Friday, February 17, 2006

Beecham's Pills


You may notice we have a new motto today. It is based on an old jingle I heard driving home this morning, for Beecham's Pills.

Here is the entire song:

Hark the Herald Angels sing
Beecham's Pills are just the thing
Moves ye gently meek and mild
Two for an adult, one for a child.

Regular administration,
Just the thing for constipation,
How can man to Art aspire,
If his soul is not on fire?

Hark the Herald Angels sing
Beecham's Pills are just the thing.


Is anyone old enough to remember these things? If so, what were they for? Did they work?


C'mon, Fogies: I'm counting on you.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Originaly seen on BBC tv`s Thats Life being sung by Richard Stilgoe

Anonymous said...

The song is much older than that

My Dad use to sing it to us during the latter years of WW II

Anonymous said...

Add the lines "two when you go on the beer,then no fear of diarrhoea"

Anonymous said...

My recollection is:
"How can man to art aspire, if his arse is all afire!

Tanjong Rambutan said...

I was in a boarding school during WW II. We were evacuated from London when war was declared and moved to Reigate. The majority of us were Cockneys - endowed with the clan's sense of ribald humor. Our rendering of Beecham's Pills went as follows:-
Hark the herald angels sing
Beecham's Pills are just the thing
If you want to go to Heaven
You must swallow six or seven
If you want to go to Hell
You must eat the box as well
The implication was that this could cure tummy problems or an unwanted pregnancy!

Hyperion said...

Tanjong Rambutan, you are my new favorite person!

Anonymous said...

My Dad was just talking about that jingle tonight - WW II era as someone else posted. They were meant to cure constipation - but there is a little more:

There was an orchestra conductor name of Beecham, and he was connected to the family, rich enough to buy his orchestra - so he did. That orchestra turned into the Philharmonic (GB of course)