Reading for Week 5
READING FOR WEEK 6
The Mikado’s Song
Note: The Mikado appears near the end of The Mikado: this is his second song, and the only one he sings by himself. It is on the theme of crime and punishment, which is central to the operetta.A more humane Mikado never
Did in Japan exist,
To nobody second,[1]
I’m certainly reckoned
A true philanthropist.
It is my very humane endeavour[2]
To make, to some extent,
Each evil liver[3]
A running river[4]
Of harmless merriment!
My object all sublime[5]
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —[6]
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent[7]
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!
All prosy dull society sinners,[8]
Who chatter and bleat[9] and bore,
Are sent to hear sermons
From mystical Germans[10]
Who preach from ten till four.
The amateur tenor, whose vocal villainies[11]
All desire to shirk,[12]
Shall, during off-hours,[13]
Exhibit his powers
To Madam Tussaud’s waxwork.[14]
The lady who dyes a chemical yellow[15]
Or stains her grey hair puce,
Or pinches her figure,[16]
Is painted with vigour
And permanent walnut juice.[17]
The idiot who, in railway carriages,
Scribbles on window-panes,
We only suffer[18]
To ride on a buffer[19]
In Parliamentary trains.
My object all sublime, etc.
[1] To nobody second = I’m the best (I’m not “second” to anybody).
[2] It is my very humane endeavour = My very humane project is.
[3] Evil liver = person who lives in an evil way.
[4] A running river = a constant source.
[5] My object all sublime = my sublime ambition.
[6] To let the punishment fit the crime = to make the punishment appropriate to the crime.
[7] Pent = who is locked up.
[8] All prosy dull society sinners = all the people who offend society by talking too much.
[9] Bleat = talk in a complaining sort of way.
[10] Mystical Germans = German preachers with mystical religious (Christian) ideas. The Germans were recognized as both Protestant and very philosophic, and therefore interested in deep theological ideas.
[11] Vocal villainies = horrible singing.
[12] Shirk = avoid.
[13] Off-hours = closed hours (the hours when Madam Tussaud’s is closed).
[14] Madam Tussaud’s waxwork. Madam Tussaud’s is a collection of wax models of famous people first opened in London in the 1830s. The point is that the “amateur tenor” must sing to wax models instead of people who can actually hear him.
[15] Dyes a chemical yellow = dyes her hair chemical yellow.
[16] Pinches her figure = makes herself look thinner than she really is.
[17]Is painted with vigour / And permanent walnut juice = is energetically painted with walnut juice, thus making her skin permanently brown.
[18] Suffer = allow.
[19] Buffer = the very front part of the train (outside).