"Lily the Pink" is a 1968 song released by the UK comedy group

The Scaffold The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of musical performer Mike McGear (real name Peter Michael McCartney, the brother of Paul McCartney), poet Roger McGough and comic entertainer John Gorman. ...

, which reached No. 1 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It is a modernisation of an older folk song titled "The Ballad of

Lydia Pinkham Lydia Estes Pinkham (born Estes; February 9, 1819 – May 17, 1883) was an American inventor and marketer of an herbal-alcoholic "women's tonic" for menstrual and menopausal problems, which medical experts dismissed as a quack remedy, but w ...

". 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 Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

to cure a weak

appetite Appetite is the desire to eat food items, usually due to hunger. Appealing foods can stimulate appetite even when hunger is absent, although appetite can be greatly reduced by satiety. Appetite exists in all higher life-forms, and serves to regu ...

, or bringing about a

sex change Sex change is a natural or artificial process in which an individual's sex is changed. Sex change may also refer to: Biology and medicine *Sex reassignment therapy *Sex reassignment surgery *Sequential hermaphroditism, a phenomenon whereby some ...

as a remedy for

freckle Freckles are clusters of concentrated melaninized cells which are most easily visible on people with a fair complexion. Freckles do not have an increased number of the melanin-producing cells, or melanocytes, but instead have melanocytes that ...

The Scaffold version

The Scaffold's record, released in November 1968, became No. 1 in the

for the four weeks encompassing the Christmas holidays that year.

Backing vocalist A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

s on the recording included

Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, photographer, and activist. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and the supergroups Crosby, Stills ...

(of

The Hollies The Hollies are a British pop rock band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke (singer), Allan Clarke and Graham ...

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

(then Reg Dwight), and

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ' ...

; while

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of British rock band Cream. After the group disbande ...

(of

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

) played the

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

. The lyrics include a number of

in-joke An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It i ...

s. For example, the line "Mr Frears had sticky out ears" refers to film director

Stephen Frears Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accola ...

, who had worked with The Scaffold early in their career; while the line "Jennifer Eccles had terrible freckles" refers to the song "

Jennifer Eccles "Jennifer Eccles" is a 1968 single by The Hollies. It was released with the B-side "Open Up Your Eyes" on the Parlophone label, Catalogue number R5680. The track reached #7 on the UK singles chart in March 1968. It was released in the US with a ...

" by

, the band Graham Nash was about to leave.

Charts

Covers, derivative versions, and similar songs

In North America

The Irish Rovers The Irish Rovers is a group of Irish musicians that originated in Toronto, Canada. Formed in 1963'Irish Rovers are Digging out those old Folk songs', By Ballymena Weekly Editor, Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, N. Ireland – 20 August 1964 and na ...

released the song a few months after The Scaffold's version. It reached #38 in Canada and #113 in the U.S. in early 1969. It also rose to the Top 20 on the Easy Listening charts of both nations. The release from the Rovers' ''

Tales to Warm Your Mind ''Tales to Warm Your Mind'' is a 1969 album by the music group The Irish Rovers. The album title comes from a line in the song "Stop, Look, Listen." Track listing Side 1 #"Stop, Look, Listen" (Stuart Harrison) - 2:09 #"The Stolen Child" (Arrang ...

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...

LP became a second-favourite behind " The Unicorn". The song has since been adopted by the folk community. It has been performed live by the

Brobdingnagian Bards The Brobdingnagian Bards are a Celtic music group from Austin, Texas, United States. History Marc Gunn, formerly of Austin Texas' alternative rock bands Skander and Breastfed, released a solo album (''Geography'') featuring himself on autoharp a ...

and other Celtic-style folk and folk artists. The song was successfully adapted into French (as "''Le sirop typhon''") by Richard Anthony in 1969. That version described humorously the devastating effects of a so-called ''panacée'' (universal medicine). In Quebec, it was adapted as "Monsieur Bong Bong", and mocked the

Hong Kong flu The Hong Kong flu, also known as the 1968 flu pandemic, was a flu pandemic whose outbreak in 1968 and 1969 killed between one and four million people globally. It is among the deadliest pandemics in history, and was caused by an H3N2 strain of ...

pandemic of 1968–1969. In 1968, an Italian version ("''La sbornia''", the bender) was made by the band

I Gufi I Gufi ("The Owls", also spelled just as Gufi) was an Italian musical and comedy ensemble, mainly successful in the second half of the 1960s. Career The group formed in Milan between 1963 and 1964, and debuted on stage with the show "I Gufi canta ...

, describing the effects of drinking alcohol on several humorous, fictional characters. In 1968, famous Finnish comedy actor

Simo Salminen Simo Veli Atte Salminen (8 November 1932 – 2 September 2015) was a Finnish comic-actor best known for his many performances in movies and television shows by Spede Pasanen, usually playing his sidekick in some fashion. Salminen alongside Vesa-M ...

recorded a version in Finnish ("''Tenkka-tenkka-poo''", "a troubled situation"), which describe misfortunes of the storyteller from primary school to the last judgement. In 1969, in Catalonia, the musical and humoristic group released a

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

version entitled "La Trinca". In 1969, a Danish version ("''Lille Fru Flink''", "Little Mrs Friendly") was recorded by

Grethe Sønck Grethe Sønck (16 July 1929 – 12 February 2010)Grethe Sønck er død
was a

Johnny Standley Johnny Standley (December 6, 1912 – May 27, 1992) was an American musician, actor, and comedian. Early life and career Born in Oklahoma City, Standley moved to Milwaukee at a young age, touring the Midwest and Southwest for many years as an actor ...

recorded "Grandma's Lye Soap", a song about soap with similarly bizarre ways of curing maladies.

Earlier folk song

The U.S. American folk (or drinking) song on which "Lily the Pink" is based is generally known as "Lydia Pinkham" or "The Ballad of Lydia Pinkham". It has the

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

number 8368. The song was inspired by Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, a well-known herbal-alcoholic

patent medicine A patent medicine, sometimes called a proprietary medicine, is an over-the-counter (nonprescription) medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name (and sometimes a patent) and claimed ...

for women. Supposed to relieve

menstrual The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that make pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eggs a ...

and

menopausal Menopause, also known as the climacteric, is the time in women's lives when Menstruation, menstrual periods stop permanently, and they are no longer fertility, able to bear children. Menopause usually occurs between the age of 47 and 54. Medic ...

pains, the compound was mass-marketed in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

from 1876 onwards. The song was certainly in existence by the time of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

F. W. Harvey Frederick William Harvey DCM (26 March 1888 – 13 February 1957), often known as Will Harvey, was an English poet, broadcaster and solicitor. His poetry became widely popular during and after World War I. Early life Harvey was born in 1888 in ...

records it being sung in officers'

prisoner-of-war camps in Germany A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

, and ascribes it to Canadian prisoners. According to Harvey, the words of the first verse ran: In many versions, the complaints which the compound had cured were highly ribald in nature. During the

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

era (1920–33) in the

, the medicine (like other similar patent medicines) had a particular appeal as a readily available 40-

proof Proof most often refers to: * Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition * Alcohol proof, a measure of an alcoholic drink's strength Proof may also refer to: Mathematics and formal logic * Formal proof, a con ...

alcoholic drink, and it is likely that this aided the popularity of the song. A version of the song was the unofficial regimental song of the

Royal Tank Corps The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as t ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Cultural references

At the

2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, the

Official Monster Raving Loony Party The Official Monster Raving Loony Party (OMRLP) is a political party established in the United Kingdom in 1982 by the musician David Sutch, also known as "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", or simply "Lord Sutch". It is notable for its ...

candidate, Berni Benton, stood under the name "Lady Lily the Pink". She polled 334 votes (1.05% of those cast), placing her in 5th place out of 6.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lily The Pink Songs about fictional female characters 1968 singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Irish Singles Chart number-one singles American folk songs English folk songs Novelty songs The Scaffold songs Song recordings produced by Norrie Paramor Songs of World War I Christmas number-one singles in the United Kingdom Songs written by Mike McGear Parlophone singles