Leslie Sarony - Ain't it Grand to be Blooming Well Dead (1932)
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- čas přidán 10. 06. 2012
- The original by creator Leslie Sarony, available on at least two labels (Imperial 2688 and Zonophone 6129). Like many of Sarony's jaunty tunes it was covered many times including his collaberative partner (as The Two Leslies) Roy Leslie, George Jackley, Billy Cotton, The Barmy Brothers and many others. Many of these covers are available on my channel too.
Leslie Sarony (born Leslie Legge Frye 22 January 1897 - 12 February 1985) was a British entertainer, singer and songwriter. Sarony was born in Surbiton, Surrey and died in London.
Sarony became well known in the 1920s and 1930s as a variety artist and radio performer. In 1928 he made a short film made in the Phonofilm sound-on-film system, Hot Water and Vegetabuel. In this film, he sang, interspersed with his comic patter, the two eponymous songs -- the first as a typical Cockney geezer outside a pub, the second (still outside the pub) as a less typical vegetable rights campaigner ("Don't be cruel to a vegetabuel"). Leslie Sarony wrote many of the top novelty records of the 30s, many of which were covered by other artists including Max Miller, Gracie Fields and many others.
He went on to make a number of recordings of novelty songs, such as He Played his Ukulele as the Ship Went Down, including several with Jack Hylton and his Orchestra.
Sarony continued to perform into his eighties, moving on to television and films. In the 1970s he appeared in hit programmes including the Harry Worth Show, Crossroads, Z-Cars, The Good Old Days, and The Liberace Show, as well as the famous sitcom Nearest and Dearest. He took over from Bert Palmer as the senile Uncle Stavely ("I heard that! Pardon?") in the fourth and final series of I Didn't Know You Cared in 1979.
In 1983 Sarony appeared as one of a number of elderly insurance clerks in the The Crimson Permanent Assurance segment of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. His son Peter Sarony is a successful gunsmith with a business in London. - Komedie
Our British sense of humour hasn't changed in 90 years!
My great grandmother had this played at her funeral
That's fantastic !
We lost my dad on 12 June 2022, funeral was on 8th July. This was on his playlist. Says everything about him really, not often you get to have a laugh at a funeral. 😁
What a smashing song...I'm definitely going to have this..when I'm blooming well dead...love it..
Haha, My Nan has this on 78 record, we cleared out the roof and found most of her 78's we also cleared up the gramophone and played some of them never seen my Nan so happy.
I heard this when I was a child .its a classic ...
Just the lighthearted take on death that we need to cheer us up at the present.
I often wondered about all the rest of the words. My mother had 7 children and often sang this song or parts of it. am so glad I found this song on tube. She passed away in 2007 at the age of 99, may the force rest her soul, she was a marvellous person.
My father used to sing this from time to time when I was a child and it somehow stuck in my head. So today I wondered if it was on the web somewhere. A quick search and hey presto: here it is. Thanks for uploading this!
Same here lol
@@johnskinnwr4629 And here too.
Love it, they don't write songs like that any more lol
This used to freak me out as a child. :)
Remember this on a 78. As a child my dad had a tea chest from local junk shop! Full of old 78s
What a gem
Leslie Sarony appears in an early episode of The Sweeney as a shopkeeper who is robbed.
Perfect soundtrack
AIN'T IT GRAND TO BE BLOOMING WELL DEAD
Words and music by Leslie Sarony, ©1932.
As sung by Leslie Sarony, 1932.
[Part 1]
Lately there's nothing but trouble, grief and strife.
There's not much attraction about this bloomin' life.
Last night I dreamt I was bloomin' well dead.
As I went to the funeral, I bloomin' well said:
Look at the flowers, bloomin' great orchids.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at the corfin, bloomin' great 'andles.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
I felt so 'appy to think that I'd popped off,
I said to a bloke with a nasty, 'acking cough:
Look at the black 'earse, bloomin' great 'orses.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at the bearers, all in their frock coats.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at their top 'ats, polished with Guinness.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
Some people there were praying for me soul.
I said, 'It's the first time I've been off the dole.'
Look at the mourners, bloomin' well sozzled.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at the children, bloomin' excited.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at the neighbours, bloomin' delighted.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
Spend the insurance on merriment, for alack,
You know I shan't be with you going back.
Look at the Missus, bloomin' well laughing.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at me sister, bloomin new 'at on.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at me brother, bloomin' cigar on.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
We come from clay and we all go back they say.
Don't aim a brick. It may be your Auntie May
Look at me grandma, bloomin' old haybag.
Ain't it grand, to be bloomin' well dead!
[Part 2]
OTHER VOICES: Where oh where has our Leslie gone?
Oh where oh where can he be?
He promised to be on the other side.
Ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee!
LESLIE: I've got me eye on ya! You're the blokes that told me to learn to play the bloomin' 'arp. I 'aven't played a bloomin' note since I've been 'ere.
Look at the florists countin' their profits.
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at the lawyers readin' the will out.
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
Taxes an' rent I'll 'ave no need to pay.
I've dodged 'em by bloomin' well snuffin' it. Hooray!
Look at the landlord, bloomin' ol' shylock!
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at the bulldog (arf!) bloomin' well barkin'.
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at the tomcat (meow!) bloomin' well flirtin'.
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
People said 'e was so good to the poor.
I said as I thought what they called me before:
Look at the sexton. Bloomin' great shovel!
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at me schoolmates bloomin' well gigglin'!
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at the earthworms bloomin' well wrigglin'!
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
All my old Chinas* I saw them standin' round.
I said as they slowly lowered me in the ground:
Look at the tombstones, granite with knobs on.
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
Now it's all over. Look at them scarpering.
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
Look at the weather bloomin' well raining.
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
Then I awoke with a really shocking start.
I found me in bed with the missus of me 'eart.
I got the milk in. Baby was screaming.
Ain't it grand to be bloomin' well dead!
[* Chinas = China plates = mates (I think)]
Jim Dixon
MATE!!!! You wrote out all of the lyrics!!! ALL OF THEM!!! I’m listening to this song for the first time RIGHT NOW and I thought I’d google the lyrics later and here in the comments you’ve painstakingly provided them so I can sing along!!! You, sir, are an absolute gentleman and I wish you riches and victories beyond your wildest dreams!!!!
Merry Christmas, Mr Dixon, and a very happy new year!!!!
Thanks for the lyrics. Never heard of him before or this song. Thanks for making its so easy.
He used to live in sunbury on thames about 1938🎙
Makes you smile/ laugh great fun.
Brilliant!
Great Song
This is the original by writer/performer Sarony. There are lots of other covers of it too; George Jackley, Roy Leslie, Billy Cotton etc.
The London Nobody Knows.
In the USA this was apparently too British for public consumption, so Alex Bartha's band did something of a ripoff called "It Sure Is Swell to Be Laying Out Dead." Unfortunately the depression had hit a lot harder over here, and Bartha's lyric called attention to it with grim humor. RCA Victor pulled the record from stores immediately. Alex Bartha & His Orchestra - It Must Be Swell
Part of this song is the melody of Chopins 'Funeral march'. (eg..."we come from clay and we all go back they say"). Nice :)
My dad used to tell me about this song...
At 4:59 he refers to "my old chinas" - "china" is Cockney rhyming slang for "mate" - from "china plate", "mate". 🤗
I remember listening to a 78rpm recording of this song at my grandmother's house in Carlisle in the early 1970's. She had an old wind up gramophone in the upstairs back room.
It leaves me cold. I suppose that in times when death was more immediate ( my aunt died of diphtheria at my grandmother's Carlisle home in 1939), it was a way of making light of mortality. Honestly, I didn't think I'd hear it again after all these years and I don't want to repeat the experience.
I think I like this version best though...
For Jesse Payne my great grandfather x
The version by the Barmy Brothers was in a collection of 78's I purchased today. I prefer this original version by Mr Sarony. The rolled 'Rs' definitely add something.
that's genuine 19th Century Cockney, m.
Why is life given to them that seek death ? Even to them that seek it more than hid treasure !
Why are the top hats polished with Guinness?
It was banned. “. The grave diggin bloke had to move the s. S away “
Does this song have any connection to the Clancy Brother's 'Isn't it Grand?'
Yes
Comedy is subjective Murray.
3:57 Ouch.
Hi
This song was considered very contraversional at the time.....
This was before the days of sex and drugs and rock n roll....
When Lily Plays My Little Ukulele (Short Version)
This off a sterno record ? I got the same one sounds like a better recording though.
Leslie Sarony appears in an early episode of The Sweeney as a shopkeeper who is robbed.