MovieChat Forums > White Mischief (1988) Discussion > The Alphabet Song

The Alphabet Song

posted 17 years ago by gunshotwound
14 replies | jump to latest

I looked all over the internet trying to find the lyrics to THE ALPHABET SONG and finally had to keep playing the end credits over and over again and wrote them down. If anybody is interested the lyrics are below. The song only goes to the letter "P". The only word I am not quiet sure of is the "K" word "Kiptobe", the name of one of the character's. If I have this wrong would somebody let me know. "Alice", "Colvile", "de Trafford", "Gladys", "Idina" and "Nina" are also characters in the film.

A is for Alice who does nothing right
B her beloved she yearns for each night
C is for Colvile who'’s gone off his head
D for de Trafford who hates being wed
E is for everyone hot and in season
F is for *beep* we like with good reason
G is for Gladys looking '‘round for the fight
H is for heartaches to the left and to the right
I is Idina so fragile, so fraile
J is for just the sting in her tail
K if for Kenya, kisses, Kiptobe
L is for loving to which we all fall
M is for money we always need more of
N is for Nina who no one'’s quite sure of.
O is the outrage with nothing to gain
P is the pain.

If all is not lost, where is it?

[–] IslandDweller 16 years ago

Thanks for posting this. I watched the movie yesterday and was wondering how I could try to find out all the lyrics.

[–] gunshotwound 16 years ago

You are very welcome. WHITE MISCHIEF is one of my favorite movies and I looked EVERYWHERE for the lyrics and couldn't find them, so I decided to put them on the internet myself. Now folks with curiosity like me and yourself have a place to find them.

It might be a good idea if I add the lyrics to the "trivia" section for the film because I'm not quite sure how long these posts will stay here.

"To learn how to find, one must first learn how to hide."

[–] fastfilmhh 16 years ago

My interpretations
D for de Trafford who hates being wed
J is for Joss, a sting in his tail
K is for Kenya, kisses and kind

[–] gunshotwound 15 years ago

fastfilmhh - Sorry it took over a year to answer your post.

I think your interpretation of "D for de Trafford who hates being wed" is correct. I just ran the song again and the word "wed" is very distinct. Don't know how I missed it the first go round. This line as been edited to reflect the change.

"J is for Joss, a sting in his tail" I believe is wrong. The only charactor with a name like Joss was male and she plainly sings "sting in her tail". I think this line is a further description of Idina who is fragile and fraile but has a sting in her tail. I could be wrong but I think I have interpreted the line correctly.

"K is for Kenya, kisses and kind" it could be correct. I simply can't figure out what she is saying for the last word. It doesn't sound like "kind" or "Kiptobe" to me. I went with Kiptobe because he was the only charactor who's name began with a "K". Crazy I know but I had to choose something.

"I used to have a lot on my mind but as I got older it all went away."

[–] junenj 8 years ago

I just finished watching this, and I'm pretty sure that
the K verse goes something like this:

"K is for Kenya, kisses and all,
L is for love, into which we all fall."

I also thought that the J verse (right after the Idina verse) maybe went like this:

"J is for Joss, the sting in her tail" - because Idina had been married to Joss
previously: remember Idina's nude bathtub scene, where she blows the white
*beep-me* feather over to Joss, who catches it - but then says "Oh Idina, don't
be ridiculous - you were my wife".

But it's really hard to tell with that part. It does sound slightly more like "just",
but who knows?

Finally, at the end of the film I just saw, Sarah Miles sings the Alphabet Song,
which is then followed by what I assume is the White Mischief instrumental
that you all mentioned.

[–] gunshotwound 8 years ago

You are correct about the L verse, which I have changed. I have the CD which includes the song and I just listened to it and I think you got it correct.

The J and the K verses are still puzzling.

When you speak of "Joss" are you speaking of the character "Josslyn" (Charles Dance) or the actor Joss Ackland? Also do you think she may be singing "Jock" which is Joss Ackland's character. It has been a long time since I saw the movie so the relationships are fuzzy in my memory.

"Dr. Pretorius. He's a very queer looking old gentleman."

[–] junenj 8 years ago

I'm speaking of Charles Dance's character "Joss" (Josslyn Hay, the 22nd Earl Of Errol)
to whom Idina was married at one time. "Five-times married Idina would gain notoriety
as part of the Happy Valley Set when she moved to Kenya in 1924 with her third
husband, Josslyn Hay, Earl of Errol."

My (admittedly quite loose) interpretation of Joss as 'the sting in her tail' is that,
although they were divorced, perhaps it still "stung" her (Idina) to not be with him.
But like I said - a very loose interpretation. It doesn't really make sense, lol - not
in the context of a scorpion or a bee, or other stinging creature.

It's just so hard to tell, because although it sounds more like "just" when Sarah
sings it, that could also possibly be due to her accent, or the affected way that
she pronounces the words.



EDIT: Now, at the beginning (the bathtub scene) it sounds more like she says "Joss",
but it's partially obscured because Charles Dance is speaking over it. However, at the
end - over the rolling credits - it sounds more like she's saying "just".

Also, in the G verse, she sings "Gladdie" or "Gladdy", not Gladys - Gladdie/Gladdy
being a nickname for Gladys, I assume.

[–] junenj 8 years ago

Oh! Look what I found:

http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=white-mischief

You must scroll all the way down to the end, to see the complete lyric, as follows:

"Oh, Diana.
You don't have a drink.
Rather a good idea, isn't it?
Typical of Alice...
Requesting that a cocktail party
be held at her grave."

# A is for Alice who does nothing right
# B her beloved she yearns for each night
# C is for Colvile who's gone off his head
# D for de Trafford who hates being wed
# E is for everyone, hot and in season
# F is for *beep* we like with good reason
# G is for Gwlady looking round for the fight
# H is for heartaches to the left and to the right
# l is Idina, so fragile so frail
# J is for Joss, a sting in her tail
# K is for Kenya, kisses and all
# L is for love into which we all for (?)
(this word is obviously wrong, but could be a mis-type)

# M is for money we always need more of
# N is for Nina who no-one's quite sure of
# O is the outrage with nothing to gain ...

Not sure how reliable this is, but ... 

[–] LFM (1) 7 months ago

Don't know if there is anyone likely to be at the other end so many years later. But I could swear I saw one version of the movie in which the Alphabet Song either begins, or ends (as in a round song), with the line 'A is for Alice who sings you this song'. Your version works perfectly well and it's unlikely to be a mishearing, considering it's so different from the one I remember, so I assume there are two different versions.

[–] Sandoz 15 years ago

I looked all over the internet trying to find the lyrics to THE ALPHABET SONG and finally had to keep playing the end credits over and over again

Hey, first off, thanks for posting the lyrics to this song--I love posts like this that archive arcane and singular bits of memorable moments from motion-pictures...

I just watched WM again for the first time in well over ten years, and your post confirmed something about the end credits which I seemed to remember as being quite different from the version of the film I watched recently. From a video-rental store that was going out of business earlier this year, I happened to fortuitously acquire a pre-recorded VHS version of the film (Nelson Entertainment Co.) and viewed it a few nights ago. As the end credits began, the music over the titles was NOT The Alphabet Song (which I'm pretty sure, wouldn't swear on my life but that's what my fading memory seems to recall, was played over the end credits). Instead, there was this jazzy, swing-type song "White Mischief", which seemed different to the version of the film I can remember seeing first in theater upon initial release, and then later during the film's showing on cable.

Has anyone else noticed this?

[–] gunshotwound 15 years ago

I have never seen the version with the jazzy-swing song as the end credits music. I taped mine from either Turner Classic Movies or American Movie Classics. I can't remember which, but the end credit for it is definately The Alphabet Song and continues the music for the song after Miles completes the vocals until the very end of the credits.

"I used to have a lot on my mind but as I got older it all went away."

[–] Sandoz 15 years ago

Thanks for your rapid response--I didn't think I'd get a reply here for months at least!

I'm glad to hear you confirm my recollections of ALphabet Song being the end credits music, it was the perfect music for the end of this film, simple and childlike (except for it's lyrics), perfect for the bunch of sordid, selfish, and unrestrained children inhabiting this film.

I did a little research, and the song I'm referring to, "White Mischief", is actually on the CD soundtrack to this film; it's the very last track, #16. Just before it at #15 is "The Alphabet Song & End Credits." You can find a reference for this at Amazon, along with half-minute excerpts of all tracks on the soundtrack.

Here's another funny thing about this: In the end credits, this song "White Mischief" is actually listed with an on screen credit, although I don't believe it's actually used elsewhere at any time in the film, so this indicates that the end credit text was changed also for the home VHS release. Really strange.

The guy who's credited with writing and performing the song is named Tim Finn, and he's listed in the film's cast credits as playing the bandleader at the dance club that the main characters frequent. He must have cut some kind of deal that got his song to be used on the home video release versions of this film. I do wonder if this replacement was made on all VHS versions, or just the R1 version that I have?

I'm going to send a note to imdb and list this as an Alternate Version of the film.

Anyway, guess I'm gonna need to replace this in my collection whenever I can get the actual release copy of it, either from Turner or when it finally gets a proper DVD release (Hey Criterion, you listening?).

this data is only available on IMDbPro, and you're a cheap worthless scumbag, so go away!

[–] richmondhill 14 years ago

I think there are two versions of the film, perhaps due to music rights issues with slightly different uses of music in each. The version shown by BBC TV is different to that released on VHS in the UK. You can spot some of the differences during the dance sequence at the club: despite the presence of a singer, one version features him singing White Mischief, the other not (making him mute). I think - might be wrong here - but the differences extend to the opening titles and closing credits too.

As an aside - although I don't think they'd edit it now - the version the BBC used to show twenty years was shorn of the uses of the word *beep* (replaced by 'bloody'!) and trimmed the morturary scene of Alice smearing her vaginal secretions on the corpse.

[–] 14 years ago

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