Guest Post: Shakespearean Song from My Fair Lady

Bardfilm has been up to his old tricks. This time, he claims to have discovered an early working version of “The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain” from My Fair Lady—one that focused more on how Henry Higgins took a common lady of the London streets and taught her to speak in iambic pentameter. Here, according to Bardfilm at least, is the scene in question—and the lead song from it (sing along, if you like):

ELIZA: The Dane in pain has plainly gone insane.

HENRY: What was that?

ELIZA: The Dane in pain has plainly gone insane.

HENRY: Again.

ELIZA: The Dane in pain has plainly gone insane.

HENRY: I think she's got it. I think she's got it!

ELIZA: The Dane in pain has plainly gone insane.

HENRY: By George, she's got it. By George, she's got it! Now, once again, who is insane?

ELIZA: It's the Dane! It's the Dane!

HENRY: And what's wrong with his brain?

ELIZA: Insane! Insane!

ELIZA, HENRY, AND PICKERING: The Dane in pain has plainly gone insane.

HENRY: In Hamlet, Henry V and Henry VIII . . .

ELIZA: Horatio hardly heckles.

HENRY (Playing on xylophone): Da dum dee dum de dum dum dum

ELIZA: To be, or is it not to be?

HENRY: Now, once again, who is insane?

ELIZA: It's the Dane! It's the Dane!

HENRY: And what's wrong with his brain?

ELIZA: Insane! Insane!

ELIZA, HENRY, AND PICKERING: The Dane in pain has plainly gone insane. The Dane in pain has plainly gone insane!

Our thanks for this guest post to kj, the author of Bardfilm. Bardfilm is a blog that comments on films, plays, and other matters related to Shakespeare.