The Scaffold, an Undocumented Super-Group

[luisam]

 

 

The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, best known for their UK hit Lily the Pink in 1968. The song is a modernization of an older folk song titled "The Ballad of Lydia Pinkham". The lyrics celebrate the "medicinal compound" invented by Lily the Pink, and chronicle the "efficacious" cures it has brought about, such as morbid obesity instead of weak appetite or a sex change as a remedy for freckles. The Scaffold's record, released in November 1968, became No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for the four weeks encompassing the Christmas holidays that year.

Actually, The Scaffold was kind of an undocumented super-group. Backing vocalists on the recording included Graham Nash (of the Hollies), Elton John (then Reg Dwight), and Tim Rice; while Jack Bruce (of Cream) played the bass guitar.

The U.S. American drinking song on which Lily the Pink is based  was inspired by Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, a well-known herbal-alcoholic patent medicine for women. Supposed to relieve menstrual and menopausal pains, the compound was mass-marketed in the United States from 1876 onwards.

 

Chorus

 

We'll drink a drink a drink

To Lily the Pink the Pink the Pink

The saviour of our human race

For she invented, Medicinal Compound

Most efficacious in every case

 

 

Mr Freers had sticky out ears

And it made him awful shy

And so they gave him Medicinal Compound

And now he's learning how to fly

 

 

Brother Tony was notably bony

He would never eat his meals

And so they gave him Medicinal Compound

Now they move him round on wheels

 

 

We'll drink a drink a drink

To Lily the pink the pink the pink

The saviour of the human race

For she invented medicinal compound

Most efficacious in every case

 

 

Old Ebenezer thought he was Julius Caesar

And so they put him in a home

Where they gave him Medicnal Compound

And now he's emporor of Rome

 

 

Jonny Hammer, had a terrible st st st st stammer

He could hardly sssay a word

And so they gave him Medicinal Compound

Now's he's seen, but never heard

 

 

Chorus

 

 

Aunty Milly ran willy nilly

When her legs they did recede

So they looked on Medicinal Compound

Now they call her milipede

 

 

Jennifer Eccles, had terrible freckles

And the boys all called her names

But she changed with Medicinal Compound

Now he joins in all the games

 

 

Chorus:

 

Lily the Pink, she turned to drink

She filled up with parafin inside

And despite her Medicinal Compound

Sadly Piccalilli died

 

 

Up to heaven her soul ascended

All the church bells they did ring

She took with her Medicinal Compound

Hark the herald angels sing

 

 

Chorus

 

 

You don't need to be an expert to perceive that the video displayed in Youtube is not the original, just the old boys singing the "dinking song" with some studio musicians.

 

The song was successfully adapted into French and Spanish in 1969 by Richard Anthony, a well known French singer. His version described humorously the devastating effects of a so-called panacée (universal medicine).

The Scaffold was formed by Mike McGear (real name Peter Michael McCartney, the brother of Paul McCartney), Roger McGough and John Gorman in 1962 and they performed a mixture of comic songs, comedy sketches, and the poetry of McGough. They achieved Top 10 success in the UK with "Thank U Very Much" (# 4), "Lily the Pink" (# 1), which sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc; and "Liverpool Lou" (# 7) recorded during the 1974 with Paul McCartney and Wings.

Jack Bruce, Elton John, Graham Nash and Jimi Hendrix were among the session musicians who performed on The Scaffold's early records, since none of the trio was a musician. Tim Rice, who was at that time an assistant to their producer Norrie Paramor, contributed backing vocals to some of their material. Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice" is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Evita; with Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA, with whom he wrote Chess; for additional songs for the 2011 West End revival of The Wizard of Oz; and for his work for Walt Disney Studios with Alan Menken (Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, King David), Elton John (The Lion King, Aida, The Road to El Dorado) and Ennio Morricone.

In 1972, they made a half hour musical movie called Plod based on an earlier stage production. The film was made on location in Liverpool, and included boys from the Liverpool Institute High School, earlier attended by the McCartney brothers and Beatle George Harrison.

Peter Michael "Mike" McCartney (born 7 January 1944), attended the Liverpool Institute two years behind his brother. He formed The Scaffold in 1962 together with Roger McGough and John Gorman In 1962, at age 18, the time the Beatles became successful, while he was working as an apprentice hairdresser.  McCartney decided to use "Mike McGear" as stage name, so as not to appear to be riding his brother's coattails. McCartney composed the band's next biggest hit,  1967's "Thank U Very Much".

Lydia Pinkham (February 9, 1819 – May 17, 1883), the real person behind "Lily the Pink", was an iconic concocter and shrewd marketer of a commercially successful herbal-alcoholic "women's tonic" meant to relieve menstrual and menopausal pains. It sold well to the general public.

She and her family were active anti-abolitionist. She was educated at Lynn Academy and worked as a schoolteacher before her marriage in September 1843 to Isaac Pinkham, a 29-year-old shoe manufacturer but quite unsuccessful doing business.

Like many women of her time, Lydia brewed home remedies which she continually collected. Her remedy for "female complaints" became very popular among her neighbors to whom she gave it away. One story is that her husband was given the recipe as part payment for a debt. Whatever truth may be in this, the ingredients of her remedy were generally consistent with the herbal knowledge available to her through such sources as John King's American Dispensary, which she is known to have owned and used. In Lydia Pinkham's time and place the reputation of the medical profession was low. Medical fees were too expensive for most Americans to afford except in emergencies, in which case, the remedies were more likely to kill than cure. For example, a common "medicine", calomel, was in fact not a medicine, but instead a deadly mercurial toxin, and this fact was even at the time sufficiently well known among the skeptical. In these circumstances, there is no mystery why many preferred to trust unlicensed "root and herb" practitioners, and especially to trust women who were prepared to share their domestic remedies, such as Lydia Pinkham.

Isaac Pinkham was ruined financially and was permanently broken under the associated stress. The fortunes of the Pinkham family had long been patchy, but they now entered on hard times. Lydia sometimes accepted payment for her popular remedy for female complaints. It is reputed to have been her son Daniel who came up with the idea, in 1875, of making a family business of the remedy. Lydia initially made the remedy on her stove before its success enabled production to be transferred to a factory. She answered letters from customers and probably wrote most of the advertising copy. Mass marketed from 1876, on, Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound became one of the best known patent medicines of the 19th century. Descendants of this product are still available today.

Lydia's skill was in marketing her product directly to women, and her company continued her shrewd marketing tactics after her death. Her own face was on the label, and her company was particularly keen on the use of testimonials from grateful women.

Advertising copy urged women to write to Mrs. Pinkham. They did, and they received answers. They continued to write and receive answers for decades after Pinkham's own death. These staff-written answers combined forthright talk about women's medical issues, advice, and, of course, recommendations for the company product. In 1905, the Ladies' Home Journal published a photograph of Lydia Pinkham's tombstone and exposed the ruse. The Pinkham company insisted that it had never meant to imply that the letters were being answered by Lydia Pinkham, but by her daughter-in-law, Jennie Pinkham.

Although Pinkham's motives were economic, many modern-day feminists admire her for distributing information on menstruation and the "facts of life", and they consider her to be a crusader for women's health issues in a day when women were poorly served by the medical establishment.

In 1922, Lydia's daughter Aroline Pinkham Chase Gove founded the Lydia E. Pinkham Memorial Clinic in Salem, Massachusetts, to provide health services to young mothers and their children. The clinic has been controlled since 1990, by Stephen Nathan Doty, a fourth-generation descendant of Lydia. The clinic is in operation as of 2017.

The five herbs contained in the original formula of Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound are:

- Pleurisy root is diaphoretic, anti-spasmodic, carminative, and anti-inflammatory.

- Life root is a traditional uterine tonic, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, and emmenagogue used for amenorrhea or dysmenorrhea.

- Fenugreek is vulnerary, anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic, tonic, emmenagogue, galactogogue, and hypotensive.

- Unicorn Root was used by several Native American tribes for dysmenorrhea, uterine prolapse, pelvic congestion, and to improve ovarian function.

- Black cohosh is an emmenagogue, anti-spasmodic, restorative, nervine, and hypotensive and is used traditionally for menopausal symptoms.

[funkyy]

I remember this song...and singing it!! lol. The tune just ingrained itself in your head and refused to disappear.lol. I didn't know that the group was made up of soon to be very famous guys!! Lily The Pink?...they don't make 'em like that nowadays!!....thank God!!!

[luisam]

I was browsing the comments about this song on YouTube and found this ingenious and funny verse:

 

by Retardis

 

Adolf Hitler, was a real evil critter

Hated Jews and blacks as well

Then Eva gave him, medicinal compound

And he goose-stepped right into Hell

[LeeSmithG]

I grew up hearing them sing the theme tune to the 'Liver Birds'.

[luisam]

3 hours ago, LeeSmithG said:

I grew up hearing them sing the theme tune to the 'Liver Birds'.

 

Interesting comment.  I've never heard about The Liver Birds.

 

 

The Liver Birds was a British sitcom, set in Liverpool, North West England, which aired on BBC1 from April 1969 to January 1979, and again in 1996. The show was created by Carla Lane and Myra Taylor. The two Liverpudlian housewives had met at a local writers club and decided to pool their talents.

You can watch some demo of it on Youtube

 

By the way, there was a British all-female rock band called The Liverbirds based in Liverpool, active between 1963 and 1968 but tThey achieved more commercial success in Germany than in their the UK