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Quiz about Anatomy of a Song Have Some Madeira Mdear
Quiz about Anatomy of a Song Have Some Madeira Mdear

Anatomy of a Song: "Have Some Madeira M'dear?" Quiz


Another in the homage to FussBudget series, 'Anatomy of a Song'. This is on one of Flanders & Swann's cleverest compositions. Enjoy!

A multiple-choice quiz by Quiz_Beagle. Estimated time: 3 mins.
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Author
Quiz_Beagle
Time
3 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
278,308
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
319
Awards
Top 10% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. What was the description and age of our heroine? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. How had our villain enticed her into his flat (apartment)? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. What did the villain not put out? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. What drink does our villain assert that Madeira is much nicer than? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. What French phrase does our villain mispronounce when explaining that he can't drink port? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. What was not something our heroine raised? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. What does our villain carve his notches on? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Does our villain encourage our heroine to drink gin too?


Question 9 of 10
9. Whose words bring our heroine to her senses? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. With the wise words ringing in her head, what did our heroine make? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. What was the description and age of our heroine?

Answer: Sweet seventeen

'She was young, she was pure, she was new, she was nice
She was fair, she was sweet seventeen'
No, she wasn't 'sweet sixteen and never been kissed', to use the cliche - neither was she prone to gallstones (female, fat, fair, forty, fertile and flatulent) - and I have no idea who on earth could be flippant and forty-seven.
2. How had our villain enticed her into his flat (apartment)?

Answer: To view his collection of stamps

'He had slyly inveigled her up to his flat
To view his collection of stamps'
Asking someone if they want to see your stamps or etchings or choose a puppy are all time-honoured (dishonoured?) ways of enticing people into your place. Discussions on post-modernist art is a more intellectual ploy.
3. What did the villain not put out?

Answer: The fire

'And he said as he hastened to put out the cat
The wine, his cigar and the lamps'

This is an example of 'Zeugma' - a Greek expression meaning 'yoking' or 'bonding', which means using one verb to refer to two different objects, or using an adjective to refer to two different nouns, even though the adjective would normally only be appropriate for one of the two. If the resulting construction changes the verb's initial meaning, it is called a syllepsis.
4. What drink does our villain assert that Madeira is much nicer than?

Answer: Beer

'Have some Madeira, m'dear
It's really much nicer than beer'
There's a tradition of selling yourself for Madeira - Falstaff was accused by Poins of exchanging his soul for a leg of chicken and a goblet of Madeira in Shakespeare's Henry IV (Part 1, Act 1, Scene 2).
5. What French phrase does our villain mispronounce when explaining that he can't drink port?

Answer: Chacun a son gout

'And port is a wine I can well do without
It's simply a case of chacun a son gout'
Port is supposed to give you gout (a very painful complaint) so he pronounces 'gout' (which should have an 'oo' sound) as the disease (with an 'out' sound). I told you this was a clever song. 'Honi soit qui mal y pense' is the motto of the order of the Garter and means 'Shame upon him who thinks evil of it' in Old French, 'Repondez s'il vous plait' is the RSVP at the bottom of an invitation and 'Je suis un petit champignon avec un mitrailleuse' means 'I am a little mushroom with a machine gun' which I made up to amuse myself during O-Level French (and yes, I did pass, with a B).
6. What was not something our heroine raised?

Answer: Her standards

'She lowered her standards by raising her glass
Her courage, her eyes and his hopes'
Another zeugma or syllepsis here. The sheer lechery Michael Flanders delivers this song with has to be heard to be believed.
7. What does our villain carve his notches on?

Answer: The butt of his gold-handled cane

'And he said as he secretly carved one more notch
On the butt of his gold-handled cane'
The cad! Some people are said to keep notches on their bedstead, and gunfighters purportedly carved notches on their revolvers, to indicate people they'd shot. The small totem pole I made up - that's just silly.
8. Does our villain encourage our heroine to drink gin too?

Answer: No

'Now if it were gin, you'd be wrong to say yes,
The evil gin does would be hard to assess
(Besides it's inclined to affect my prowess)
Have some Madeira, m'Dear!'
Gin was once known as 'Mother's Ruin', but he seems determined to make Madeira hers!
9. Whose words bring our heroine to her senses?

Answer: Her mother's

'Then there flashed though her mind what her mother had said
With her antepenultimate breath:
"Oh my child, should you look at the wine which is red
Be prepared for a fate worse than death!"'
Did you know that the American Declaration of Independence was toasted in Madeira? I guess Budweiser wasn't around then.
10. With the wise words ringing in her head, what did our heroine make?

Answer: All the answers are correct

'When he asked "What in Heaven?" she made no reply,
Up her mind and a dash for the door.
"Have some Madeira, m'Dear!"
Rang out down the hall, loud and clear,
A tremulous cry that was filled with despair
As she paused to take breath in the full midnight air.
"Have some Madeira, m'Dear!"

More syllepsis here! So, she escaped? Well, the song then ends with:
'Until the next morning, she woke up in bed
With a smile on her lips and an ache in her head
And a beard in her ear 'ole that tickled and said
Have some Madeira, m'dear'.
So you make up your own mind! I hope you've enjoyed the quiz, and a final Madeira fact for you: the 'vat of Malmsey' in which the condemned Duke of Clarence chose to be drowned was actually a large vessel of the Malvasia wine - a Madeira! Dangerous stuff, eh?
Source: Author Quiz_Beagle

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ertrum before going online.
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