Tag: NewsRevue

They say that comedy = tragedy plus time…

…well this news story about a fatal accident when a Roll-on/roll-off ferry capsized had insufficient time distance to be made into comedy. Or possibly simply couldn’t ever be made into comedy.

I assigned the intellectual property rights to the RNLI for this one, but it never got that far. Still, they’ve had plenty of my dosh other ways since.

_ ROLLING ON, ROLLING OFF _

(To the Tune of “Knowing Me, Knowing You”)

CHORUS

Rolling on, rolling off,
{ah-haaaaaa}
Safety checks were not enough;
Rolling on, rolling off,
{ah-haaaaaa}
The Baltic Sea is cold when you’re in the buff.
{fucking cold when in the buff}
Hyperthermia’s not freezing I know,
But my blood won’t flow;
We were all rolling off,
Cos these ferries are duff.

Below is a video of Abba singing Knowing Me Knowing You with lyrics on the screen:

Another of my personal NewsRevue favourites. Another perennial. It was used a lot in NewsRevue in the mid 1990s.

OLD BOYS

(To the Tune of “Oh Boy”)

 

VERSE 1

All our class,

All our status,

The proletariat rightly hate us;

Old boys, we’re pals from school,

Old boys, I held your tool,

And now you scratch my back.

 

VERSE 2

All our lives,

We’ve been a-waiting,

For high class mutual….fund creating;

Old boys, jobs for our people,

Old boys, we don’t want equal,

Opportunities.

 

MIDDLE EIGHT

DTI say we’ve been a-stealing,

Because we’ve been insider dealing;

We buy shares when they’re low and sell them when they’re high,

With tip offs from chaps in our old school tie.

 

VERSE 3

All through our,

Fine education,

We learnt the best means of exploitation;

Old boys, we are a team,

Old boys, we take the cream,

And milk the country dry.

 

Old boys!!

We’ll put to one side the fact that I sort-of went to the “right” sort of school (Alleyn’s) myself. Suffice it to say that I personally neither indulged in the schoolboy behaviours nor the commercial behaviours described in the lyric. Nor am I aware of any such activity among my fellow alumni from Alleyn’s school.

It’s October 2018 as I write and apparently I can’t do English irony…never could it seems…according to the leader of her majesty’s loyal opposition at least.

Of course the term “DTI” in a UK context is outdated at the time of writing but it doesn’t take much wit to replace that term with, for example, “FCA”.

Here is a video of Buddy Holly & The Crickets singing Oh Boy:

…and the following is the record version with lyrics on the screen:

OLD BOYS – EXECUTIVE PAY REMIX
(To the Tune of “Oh Boy”)

 

VERSE 1

All our class,
All our status,
The proletariat rightly hate us;
Old boys, we’re pals from school,
Old boys, I held your tool,
And now you scratch my back.

VERSE 2

All our lives,
We’ve been a-waiting,
For high class mutual….fund creating;
Old boys, jobs for our people,
Old boys, we don’t want equal,
Opportunities.

MIDDLE EIGHT

Greenbury say’s we’ve raped the nation,
Because we run huge corporations;
Buy options when they’re low and sell them when they’re high,
But only tax the stuff for the small time guy.

VERSE 3

All through our,
Fine education,
We learnt the best means of exploitation;
Old boys, we are a team,
Old boys, we take the cream,
And milk the country dry:
We milk the country dry.

Old boys!!

LIST OF SONGS SUBMITTED AND TAPE TRACK LISTING
 
                                           SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1994 RUN
 
Dear Director
 
Despite my efforts, I have not been able to find out who you are yet. No matter, we shall meet soon no doubt. I enclose your starter pack of lyrics and tape for my offerings.  The pack consists of new songs, and one or two rewrites of older ones etc. If you want me to work on an old chestnut of mine that you might have uncovered in the archive, just let me know.
 
Feel free to 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 am happy to change them on request.
 
Good luck and look forward to seeing you soon

Must have been really slow news that summer. This one marked the 50th anniversary of the ill-fated 1944 attempt on Hitler’s life.

_ WHY DID YOU THINK ABOUT KILLING MR HITLER? _

(To the Tune of “Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler?”)

SPOKEN INTRO

VOICE OFF:And now, at News Revue, we are going to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the unsuccessful attempt on Hitler’s life. So dig out your old gas mask, fry up some spam fritters and enjoy the jolly old show.

VERSE

Why did you think about killing Mr Hitler,
When the war was almost won?
You and your boys need not have got in the shtuck,
We and our boys would have let you off the hook.
VOICE OFF:We did! (add some meat hook visual symbolism to help the pun)
So why did you think about killing Mr Hitler,
Once the Nazis were near done?

MIDDLE EIGHT

Stauffenberg,
Was on the verge,
Of blasting Hitler higher;
Gestapo came round later,
With some thick piano wire. (add piano effect to emphasise the point)

OUTRO

But why didn’t you think about killing Mr Hitler,
Back in 1931?

Below is Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler, aka the Dad’s Army theme song, with lyrics on the screen: