The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte-Carlo (Video & Lyrics)

[VLSroulette]

nolinks://nolinks.youtube.com/watch?v=fW6LCpHSh7I

TRADITIONAL BRITISH SONGS
POPULAR SONGS OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND WALES

THE MAN WHO BROKE THE BANK AT MONTE CARLO - A MUSICAL HALL SONG

I've just got here, through Paris, from the sunny southern shore;
I to Monte Carlo went, just to raise my winter's rent.
Dame Fortune smiled upon me as she'd never smiled before,
And I've now such lots of money, I'm a gent.
Yes, I've now such lots of money, I'm a gent.

     As I walk along the Bois Boulogne
     With an independent air
     You can hear the girls declare
      "He must be a Millionaire."
     You can hear them sigh and wish to die,
     You can see them wink the other eye
     At the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.

     And I walk along the Bois Boulogne
     With an independent air
     You can hear the girls declare
      "He must be a Millionaire."
     You can hear them sigh and wish to die,
     You can see them wink the other eye
     At the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.

I patronised the tables at the Monte Carlo hell
Till they hadn't got a sou for a Christian or a Jew;
So I quickly went to Paris for the charms of mad'moiselle,
Who's the loadstone of my heart - what can I do,
When with twenty tongues she swears that she'll be true?

     As I walk along the Bois Boulogne
     With an independent air
     You can hear the girls declare
      "He must be a Millionaire."
     You can hear them sigh and wish to die,
     You can see them wink the other eye
     At the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.
   
I stay indoors till after lunch, and then my daily walk
To the great Triumphal Arch is one grand triumphal march,
Observed by each observer with the keenness of a hawk,
I'm a mass of money, linen, silk and starch -
I'm a mass of money, linen, silk and starch.

     As I walk along the Bois Boulogne
     With an independent air
     You can hear the girls declare
      "He must be a Millionaire."
     You can hear them sigh and wish to die,
     You can see them wink the other eye
     At the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.
       


Written and Composed by Fred Gilbert in 1892. Sung by Charles Coburn.

[VLSroulette]

The Bois de Boulogne (1910):

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Victor

[VLSroulette]

"Till they hadn't got a [highlight]sou[/highlight] for a Christian or a Jew;"

...In France the sou (until 1715 sol or solt) was the name of a coin. It was first minted in gold, from the 1200s in silver and during the 1700s in copper. The sou tournois was a 12-denier coin, one-twentieth of the livre tournois (Tournois pound), while the sou parisis was a 15-denier coin. After decimalisation in France, the sou became the name for a five-centime coin, one-twentieth of the French franc (Until the late 1960s, the expression "20 sou" was a synonym for 1 Franc).

To this day, sou is used as slang for money, as in j'ai pas de sous. "I'm broke", "I haven't got two bob to rub together".

Source: nolinks://nolinks.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Solidus-(coin)



This is a Sou (click to enlarge):

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[Marven]

Interesting stuff Victor!

I speak French, and yeah we do say: "j'ai pas de sou" or "j'ai pas de fric". It's all slang of course.

Cheers,
Marven

[Marven]

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