The Full English Lyrics

And though

We know

Exactly what we want to say.

The words

When they emerge

Don't quite come out that way.

The language circuit doesn't work too good,

No wonder we all think that we're misunderstood.

So tell me you love me

But tell me again in French,

Now in a Welsh accent.

Say it in Maggie Smith's voice

Then say it like Judi Dench,

Tell me you love me. 

And then

Just when

Our message should have hit the mark,

I fear

It's all too clear

We've left them in the dark

The thing that's said is not the thing that's heard,

That's the trouble with the spoken word.

So tell me you love me

But tell me again in Dutch,

Shout it in Swedish,

Whisper it in Norwegian,

I like that one very much,

Tell me you love me.

 

Plug in your Modem,

Select your transmit mode,

Give us a handshake.

Tell me in Fortran, tell me in Basic,

Tell me in Binary Code,

Tell me you love me.

And on

The words have gone

All meaning long since lost.

Yes Squire,

We've got our wires

Spectacularly crossed.

It read 'Send reinforcements, we're going to advance'.

You said 'Send three-and-fourpence, we're going to a dance'.

So tell me you love me

But tell me again in Dutch,

Shout it in Swedish,

Whisper it in Norwegian,

I like that one very much,

Tell me you love me.

 

Plug in your Modem,

Select your transmit mode,

Give us a handshake.

Tell me in Fortran, tell me in Basic,

Tell me in Binary Code,

Tell me you love me.

A song about communication, its joys and its extreme difficulty. This is the second rather Eastern European flavoured song from 'Dome Of Discovery' which gets another outing on this album, so that Michael can turn his wild accordion loose on it. A few references may be worth elucidating: Demotiki is modern spoken Greek, while Katharevousa is the literary form of the language. Xhosa is a South African language which is famous for the clicking sounds it uses. Heliograph was a (mainly military) method of signalling using flashes of sunlight from mirrors. 'Flagging' a signal refers to the system of naval signalling which uses (guess what) flags.

For non-UK listeners
Maggie Smith and Judi Dench are famous, and rather wonderful, British actresses, both noted for having very distinctive voices. In the last verse, 'three-and-fourpence' is a sum (three shillings and four pennies) in British 'old money', as used before decimalization in 1971. (This is a very old joke, by the way.)