View source for Flanders and Swann

{{creator}}
{{quote|''The purpose of satire, it has been rightly said, is to strip away the blanket of comforting illusion and cozy half-truth with which we surround ourselves. And our job, as I see it, is to put it back again.''|Michael Flanders ''At The Drop Of Another Hat''}}

'''Michael Flanders and Donald Swann''', who co-wrote and performed comic songs in the 1950s and 1960s. Unusually for the time neither performer stood during their shows, Swann being seated at the piano and Flanders confined to a wheelchair by polio (contracted in service during [[World War 2]]).

The two began their musical careers together at school but were drawn apart on the outbreak of the war. A chance meeting in 1948 led them to begin writing comic songs for other performers to sing before they decided to start performing for themselves in a show titled ''At The Drop Of A Hat''. After touring worldwide they returned to Britain to open their new show ''At The Drop Of Another Hat'' and recorded a number of songs not heard in either show.

In 1967 they ceased touring together but remained friends until Flanders' death in 1975. 

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{{creatortropes}}
* [[Affectionate Parody]]: Many of their songs use this trope, and recently they have become subject to one themselves by [[Armstrong And Miller]].
* [[Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better]]: "Sounding Brass"
* [[Audience Participation]]: "The Hippopotamus"
{{quote|'''Flanders:''' ''And tonight, by way of encouragement attendants will be passing among you. With rawhide whips.''}}
* [[Black Comedy Rape]]: "Madeira, M'Dear" and "Philological Waltz"
* [[But Liquor Is Quicker]]: "Have Some Madeira, M'Dear"
* [[Days of the Week Song]]: "The Gasman Cometh"
* [[Disaster Dominoes]]: "The Gasman Cometh"
* [[Father, I Don't Want to Fight]]: "The Reluctant Cannibal"
* [[He Also Did]]: Donald Swann, working alone, produced an album of music from [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' and became good friends with Tolkien himself.
* [[Here We Go Again]]: "The Gasman Cometh"
* [[Hurricane of Puns]]: "Greensleeves"
* [[I'm a Humanitarian]]: "The Reluctant Cannibal"
* [[Intellectual Animal]]: The gnu(s) in "I'm a Gnu".
* [[Least Rhymable Word]]: 
{{quote|We were never able to come up with a rhyme for "Khrushchev" until he'd gone: "Did he fall, or was he pusch off?"}}
* [[Life of the Party]]: "Twice Shy"
* [[Listing Cities]]: "Slow Train"
* [[Multipurpose Monocultured Crop]]: "The Wompom" is about the world's most miraculous, all-purpose plant.
* [[Napoleon Delusion]]: "The Elephant"
* [[Overly Long Gag]]: "In the Desert" and "Kokoraki"
{{quote|'''Swann:''' ''I omitted eight verses!''}}
* [[Patriotic Fervour]]: "A Song of Patriotic Prejudice" is an [[Affectionate Parody]].
* [[Star-Crossed Lovers]]: "Misalliance" (The tragic tale of the right-handed Honeysuckle and the left-handed Bindweed.)
* [[Translation: "Yes"]]: "Songs For Our Time"
* [[Weird Trade Union]]: "Bedstead Men" (or possibly it's a Weird Secret Society)
* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: "The Spider"
* [[With Lyrics]]: "Ill Wind"
* [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe]]: "Greensleeves"

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Musicians]]
[[Category:Flanders and Swann]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Double Acts and Groups]]