'Randy Pandy.’

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1032, 11 December 1891, Page 10

'Randy Pandy.’

THE LOUD CHAMBERLAIN HAS THE GAIETY SONG ALTERED, AND ART BUR ROBERTS ‘GUYS’ HIM.

The Gaiety Theatre and the Lord Chamberlain’s department have a little controversy just now that is of iuterest. For some time Lord Randolph Churchill has been the foundation stone of the national humour. Other subjects of laughter might come and go, but Lord Randy was always with us. The second edition of ‘ Joan of Arc,’ now being played at the Gaiety, would, of course, have been incomplete without reference to the Maslionaland proceedings of the noble newspaper correspondent. Hence Mr Arthur Roberts’ song, ‘ Randy-Pandy.’ Tt treated the noble subject in a spirit of flippant but good-humoured irreverence. This was the song as originally sung by Mr Roberts in explorer’s costume :

Oh, I am a lord of high degree, A man of proud position, For I have been, as it seems to me, A prominent politician. But I’d had as much as I could stand Of parliamentary traffic, So away I sailed to Mashona-land In the pay of the Daily Graphic. I’m a regular Randy.pandy, oh 1 With a beard that’s quite the dandy, oh ! And a big moustache that’s all the maßh In the great Mashona-landy, oh 1 I’ve a temper sweet as candy, oh ! And a book and pencil bandy, oh ? And you never met such a social pet As the correspondent Bandy, oh 1 Chorus He’s a regular Randy-pandy, oh, &c. The crew and passengers out of pique Behaved like a set of ninnies, They wouldn’t delay the ship a week To hear if I’d won the Guineas. And the food was cooked on a wretohed plan ; As I said in my earliest letter— It was good enough for the Grand Old Man, / But I must have something better.

I’m a Randy-dandy, dandy, oh ! A very ooraplete gourmandy, oh ! And I don’t much care for the steamboat fare Washed down with soda and brandy, oh 1 Although I'm as sweet as candy, oh 1 It is more than I oan standy, oh 1 And to get no truffles extremely ruffles The correspondent Randy, oh ! Chords He’s a regular Randy-pandy, oh, &c. ' To Mashonaland at last I got, And the girls came out to greet me ; They fell in love with me on the spot A n soon as they chanced to meet me. And some of them wore a cheerful smile, And some had a string of coral. But I only looked on for a little while, For a Churchill must be moral!

For I’m Randy-dandy-dandy, oh ! Aa proud as a Spanish grandee, oh ! And my lordly taste is far too chaste For a Kaffir woolly and bandy, oh 1 So I gave them beads and brandy, oh ! And I shook each handy-pandy, oh ! And they wept and wailed, but they wholly failed,

To touch the heart of Randy, oh ! Chords He’s a regular Randy-pandy, oh, &o.

In Mashonaland they say there’s gold, That is why I pitched my tent there ; There isn’t so much there now, J’m told, As there was before I went there. And General Booth, though he’s pretty deft, Will find when his tour commences That there isn’t the price of a War Cry left To pay his hotel expenses.

I'm a regular Randy-pandy, oh ! I can pick ap all that’s handy, oh ! Ani I’m no such ass as to leave the brass For the general’s brassy bandy, oh ! He may go round hat in handy, oh ! On the deserts dry and sandy, oh ! But it’s little he’ll find has been left behind By the correspondent Randy, oh ! Chorus He’s a regular Randy-pandy, oh, &c. Oh, a modern traveller’s trade is nice, You can fairly live in clover, For you sell your book at a fabulous price, And you roam the wide world over ! And when I’m back, I won’t refuse, If paid in a proper manner, A lecturing tour with limelight views, And somebody’s grand ' planner.’ ‘ I’m a regular Randy-pandy, oh ! A lecturer bright and blandy, oh ! I have common sense and eloquence, And a wit that’s quite Burnandy, oh ! As a speaker I’m a dandy, oh ! I can knock old Stanley bandy, oh I Five hundred quid is the lowest bid For a iectura given by Randy, oh ! Chorus He’s a regular Randy-pandy, oh, &c.

It was encored half-a-dozen times at night, and encores were responded to with verses in similar strain. Everyone laughed. The Duke of Marlborough heard it and laughed. Lady Randolph has been twice. She was there one evening last week, and laughed louder than over. So apparently Lord Randolph s friends saw nothing objectionable. Some other persons, however, have thought fit to interfere, and Mr Pigott, the examiner of plays, acting at the instance of Lord Lathom (the Lord Chamberlain), has written to Mr George Edwards prohibiting the song on account of ‘ offensive personalities,’ such as, he says, would be better left to the lower class music halls. So it has been altered, and instead of 1 Randy-Pandy ’ the hero is now obscui-ely identified as ‘ Jack-the-Dandy.’ But there is a new verse, which runs thus :

I’ve sung a song that was much encored, Most innocent of intention, About aa extremely noble lord, Whose name I must not mention ; But it much displeased the Chamberlain— I don't know why or wherefore, So I cannot sing you the song again, Though I know it’s what you care for—

So I’m only Jaok-the-Dandy, oh ! For a cause you underatandy, oh J And I won’t give pain to the Chamberlain By singing of Randy-pandy, oh ! For the folks that have commandy, oh ! In this free and enlightened landy, oh ! They’ll license again such a play aa ‘ Jane,' But not a song about Randy, oh ! Chorus —He’s a regular Jaok-the-Dandy, oh, &c.