Abdul Abulbul Amir: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Ivan and Abdul.jpg|thumb|250px|right| Ivan Skavinsky Skavar and Abdul the Bulbul-Ameer]] |
[[Image:Ivan and Abdul.jpg|thumb|250px|right| Ivan Skavinsky Skavar and Abdul the Bulbul-Ameer]] |
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"'''Abdul Abulbul Amir'''" is a |
"'''Abdul Abulbul Amir'''" is a written in 1877 by and later set to music. It tells the story of two valiant heroes — a Russian, Ivan Skavinsky Skavar, and one of the Shah's [[mamluk|mameluke]]s, Abdul Abulbul Amir — who because of their pride end up in a fight and kill each other. |
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[[Frank Crumit]], who was famous for his renditions of it, wrote three sequels:<ref>http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thereturnofabdulabulbulamir.shtml</ref> "The Return of Abdul Abulbul Amir",<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOWgQRmWhLc</ref> "The Grandson Of Abdul Abulbul Amir", and "Minnie Skavinsky Skavar". |
[[Frank Crumit]], who was famous for his renditions of it, wrote three sequels:<ref>http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thereturnofabdulabulbulamir.shtml</ref> "The Return of Abdul Abulbul Amir",<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOWgQRmWhLc</ref> "The Grandson Of Abdul Abulbul Amir", and "Minnie Skavinsky Skavar". |
Revision as of 20:59, 7 June 2010
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bb/Ivan_and_Abdul.jpg/250px-Ivan_and_Abdul.jpg)
"Abdul Abulbul Amir" Percy Frenchis a poem written in 1877 by and later set to music. It tells the story of two valiant heroes — a Russian, Ivan Skavinsky Skavar, and one of the Shah's mamelukes, Abdul Abulbul Amir — who because of their pride end up in a fight and kill each other.
Frank Crumit, who was famous for his renditions of it, wrote three sequels:[1] "The Return of Abdul Abulbul Amir",[2] "The Grandson Of Abdul Abulbul Amir", and "Minnie Skavinsky Skavar".
The song was adapted in 1941 into an MGM cartoon, Abdul the Bulbul-Ameer, produced by Fred Quimby, directed by Hugh Harman[3] and featuring Groucho Marx, Lou Costello and Harry Ritz as news reporters. In this version Abdul is depicted as a bully who picks on Ivan's dwarf friend, provoking Ivan into treading on the Turk's toe. He has many traits of 1930s and 1940s cartoon villains like Bluto including thick lips, a beard and a big belly. There is a brief swordfight which soon changes into a brawl that ends with Ivan and Abdul literally "out cold". The more positive portrayal of the Russians could be due to the alliance between Britain and the USSR following Hitler's invasion of Russia.
In the 1980s Whitbread adapted the song using their own lyrics[4] for a series of commercials[5] on British television, suggesting that the two protagonists were great fans of their beer who squabbled over trivialities. [6] It starred Stephen Fry as Ivan, Tony Cosmo as Abdul, Tim McInnerny and Roy Castle.
Lyrics
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a0/Ivanandabdulfight.jpg/220px-Ivanandabdulfight.jpg)
Lyrics as sung by Frank Crumit |
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The sons of the Prophet were brave men and bold Now the heroes were plenty and well known to fame One day this bold Russian had shouldered his gun, "Young man," Quoth Abdul,"Has life grown so dull, Said Ivan, "My friend, your remarks, in the end, "So take your last look at sunshine and brook. Then that bold Mameluke drew his trusty skibouk. They fought all that night, 'neath the pale yellow moon. As Abdul's long knife was extracting the life — The Sultan drove by in his red-crested fly, Tsar Petrovich, too, in his spectacles blue, There's a tomb rises up, where the blue Danube flows, A Muscovite maiden her lone vigil keeps |
The Return of Abdul Abulbul Amir
Lyrics as sung by Frank Crumit |
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By the sea of Sargossa I wandered one night Now Abdul Abulbul I knew to be dead While I pondered the moonbeams descended quite low Then in the tombs shadows there rose from a grave 'Twas he who was calling, I hardly dared breathe "Well, wouldst speak with me Ivan?", quoth Abdul quite low "I've lain here for ages with that on my mind "Oh friend, thou art blameless", cried Ivan in haste "Well, dost think I'm a coward?", quoth Ivan Skavar So once more they battled and fought as before The ghost of the Czar on a fiery black steed 'Twas just at that moment each sword found its mark |
The Grandson of Abdul Abulbul Amir
Lyrics as sung by Frank Crumit |
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On the links by the Bsporus near ancient Istanbul One day to the clubhouse there came a strange man Said the Count to Abdul: "Oh you think you're a golfer, Mr. Abdul Amir? "Oh you're no Bobby Jones or Frankie Howmet They were matched now, you know They were evenly matched, you could tell by their shots On the fifteenth hole Ivan a bunker he struck Ivan turned each hip, then he felt something slip An so much did he laugh, that he doubled in half Oh the boys never ended their classical match Oh the bunkers that lie on the fairways at night |
In popular culture
- In Shipmates Forever (1935), Dick Melville (Dick Powell) is forced by upper classmen to sing 100 verses of Abdul Abulbul Amir in the shower to "get the crooner out of him and the midshipman into him".
- In Franny and Zooey (1961), Zooey finds one of Seymour's diary entries, which says that Franny sang this song to him on his 21st birthday.
- In Follow That Camel (1967), part of the Carry On series of films, Bernard Bresslaw plays the part of Abdul Abulbul, leader of the Riffs.
- In a Vlasic pickle commercial (1960s): A parody of the song was used as narration in an animated TV commercial for Vlasic brand pickles. The premise of the commercial was that Abdul was an amiable husband of many wives. When his wives were pregnant, they would crave Vlasic pickles, and Abdul would supply them. (Reference to pregnant women was a common Vlasic advertising theme, which has carried on in Vlasic's use of a stork as a mascot.) Lyrics to the Vlasic version of the song included: "Vlasic no-garlic spears go to some of the dears./Kosher dills are quite popular too." And the song ended with, "Yes, men who are wise always pamper their wives,/Like Abdul the Bulbul-Ameer."
- In Star Trek: The Next Generation (1990), Brent Spiner's character, the android Lore, sings the first verse of this song, as well as the first half of the second, in the episode "Brothers".
- In Alice's Restaurant (1969), Ray Brock (James Broderick) is singing part of the verse describing Ivan Skavinsky Skavar as they renovate the church and as Arlo Guthrie arrives there for the first time in the movie.
- In the season 4 Get Smart episode "The Worst Best Man", after KAOS kidnaps Agent 38 (undercover as a showgirl), the radio reports that she was most likely abducted by an Arab potentate named Abdul Abulbul Amir.
- In Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010) the song is sung by Ian Dury (Andy Serkis) and others.
See also
The plot of the song resembles that of Alexander Pushkin's much shorter poem Delibaş (Russian: Делибаш) written in 1829, and inspired by the Russo–Turkish War (1828–1829).
References
- ^ http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thereturnofabdulabulbulamir.shtml
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOWgQRmWhLc
- ^ http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/3220-Abdul_The_Bulbul-Ameer.html
- ^ The Whitbread advertisement
- ^ In this version they argue over whether Whitbread should be drunk from a glass or a can
- ^ Another Whitbread ad
External links
- OldPoetry.com lyrics and a photo of French
- Koordinatoren lyrics and a MIDI of the tune
- Memory Alpha lyrics and Star Trek reference
- Immortalia 35th Fighter Wing (1966) Songbook -- minor variant lyrics and pornographic variant
- The Grandson of Abdul Abulbul Amir on YouTube
- Abdul the Bulbul Ameer MGM Cartoon