The Gnu

"The Gnu" (sometimes known as "A Gnu", "I'm a Gnu" or "The Gnu Song") is a humorous song about a talking gnu by Flanders and Swann.

"The Gnu"
Photo of Flanders and Swann singing at the piano
Writers Flanders and Swann
Song by Flanders and Swann
GenreNovelty song
Composer(s)Donald Swann
Lyricist(s)Michael Flanders

The word gnu is consistently pronounced in the song with two syllables as "g-noo", with the g clearly enunciated, and the n unpalatalised in contrast to the traditional "noo" or "nyoo". The song also plays on silent letters in other words such as "k-now" and "w-ho", and adds initial g's to various words beginning with n.

Synopsis
A gnu

Michael Flanders introduces the piece with a humorous monologue explaining how he came to write it. He tells the story of a car – "great big flashy thing, with teeth; engine at both ends" – that is the bane of his existence, since it constantly occupies the one spot in the road outside his house where he can comfortably get from wheelchair to car and vice versa. The licence number, he explains, is 346 GNU, although registration marks using "GNU" in reverse format were not actually issued until 1958[1] indicating a degree of poetic licence being used in this tale. The song itself then begins, and consists of a brief piano introduction and two similar sung verses, each preceded by a verse spoken by Flanders. Donald Swann accompanies Flanders on the piano, but neither speaks nor sings during the song.

In the first verse, the singer is at the zoo when he meets a man who claims to know all the animals (like the habits of baboons and the number of quills on a porcupine), but misidentifies a gnu as a "helk"; the animal corrects him, further affirming that he is neither a camel or a kangaroo. In the second verse, he has taken furnished lodgings, and wakes up in the night to see a stuffed hunting trophy above his bed; he is trying to decide whether the animal's head could be a bison, an okapi or a hartebeest, when he seems to hear a voice, asserting indignantly that it is a "g-nu, a-g-nother g-nu" and threatening to sue for its misidentification.

Recordings

Flanders and Swann first performed and recorded this song in their revue At the Drop of a Hat. It was released as a single on the Parlophone label in 1957 under the title "A Gnu", and produced by future Beatles producer George Martin.

Legacy

The jocular mispronunciation of "g-noo" in the song has led, through familiarity, to this becoming a widespread pronunciation of the word "gnu" in English.[2][3]

Richard Stallman mentions "The Gnu" in connection with the naming of the GNU project in a 2002 interview.[4]

  • The song is performed by a gnu and some British Whatnots in episode 519 of The Muppet Show (with guest Chris Langham).
  • John Lithgow has a recording of the song on his album Singin' in the Bathtub.
  • The song was the basis of the character Gary Gnu from The Great Space Coaster. Gary performed the song on one episode of the show.
  • The song was adapted (with changed lyrics) for a series of 1970s animated TV adverts for Typhoo tea, featuring an anthropomorphic gnu, with the tagline "For the tea that picks you up, pick up Typhoo".
  • Scottish-Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes was inspired by this song to write and record a different song, "I'm a G'Nu", for his Och Aye the G'nu children's album.[5]

References
  1. "Derbyshire car registration letter code NU". Oldclassiccar.co.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  2. "gnu, n.". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  3. Butler, Sue (2020). "False patterns in English spelling". Rebel Without A Clause. Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia. ISBN 9781760983253.
  4. "Technically Speaking - An Interview With Richard Stallman, Inventor Of The GNU OS". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  5. "The Wiggles & Jimmy Barnes - Och Aye The G'nu". ABC Music. 31 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
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