Flanders & Swann - Documentary by John Amis 

Oh glorious. A time when the English language was beautiful and humour was wonderfully without being at someone else's expense. So good for the soul.

"And there is an example of the kind of songs we write and sing. And if two grown men can make a modest living by such means, you may find it an apt reflection of the decadence of the times in which we live." Flanders' eloquence was always the icing on the cake.

I was raised on these songs as a teenager… The duo are absolutely magical

Real acting, real talent, real comedy without obscenities well done

RU-vid is a wonderful thing. That one can enjoy such shows for free...that one can enjoy such old material at all.. simply marvellous.

I was fortunate to have met Donald Swann at a show he gave which was a musical reminiscence of his career. This must have been late late 70's/early 80s. I got to tell him how much I had enjoyed his work with Michael Flanders, and that I continued to play a few of their songs to audiences (when I was more active as a performer). I'm sure I was star struck and a bit nervous. He was very gracious.

If anyone can explain why the audience singing the chorus of the Hippopotamus Song made me cry, they'll know more than I do.

Thank you so much for putting this on YT. I was lucky enough to meet both of them (Swann introducing me to Flanders, how brilliant was that) and and they are still among my 'heroes'. My school choir sang with Swann a few times, at his solo shows; this was how I got to meet them.

I have the 'At the drop of a hat' and 'at the drop of another hat' on lps from the 1960's. I introduced a now professional horn player to the Mozart item. I still find myself going: 'Ole! 'E 'as made a hole!' after 50 years! They were geniuses. All you have to do is look at their other work. Frank Muir said that Michael Flanders was the best lyricist since W S Gilbert. I met John Amis a couple of times at recording sessions of 'My Music' in the late 70s and early 80s. Another talent now gone. Who are the contemporary people of such talents?🐷

What a marvellous musical memory Michael Flanders must have had to sing the whole movement of that horn concerto. Such complicated modulations. Fantastic! Wonderful commentary by John Amis.

I just spent some time with my parents listening to Flanders and Swann after dinner. A joy to come across this. I will be sure to show them, they'll absolutely love it. Tonight we learned that my grandma didn't come up with 'pe po belly bum drawers!' by herself and that it is actually a song!

Listening to Flanders and Swann takes me right back to my childhood. I listened to ‘At the drop of hat’ endlessly while growing up.

Such lovely memories. I was introduced to them in my refund when they had stopped performing together. I'm so grateful to live in a time when recordings such as this are available. One of my favorite duos of all time.

Wonderful stuff and all still relevant. I love, 'Misalliance', precisely because I had a long and happy partnership that many viewed as unconventional. And isn't, 'The English Are Best", the ultimate, ironic comment on Brexit?

It was Armstrong and Miller that brought me here

I adored them and their lyrics were so brilliant. Thank Heavens we can still see how wonderful they were.

Just an absolute gorguous memory, Like the most beatiful dream. Of another time. The world today is extremly different. Im amazed by this.

I wonder how much influence Flanders & Swann had on Eric Idle. I really detect a definite similarity.

Interesting that this documentary allows the performance in full, these days they would cut them mid point and talk over the top I suspect.

Another world: sadly, lost for ever...

It's difficult not to see a parallel with Gilbert & Sullivan -- especially as Swan gradually became dismayed at being known primarily as Flanders' "accompanist". He sure could write beautiful melodies, though.

Thank you for this upload ! Watching these two Masters perform their wonderful songs was a great find (thank you YT). As a child of the fifties it brought back memories of listening to the radio and put a smile to my face.

I saw them live on Broadway in "At the Drop of Another Hat" in the 1960s and still have both LPs. They were wonderful.

I first heard them on my Mum & Dad's old wooden-housed radiogram. What a great culture we have lost, when humour was subtle, flyying on wit and nuance, not scraping along on infantile obscenity as so much of it does today. My England is no more. The time of victory over evil and celebration of freedom and peace; and, above all, of the sanctity of human kindness have gone. Now, the ugly stench of fanatical ideologies, is not so much with enemy countries, as in our own world. How weak we have become.

I saw "At the Drop of a Hat' on Broadway in 1959 and what a joy to find it here! Thank you, RU-vid!

Thank you! This is really uplifting. Memories of a time when folks did their thing, but trod gently to avoid stepping on anyone else's toes ... and we loved to laugh at life, and at ourselves. I've listened to their old LPs regularly, but had not seen them in decades. It was lovely to discover this sample of them performing, The expressions and movements add a lot more to their masterful lyrics and music. Thank you very much, thedjrasteri, for recovering this from the old VHS tape - the quality is perfect for the time and content!

wonderful to see this again - I remember we recorded it years ago on VHS. What a pair they were!

John Amis, you are as lovely as Michael Flanders and Donald Swann.

13:50 That performance in the Greek song is terrific. Miles out of sync which is a bit of a shame but isn't it wonderful it is on yt :-)

Oh, that horn song has cheered me up no end. First time I've laughed so much in a long time.

'She made no reply, up her mind and a dash for the door'. Wow.

I’ve always thought Swann was the real artist of the pair, and Flanders was great as his straight man. How difficult it must have been to play the part of the musically gifted idiot who created and flawlessly played a complicated animal song in Greek!

Used to be on the radio a lot when I was a child, a great favourite, this has brought back fond memories of a more innocent and happy time thank you.

My grateful thanks for this upload. F & S were a treasure.

What a beautiful speaking voice Michael Flanders had.

Thanks for uploading this! I grew up in the UK, born in 1950 and moved to this side of ThePond in 1983, and this brings back many memories of hearing and seeing F & S when I lived in the UK. Thanks again for the treat!

Do we think any young ones have been brought to this? My parents introduced me to F and S in the sixties, do we do it to children now?

Notice the way the British tend to add "r" to words ending in vowel sounds -- "tuba" becomes "tuber".The version of "Madeira" heard here is crudely censored to avoid "offending" American audiences (ie, the network's department of "Standards & Practices".By the way, there is such a thing as madeira cake -- it's a kind of pound cake served with madeira. So Swan is not altogether wrong in thinking madeira to be "cake".

Their recordings were produced by George Martin, before the Beatles.

I love the brilliantly witty, sardonic introductions from Michael Flanders, not to mention of course the quirky catchy songs with the brilliant Donald Swann.

I only just discovered these two, and you have got to admire Michael Flanders witty lyrics, and Donald Swan's piano-playing is absolutely brilliant!

Don had the most infectious laughter 😂😂😂😂

Misalliance is my favorite of all their songs. So much innuendo. I was lucky to have a father to introduce me to them and also the goon show.

As a child of the sixties, brought up with F and S this is just fab to find. My reel to reel tapes of Drop of a hat etc have degraded and it is joy to find this.

Incrsdiably funny clever men. I used to sing some of these songs to my friends had them in stitches .

Wonderful memories, watching these two. Thanks for sharing.

They are so amazing. Thank you for sharing!

John Preston Amis 17 June 1922 - 1 August 2013 Michael Henry Flanders 1 March 1922 - 14 April 1975 Donald Ibrahim Swann 30 September 1923 - 23 March 1994

Thanks a million for this! You made an old English gentleman happy.

Thank you for uploading this, I watched it at the time and long wanted to watch it again I am a great fan of F&S.

Fantastic!

I find it so interesting that there are photographs of smiling airline staff beside Michael Flanders and his wheelchair, with Donald Swann, on the tarmac at London Airport, clearly happy to fly both of them to America. All these years later wheelchair - bound passengers, no matter how well known, are dumped on the tarmac, have their wheelchairs wrecked, and are treated appallingly despite all legislation supposed to ensure they are treated as well as passengers without physical disabilities. What a world we have today.

This is great! Thanks for uploading it. I remember watching both of their TV performances 50 years ago.

Splendid. Thank you for posting this. Wonderful seeing these two after listening to the recordings for so long.

Where do we find equivalent talent today?

Totally enjoyable! Wonderful lyrics & skilled musicianship! What a real treat! Thank you!

Wow, this takes me back to my childhood! I only wish we had an equivalent today

Genius, pure genius!

Wonderful and quite beautiful, what a pity more people knew of these fantastic gentelman

never gets old! sheer unadulterated talent. Glorious legacy.

All great stuff, but this is not really a documentary, just a collection of their greatest bits. I think, now that I've added the 500th "like" - I'll head over to Wiki for more info...

I've got this on video [somewhere!] but I'm delighted to find it here. Thank you so much. Style, wit, elegance, charm - and no need for bad language or vulgarity. They were able to make political and social comments, sometimes quite pointed, but never in any offensive way. Two gentlemen from a bygone age. Thank goodness for recordings.

Flanders was crippled but was funny as Hell.

I have the CD's of Hat & Another Hat, they are the complete stage performances which were missing due to restrictions on the original vinyl recordings.

Lovely. Thanks for the upload.

I absolutely adore Flanders and Swann.

I'm not English at all (well, a great-great-grandfather was) but I do love these two.

A great act --- one only they themselves could adequately follow.

Berliner's tm of an angel was Angel's .

Thanks for helping revive the memories of this phenomenal pair.

Thank you for uploading!

All Gall was my favorite.

Angel was their label.

How sweet! My husband and I were learning Greek in Thessaloniki in the mid 80s and stumbled upon Flanders and Swann recordings at the British Library. Those cassettes were so nice to listen to before cell phones and internet. Το κοκοράκι (The cockeral) made us laugh, and we learned the Greek animal sounds from two Brits! 😅

Thank you RU-vid!!!

Just glorious

Simply put, brilliantly done! 😂

So good I wish there were more artists like this

Glorious! Thank you so much for uploading this - I remember watching it when it first aired, and wishing even back then that I'd been able to see them live. Unfortunately, I was born quite a bit too late -- but I grew up listening to the LPs until I was almost word-perfect.

I have everything they have everr published on CD - including the special CD of "home" recordings recorded by people in the audience of a live concert. ALthough I never saw them live, I did meet Donald Swann in London once, just in time to catch the last performance of "Swann with Topping" which was also superb. I will never, ever, get tired of their music.

I am a great admirer of Flanders and Swann, but even the best people make mistakes. Beginning around 09:05, Flanders traces out the honeysuckle and bindweed growth habits with the index fingers of his left and right hand, respectively, but it looks to me as if he got confused (it would confuse me to do that, even if I wasn't trying to sing at the same time). In both cases the helix he traces out appears to be left-handed, which is like a honeysuckle, but opposite to a common corkscrew, bindweed, or the famous DNA double helix. Wrong-handed DNA representations are nearly as common in advertising copy as correct ones, indicating that few graphic artists understand the difference. To remedy this widespread and lamentable ignorance, Misalliance (the audio at least) should be made required listening for all graphic artists in training. Charles H. Bennett, chiral nitpicker.

Does anyone remember him going on about Casse Noisettes instead of Nutcracker and singing very florid words to the tune of Danny Boy.? He thought that Jeanette Macdonald needed a lot of air and so did he ...the hot variety.

Oh joy!

Thank you so much for posting this. These two gentlemen will outlast the years as a reminder that you didn't need to be crude to be funny. On the whole, perhaps, the finest legacy any comedy team could bequeath.

I grew up with their songs on LP, and remember watching their last performance on TV: thanks for the memories!

Superb!

'Imagine that, into cheese!'

Its easy to be expert on these two...and Swann sang Greek and Russian.

Absolutely love this duo. Humor and talent at its best!

Polio in those pre-vaccine days.

Yes and dont forget the reference to Casse Noisettes...

Brilliant blokes. Thank you.

I remember this song when I was a boy still a great song

Was it Kit or the Widow who recalled hearing Flanders and Swann first on a veranda in East Africa? They were a last breath of colonialism.

How wonderful! Thank u so much

Take note @ 21:35, this bit was recorded in 1967, but although things change, everything stays the same! ;)

Vocal artists speak about "phrasing". Sinatra said Matt Monroe was the best. Flanders invented it.

old but good! Great to see a so-called-disabled person performing

Inimitable. :-)))

Thank you!