Lily the Pink" is a 1968 song released by the UK comedy group The Scaffold, which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart. It is a modernisation of an older folk song titled "The Ballad of Lydia Pinkham". The lyrics celebrate the "medicinal compound" invented by Lily the Pink, and humorously chronicle the "efficacious" cures it has brought about, such as inducing morbid obesity to cure a weak appetite, or bringing about a sex change as a remedy for freckles.
Folk songs always teach history. I know this is Border line ?
The story of the project that killed Isambard Kingdom Brunel - the building of his overly ambitious and ultimately doomed super-ship, The Great Eastern. Fascinating, and everything in Sting's lyrics actually happened. Includes great and haunting Northumbrian pipes from Kathryn Tickell...
“A friend of mine got shot with a pellet gun-4 little white boys attacked him and one shot him in the face. The trouble is when the backlash comes we won’t know which white people are on our side.......... TEENAGE GIRL,NORTH LONDON 1978
From Youtube
This song of Scottish origin dates to the time of the Seven Years War, fought in the Low Countries and Prussia/Silesia in the mid-eighteenth century but, as with many British folksongs, it has been borrowed, updated and bastardised many times. At the Battle of Minden, 1759, various English regiments advanced to meet the enemy. As they echeloned forward, they passed through rose gardens, where yellow and red roses grew. The flowers reminded the soldiers of home and, soldiers being a sentimental lot in their own way, they plucked them and wore them in their hats (so the story goes).
"Minden Day" is celebrated to this day by numerous British Army regiments. One such is the 1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment, successor to the 12th Regiment of Foot (Suffolk Regiment), who were one of the regiments at Minden. On Minden Day, they wear decorate their colours with red and yellow roses.
Though originally written for a BBC play, Aberfan reared its awful head, he added an extra verse for the 'bairns' and it became ever after inextricably linked...
Possibly historical depending on your beliefs. A brilliant song from an utterly brilliant songwriter. The album used on this video Rosselsongs is a sort of best(just the tip of the iceberg) of but great place to introduce yourself to the great man.
