrites of older ones and some that have been cruelly overlooked before but still have life in them.  I haven’t included any chestnuts from earlier runs, but if you want one that you remember, just let me know.

Please do call me and let me know if you are short of any subjects or styles and I shall try to oblige.  Also, if any of these need a bit of rewrite then I shall be happy to change them on request.

I shall try to write some new ones for you over the next 10 days or so if the inspiration comes.

See you soon.

 

   Song Title Original Title/

Artist on Tape

Aprox. No. of Performances
   7+ 4-6  1-3 New
all things wild and shootable no recoring – sorry y
judges are senile putting on the style/lonnie donegan y
thai and yellow chicken tie a yellow ribbon/dawn y
she’s so moral she’s so modern/boomtown rats y
who do you talk to john where do you go to/peter sarstedt y
hazy crazy buthelesi hazy crazy lazy days of summer y
the labour chorus brahms symphony no 1 mov 4 y
grunge clobber wearer guantanamera/pete seger y
president al you can call me al/paul simon y

She’s So Moral, Unused Lyric For NewsRevue, 23 October 1993

John Random once said to me, many years ago and also many years after the (non) event, that he remembered this song fondly and regrets the fact that he didn’t use it.

It wasn’t very topical, although Mother Teresa was always in the news back then.

Still, when I found the covering letter for the pre November 1993 pack within which I first submitted the song – click here for that letter – I couldn’t resist upping the song to Ogblog.

Postscript: I have subsequently found the date 15 July 1993 on my log for this song, which might be an error or might show that I wrote it in July and then resubmitted (previously unused) it in October 1993. Cruelly overlooked, whenever it was.

Click here or below for a link to a YouTube of She’s So Modern by the Boomtown Rats.

Click here for a link to the original lyrics.

SHE’S SO MORAL

(To the Tune of “She’s So Modern”)

(Ideally this song is sung by the Devil with a chorus of demons – “The Doomtown Rats” perhaps)

CHORUS 1

(She’s so) totally heavenly,

(She’s well) over seventy;

(Kind dame) folk always praise her,

(Her name is) Mother Theresa.

She’s a moral nun oh yeh,

A saintly one so goody goody,

But she’s not much fun oh no.

MIDDLE BIT

She makes the priests hearts flutter, each time they hear her pray;

She’s a big hit in Calcutta,  she’s always giving stuff away.

But poor aren’t clothed by blessings, and the starving can’t eat hope;

Yet it’s uplifting for the squalid as,

She is pally with the Pope.

CHORUS 2

I gotta say it now;

(She’s so) damn altruistic,

(It makes) me want to be sick;

(She looks) like a buck rabbit,

(She has) just one nasty habit.

Which she always wears oh yeh,

But no one cares cos she’s monastic,

She don’t have affairs no way.

She’s so m-m-m-m magnanimous

CHORUS 3

 (She’s so) virgo intactica,

(Cos no) one has attracted her;

(She is) the model of virtue,

(She’s just) too fucking good to be true.

She’s so………..

m-m-m-m-MORAL!!!!!

(c) Ian Harris 1993

Oh What A Year, NewsRevue Lyric, 10 October 1993

I wrote this one for Jonathan Linsley’s Christmas run, possibly at his request. I disappeared to China for most of that run so I’m not 100% sure if it was used, but I think it was.

   _ 1993 OH WHAT A YEAR _

 (To the Tune of “December 63, Oh What A Night”)

VERSE 1

Oh what a year, let’s remember 1993;

Little green shoots of recovery,

What an outturn, what a year.

Oh what a year, ‘tho’ John Major didn’t get the sack;

Barmy bastards stabbed him in the back,

What a leader, what a year.

MIDDLE BIT 1

Lamont, caused a huge sensation when he taxed domestic fuel;

Got sacked, but the poor and feeble will still keep cool.

VERSE 2

Oh what a year, England lost at almost every sport;

Could Frank Bruno knock out Nigel Short?

What heroics, what a year.

OTHER TYPE OF MIDDLY TWIDDLY BIT

The Firm exposed Tom Cruise yet more than in Days of Thunder;

Ken Branagh’s Much Ado made everyone want to chunder.

VERSE 3

Oh what a year, Grease and Hair were the revival fads,

Must be due to those old Brylcream ads,

What a retro of a year.

Oh what a year, General Aideed was the yob at issue,

So Bill Clinton blew up Mogadishu,

What a fighter, what a year.

MIDDLE BIT 2

Bosnia, spent the whole year fighting ‘tho’ the Vance-Owen plan;

Was near, to solving this long pain deep in the Balkans. (Male singer holds balls)

VERSE 4

(Male singer falsetto) Oh what a year!

Let’s remember 1993,

We’ll review the year satirically,

“Best Of News Revue” is here!!

Below is Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons singing Oh What A Night with the lyrics on’t screen:

Somalia Mini-Opera, NewsRevue Lyric (Almost Certainly Unused), 4 October 1993

Not only am I pretty sure this one wasn’t used, I’m not even sure it was ever submitted. It isn’t even recorded on my log – just the electronic file sitting in my 1993 creative folder. I’m guessing that I decided that the subject matter was simply too grim for comedy.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali was the Secretary General of the United Nations at the time. Aidid (Aideed) was a Somalian warlord.

_ THE SOMALIA MINI OPERA _

(A medley using a range of seemingly unconnected tunes)
 
BOUTROS BOUTROS
(To the Tune of “Stupid Cupid”)
 
Boutros Boutros you’re a real mean guy,{Boutros Boutros}
Your troops in Mogadishu wish you’d die;{Boutros Boutros}
You try to harmonise relations,{Boutros Boutros}
By sending in the troops of the United Nations;{Boutros Boutros}
To free Somalis,
Boutros Boutros, Boutros Ghali.
 
WARLORD
(To the Tune of “Milord”)
 
We’re getting peeved and bored,
With this Aideed warlord,
The blasted UN blow up everyone but him;
They think they’ll end the war,
If they just fight some more,
But this Somali gore gets deadlier and grim.
 
BOUTROS BOUTROS
(To the tune of “Daisy Daisy”)
 
Boutros Boutros,
Send us your UN troops;
Snipers shoot us,
Which gives us all the poops.
It won’t be a stylish slaughter,
But we still think you oughta,
Bomb infantry,
And Somalis,
In the blighted Mogadishu.
 
WARLORD
(To the Tune of “Milord”)
 
We are indeed more bored,
With this Aideed warlord,
The blasted UN blow up everyone but him;
They think they’ll end the war,
If they just fight some more,
But this Somali gore gets deadlier and grim.

Below is a video of Connie Francis singing Stupid Cupid with lyrics on the screen:

Below is a video of Édith Piaf singing Milord with an English translation of the lyrics on the screen:

Below is a recording of the original Daisy Bell (Daisy Daisy) song with lyrics on the screen; the familiar chorus starts around 37 seconds in.