Lyrics Why Can't the English? - Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews

Why Can't the English?

Look at her, a prisoner of the gutters
Condemned by every syllable she ever utters
By right, she should be taken out and hung
For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue
Eliza (Julie Andrews):
Aaoooww!
Henry:
«Aaoooww!»
Heavens, what a sound!
This is what the British population
Calls an elementary education
Pickering (Robert Coote):
Oh, come sir, I think you picked a poor example
Henry:
Did I?
Hear them down in Soho square
Dropping «h's» everywhere
Speaking English anyway they like
You sir, did you go to school?
Man:
Wadaya tike me for, a fool?
Henry:
No one taught him 'take' instead of 'tike!
Hear a Yorkshireman, or worse
Hear a Cornishman converse
I’d rather hear a choir singing flat
Chickens cackling in a barn
Just like this one!
Eliza:
Garn!
Henry:
«Garn!»
I ask you, sir, what sort of word is that?
It’s «Aoooow» and «Garn» that keep her in her place
Not her wretched clothes and dirty face
Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak?
This verbal class distinction by now should be antique
If you spoke as she does, sir, Instead of the way you do
Why, you might be selling flowers, too
Pickering:
I beg your pardon, sir!
An Englishman’s way of speaking absolutely classifies him
The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him
One common language I’m afraid we’ll never get
Oh, why can’t the English learn to set
A good example to people whose English is painful to your ears?
The Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears
There even are places where English completely disappears
In America, they haven’t used it for years!
Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak?
Norwegians learn Norwegian;
the Greeks are taught their Greek
In France every Frenchman knows his language from «A» to «Zed»
The French never care what they do, actually, as long as they pronounce it
properly
Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning
And Hebrews learn it backwards, which is absolutely frightening
But use proper English, you’re regarded as a freak
Oh, why can’t the English
Why can’t the English learn to speak?