[78-L] Mikado

[DAVID BURNHAM]

Chris Zwarg wrote

At face value it is derogatory in "Mikado", but Gilbert put it there in a farcical vein, as part of Ko-Ko's "little list" of despicable individuals he'd like to see executed. A few moments later it is revealed in the story that despite this mighty rant - BTW set to the most tip-toeing and non-ranting music imaginable - he couldn't even kill a bluebottle. The ominous list contains among others the author himself ("the judicial humorist" - Gilbert had been a lawyer before he turned to writing operettas), and traditionally, in the last verse, any current celebrity the singer and producer find a way to fit into the metre

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't think the intention is that the folks on the list are despicable, just that Koko feels that if it's ever time for an execution, these people should be ahead of him.

Through the years they changed the offensive phrase to things like "coloured serenader", "negro serenader" and "banjo serenader".  Martyn Green, who sung Koko in the 1936 recording, was quite upset when they introduced the line, "is painted with vigour and permanent walnut juice."  As he said, "how can one be painted with vigour?", implying that "vigour" was the paint.  It was obviously a more difficult line to replace - "blacked like a banjo serenader" wouldn't fit in the tune.

The Shilkret Stephen Foster set is one of my favourite sets - I love the arrangements and the treatments.  I've had this set since I was a child but I realize my favourite sets of records don't always agree with opinions at large - for instance, the Koussevitzky/Richard Hale "Peter and the Wolf", which was thoroughly dumped on in this list recently, is one of my favourite readings of this piece and stands apart from most other readings of the early days because of its sermon-like presentation.

db