The fact that he keeps pausing to think of a rhyming phrase implies that in the canon of the musical he just showed up and started rapping and I think that’s wonderful
@@DerEchteBold He pauses because he cant make the rythm a and that's the joke. the show was written to allow each version to make the most modern jokes to fit the show. Like Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxym it's meant to evolve with time and current jokes.
No, he knows the lyrics by heart, it's all part of the show and comedy, as you can see they show the Captain as funny and caricaturesque, he's depicting his several qualities singing a hundred words per minute yet he needs to be helped with the rhymes from time to time.
@@Averagequinoafan Well, when it comes to minerals, There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium, And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium, And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium (Yes, i just recited that from memory)
The "secret" of singing "Modern Major General" is not trying to speak fast but to speak steadily. Removing the short pauses between sentences and within sentences (effectively removing all periods, commas, and other punctuations) and also not giving extra emphasis to words gives the illusion of speaking more quickly than in actuality. These pauses and emphasis may be only milliseconds in length but are still detectable by listeners.
Spot-on. I slowed it down to half-speed to keep up with him during the mythic history verse and it was suddenly very noticeable that his voice was actually rather flat (lacking emphasis).
@jazz feline no I am saying he provoked the mob then fled leaving the mess to security. He also refused a fight with a ref vs one icp. I forget who... it is rap and a while ago. M&M just likes to start shit and cry behind other people who clean up his mess. ICP isn't the only act he acted the wannabe punk to.
@@vagabondwastrel2361 you realize celebrities have insurance companies and producers that prevent them from doing certain things, yes? They don't even make sense much of the time. For example; Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, wanted to have a charity fight with Vin Diesel but Steve's producers wouldn't allow it. Even though he plays with lethal animals on a daily basis, wrestles 2,000 pound crocodiles, and is a well trained MMA fighter, they felt it was an unnecessary risk cuz reasons???
"My time, my skills that have gotten me to this interview stage in the first place, and my ability to keep my mouth shut after I leave to work somewhere else." Was that less than 5 minutes?
Absolutely incredible performance, but it cuts out the ending line - "Well, now that I've introduced myself, I'd like to know what's going on!". Implies that he does this every time he meets new people even when he has no need to. Iconic
My highschool physics teacher is an performer in a local theatre, and one year this was her role. It's been years, and as far as i know, she still sings this song for her class as a treat at the end of the year. She absolutely kills it every time
Next character I make on D&D will have all his points on intelligence and will be roleplayed as an arrogant genius whose ego always ends up backstabbing him.
@@mister_dadstersays_hi7372 Ooh! Make him a fightey knight type with a scholar background who's never seen a battlefield. It might not be a well-balanced character, but it'd be hella fun to roleplay. Wouldn't be too bad if you choose the Fighter and choose the Eldrich Knight option at level 3.
When my mother saw the Pirates of Penzance in 1989, when she was 12, the man who was playing Major General Stanley, had a HEART ATTACK and DIED while singing this song (He didn't die on stage, but he died in the hospital)
The fact that his voice seems a bit more giddy when he refers to himself as “The Very Model of a Modern Major General” really shows how proud he is of his rank
Yup, the whole point is to show that a "modern Major General" of the era was so out of touch with what was actually important to modern militaries of the time. He's spending all this time bragging about everything he knows but little to none of it is actually important.
@@bobross547 To be fair, while the British Army was fooling around with incompetent leadership, the Royal Navy was the greatest navy the Earth had ever seen.
@@attalan8732 Wasnt the British Army one of the best european armies leading up to the first world war? Iirc they had one of the only armies where a majority where professional/regular soldiers instead of conscripts filling in their mandatory 1 year of service
@Bigg GIB'S fun house Im not arguing that Prussia was one of the best miltiary forces on the lead up or even start of WW1. But I never said that Britain was number 1. Just they had one of the best armies. As for Germany in WW2. I would put them Top 3 on the early war in general. But as the war goes on their weaknesses and failings start to catch up to them and it very much hindered their effectiveness. But when it comes to their ability to adapt they still are one of the best armies in that regard. Being able to switch from a keep moving, never stop offensive war to a hold every last piece of dift defensive mindset and do it effectively is difficult
What a treat to see this nearly 40 years later. We had a ball putting this show together and playing it 8 times a week that summer. Dougie Chamberlain, who played Major General Stanley rarely, if ever, forgot his lyrics and he is one of the kindest, funniest and most generous actors you'd ever have the pleasure of working with. The same is true of the late Brent Carver, who played The Pirate King. The staging is by the late Brian Macdonald, whose Gilbert & Sullivan productions in the early 1980s were beautifully realized productions from the creative standpoint. I was proud to be in Pirates and a remount of The Mikado.
Stratford was wonderful in those days. Thanks for your great work. Possibly around that time I saw a performance of Midsummer Night's Dream with a marvelous female actor playing Puck. Forget her name but she was wonderful.
Everybody going on about Hamilton and Eninem, and here I am having memories of this song being sung to me by an asparagus as a child. Albeit a bit slower. And with a lot more books.
The internet is a strange place... 99% of youtube suggestions are a waste of time... but every once in a while a real gem shows up... Like gold mining, but easier on the back...
I like his "well" at the end... the hand, face gestures, his posture, his walk, the slide ... I mean I know every one is impressed by the singing but to do all those other things on point is just incredible
Take it from someone who used to sing 25-30 songs per show in bars for years, having that many words come off the tongue that smoothly is a serious feat! Amazing!
My theatre teacher used this clip to help our class practice diction, giving a few volunteers the chance to try and keep up with it... the sheer amount of flubs we made, and the literal pools of drool left on the stage afterward, show just how much practice this kind of performance had to take. Whew.
Having watched a number of very talented performers take on the challenge of this song, I have to say his performance is head and shoulders above them all - simply amazing!
I am impressed not only with this man's ability to memorize what must be the most complicated song in existence, but with whoever wrote it. It's brilliant!
Sir William Schwenk Gilbert. Sullivan wrote the music. And all the Gilbert and Sullivan operas had them. Their comic operas were the forerunners of British radio and TV comedy in the line of The Goon Shows, the Frost Report and Monty Python.
To be able to keep pace in character like that & accurately & perfectly sing that fully in character on stage like that is quite impressive. You rarely see true talent like that anymore. Stage actors in my opinion are thousands of leagues above the skills of any movie actor. Voice actors come second.
Me: I’d like to play a bard with the soldier background and proficiency with nature, history and performance. DM: That sounds like a very specific build. Me:
@@zzodysseuszz "smooth-brained" is wrong, "oblivious to the most basic concepts of combat" is more accurate. The joke is that he's a pogue, not that he's stupid.
I was just doing the research on him and I can concur. The Toronto Public Library and IMDB does not have an expiration date for him, so I would say he is still alive and kicking.
I talked out the lines to my calc 3 teacher a few years back, they had no idea what I was referencing... How did they even get their job? Maybe they got it from the monarch of the sea's boss?
The animaniacs did a version of this and it's been among my favorite things since I was little. The writers were geniuses of that show and to empact a 10 year old in the 90's till now is crazy and now I finally see this I never knew it existed and instantly went back. ❣️❣️❣️ I love this
I've watched every version of this song I could find online and I've decided that THIS one is THE best. There's just something so wonderful about this man's performance.
I spent many hours on the night shift alone. I once spent several weeks practicing this song. I can still sing it quite well, though not as well from memory as this king.
If you knew who it is supposed to be a caricature of you wouldn’t be so impressed. Read a little about Garnet Joseph Wolseley, and you’ll see that the only accurate thing about this portrayal is how knowledgeable he was, and even that falls considerably short of the man’s many talents.
I think he’s honestly just having so much fun and is so pleased with his own performance that he’s being overtly excited for the audience while still showing how much fun he’s having.
The Major General being satirized by G&S is the future Field Marshall Garnet Worseley. He modernized the British Army into a professional army, instituting many needed reforms, often against formidable opposition from the government, at the turn of the century. When he retired he wrote in his autobiography that "if Armageddon is to be fought it will be between China and the United States". (1903)
Funny because in 1903, the United States was the nicest of the Western Powers to China. The US was the only one that proposed the growth and modernization of China and aided them, rather than intentionally keeping them weak like the rest of the West, even if the US was part of the Eight Nation Alliance. Ironic how that's coming around now.
Garnet Joseph Wolseley, ‘the model of a modern major-general’, was one of Britain’s most important soldiers. He won no distinction as a commander in a great war, but his record in the so called “little-wars” is probably unique in the history of arms. An Anglo-Irishman, he followed his own maxim that if a young officer wants to do well he should try to get himself killed; Wolseley tried really hard, first in the Burma War, when he was badly wounded leading the attack on an enemy stockade; in the Crimea, where he was twice wounded, losing an eye; in the Indian Mutiny, where he served in the relief and siege of Lucknow, being five times mentioned in Despatches; in the China War of 1860; In Canada, where in his first independent command he put down the Red River Rebellion without a casualty; in Africa, where he won a lightning campaign against King Koffee of Ashanti, and captured Cetewayo, the Zulu leader; in Egypt, where he beat Arabi Pasha at Tel-el-Kevin and took Cairo; in the Sudan, where he reached Khartoum just too late to rescue Gordon, his old friend of the Crimea and China. He was made a viscount and later field marshal. But Wolseley’s real importance was as a military reformer and creator of the modern British Army; having seen and suffered under the traditional regime which, while largely successful, had hardly changed in centuries, and being a confirmed champion of the private soldier, he foresaw the need for change in a rapidly changing military world. His reforms and reorganisations, bitterly opposed at the time, prepared the British Army for a new era of warfare; his influence largely forgotten, is on the Army still. He was (as Gilbert and Grossmith recognised when they caricatured him in The Pirates of Penzance) a man of many talents; a trained draughtsman and surveyor, he sketched and painted well, and wrote several books.
Not just that, but Garnet took this parody of himself in good humour, and even learned the song so he could sing it to his friends and family at private events.
@@peripheraldevotee94 the truly intelligent find humour in that sort of treatment and delight in it because they know it will only help more people learn eventually
Im sure you’ve read Farwell’s ‘Queen Victoria’s Little Wars’ as well, he’s a really fascinating guy and the book is a great insight into the military-method of that time. Consisting far too often of Victorian generals who flounder the most powerful armies by sheer ineptitude . Honestly though this song reminded me a lot of the The Charge of The Light Brigade movie too and how it caricatured Victorian generals. Just hilarious though when you know that real life generals were literally just as pompous
"I am the very model of a Scientist Salarian, I've studied species: Turian, Asari, and Batarian; I'm quite good at genetics (as a subset of biology, of which I am an expert and I know is a tautology). My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian, I am the very model of a Scientist Salarian!" -Prof. Mordin Solus
Major General Stanley: I am the very model of a modern Major-General. I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral. I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical. From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical Employee: ...sir, this is a Wendy's- Major General Stanley: *DID I STUTTER?* Not enough credit is given to the ensemble. Not only did they have to take part in the fast lines in this clusterfuck of a song, but they also had to do it in perfect unison
The line about “that infernal nonsense, Pinafore” becomes much funnier when you realize that it’s a play that was created by the same people who made this one. It’s a self-burn.
@@N_Garamond No there's a character in HMS Pinafore based on a real naval officer that I think Gilbert was related too. Father in law I thinks. And HE called the play "infernal nonsense."
A splendid performance! It is vital to the entire performance that the Major General's song be done flawlessly -- the audience knows it and is waiting for it. The articulation and comic timing must be perfect. Anyone who has spent even a few years on stage appreciates how difficult this is to do well.
you don't have to be within a hundred miles of a stage to see how difficult it is... i still can't tell the difference between a Mauser rifle and a javelin!
Are the times he stops and repeats a line or tries to find a rhyme the times that he forgot the line? Because someone always runs over to him. The trivial persuit one looks like standard acting and fits in quite well but on the others he runs off to get a line.
@@bedstuyrover a mauser rifle is a bolt action rifle in a certain manufacturing company in germany sometime near WW2 A javelin is just a spear designed primarily for throwing. Its a pretty clear difference if you have a vague idea what they are
Despite his seeming lack of any relevant combat skills, I find that his large library of knowledge skills and trained skills would make him useful if I were to go on a wacky G&S adventure, so I would probably take him along as a party member.
@@aputridpileofb-movies6542 the problem is that he doesn’t **actually** know anything. The joke is that he talks fancy. Which why he says things like noticing the difference between a Mauser rifle and a javeline…………which are obviously noticeable differences anyone can deduce.
@@zzodysseuszz I mean, listen to the lyrics and read the intentions of the play and you'll realise that actually he IS a very intelligent man - everything he says is true, he does know that stuff. Its just none of it is even remotely useful to combat. In fact, if you pay attention, you'll notice he says "When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin" i.e he currently can't. He isn't saying he can - most of the things in that part is him saying the things he can't do. In fact, when I know what is meant by "mamelon" and "Ravelin" When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin When such affairs as sorties and surprises I'm more Wary at And when I know precisely what is meant by "Commissariat" When I have learnt what progress has been made in Modern gunnery When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery In short, when I've a smattering of elemental strategy You'll say a better Major-General had never sat a gee The entire thing was meant to make fun of the military of the time that G&S wrote this. That many in command of the British military were certainly well educated men, but none of it actually was useful in combat.
What I learned from school: Basic math, a little bio and physics, and a sprinkle of US history. What I learned from publications, books and observations:.
@@explosionsandstuff7787 the reason why I disagree with that is because your favorite did it too fast. It was difficult to understand what he was saying. As an audience member, I can understand this character is the right speed is what I’m saying.
one of my local theaters is putting this play on at the end April. I know nothing about this play other than this song, and you can bet I'm going to see it solely to see this live
I am the very model of a scientist Salarian I've studies species turian, asari, and batarian I'm quite good at genetics as a subset of biology Because I am an expert which I know is a tautology.
The performance is wonderful but let's not forget W.S.Gilbert's genius is devising this intricate recitation....one that puts a lot of different information together.
The *real* lyrics for this particular version: ================================== Yes, yes, he is a Major General. . Yes, yes, I am a Major General. . I am the very model of a modern Major-General I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical; I am very well acquainted too with matters mathematical I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news--- heh, lot of news..(asked for help, gets help from a lady whispering in his ear) With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypote-pote-nuse I am very good at integral and differential calculus I know the scientific names of beings animalculous; In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral I am the very model of a modern Major-General In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral He is the very model of a modern Major-General! I know our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's I answer hard acrostics, I've a pretty taste for paradox I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus In conics I can floor peculiarities parablous (pushes a pirate over, everyone says "HEY") I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies I know the croaking chorus from the Frogs of Aristophanes Then I can hum a fugue of which I've heard the music's din afore heheh, din afore. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha (everyone laughs, gets hint whispered from the same lady as before) And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pina-pina-fore! Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform And tell you every detail of Caractacus's uniform; In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral I am the very model of a modern Major-General In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral He is the very model of a modern Major-General! (slow) In fact, when I know what is meant by "mamelon" and "ravelin" When I can tell at sight a mauser rifle from a javelin When such affairs as sorties and surprises I'm more wary at And when I know precisely what is meant by "commissariat" When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery When I know more of tactics than, a novice in a nunnery: In short, when I've a smattering of elemental strategy strategy... effigy, battergy, nathagy, rathigy, mathigy (pirate whispers in his ear) SAT A GEE! You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee! (fast) You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee You'll say a better Major-General has never sat-a-sat-a-gee For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century; But still in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral (with a chuckle and smile) I am the very model of a modern Major-General But still in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral He is the very model of a modern Major-General! (end music, steps offstage, returns after applause) (slow speed to slow march) I have knowledge in all areas, artistic or didactical From things utilitarian, to totally impractical. I know the dates of great events, both wonderful and sinister. I even know how short a time John Turner was Prime Minister. I memorized all principles, logistic and mechanical In many ways, I am Encyclopedia Brittanical. I've knowledge as gratuitous as how an ancient lute is played. Lute is played? hah. So I'm always in demand whenever Trivial Pursuit is played! (fast speed) He's always in demand whenever Trivial Pursuit is played. He's always in demand whenever Trivial Pursuit is played. He's always in demand whenever Trivial Pursuit-Pursuit is played! But one thing I don't understand is anything Shakespearean Except when played in theaters and I get very weary in. (in laughing tone) But still in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral I am the very model of a modern Major-General! . But still in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral He is the very model of a modern Major-General! Well...
@@pewpewmans7790 You try listening to every word to get the slight differences from published lyrics and you'll be singing this in your head all day...
To only imagine HOW LONG and how many hours he had to put in practicing this piece. To not only remember all these words, but to proficiently sing and give a master performance as well!
As someone who is currently learning this song I can tell you that I've been practicing for a good month now and I can still only sing the 1st and the 3rd parts spotlessly. The 2nd is just so incredibly difficult and the 4th part (only sung in this version) is hard because there are no lyrics for it anywhere. It might also be good to know I am Dutch so sometimes it feels like it would come more naturally to a native English speaker.
@@Andy2kk I did! I can sing it flawlessly exept for 1 line for about 3 weeks now. The line I get stuck on is "I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus" for some reason elegiacs throws me off
