Is this England?

Just heard England Swings by Roger Miller. I don’t normally pay any attention to lyrics (that’s another post) but this time I couldn’t help listen carefully.

In England Swings, Roger Miller talks of Bobbies on bicycles, rosy cheeked children and dapper men with derby hats and canes. That doesn’t sound like England to me but I admit I haven’t been in a while and I’m not an American.

Ok so the song was released in the mid-60s but it still doesn’t sound like an image of 1960s Britain I’ve ever heard or seen in any film.

I guess it comes from the same American view of England that saw Disney create Mary Poppins or that keeps those horrible tacky tourists shops selling mugs of the Queen open.

Anyway here are the lyrics:

England swings like a pendulum do,
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two,
Westminster Abbey the tower of Big Ben,
The rosy red cheeks of the little children.

Now, if you huff and puff and you fina’lly save enough
Money up to take your family on a trip across the sea,
Take a tip before you take your trip; let me tell you where to go,
Go to Engeland, Oh;

Mama’s old pajamas and your papa’s mustache,
Falling out the window sill, frolic in the grass,
Tryin’ to mock the way they talk fun but all in vain,
Gaping at the dapper men with derby hats and canes

Oh and the reason I don’t listen to music anymore is something a musician friend of mine said to me - he basically said that it’s more about the rythm and the melody - they sink into your soul more than actual lyrics.

I don’t completely agree with this but I do see his point. I’ll public the interview I did with him and my thoughts on his thoughts at some point in the not too distant future.

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