| A comic song that became a hit for the British group The Scaffold in 1968 (at the top of the charts for three weeks in December-January). The principal members of The Scaffold were the Liverpool poet Roger McGough and Paul McCartney's brother. The origins of the song appear to be uncertain: "traditional", the schoolground, or vaudeville, or rugby. The rollicking chorus was:
We'll drink a drink a drink to
Lily the pink a pink a pink
The saviour of the human race
For she invented medicinal compound
Most efficacious in every case
Then each verse is some specific application of the medicinal compound, such as:
Mr Frears had sticky out ears
And it made him awful shy
And so they give 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 give him medicinal compound
Now they move him round on wheels
It can't be that traditional, for it's manifestly based on a real person, Lydia Pinkham (1819-1883), whose "Vegetable Compound" swept America after its release in 1875, and was touted as a miracle cure for all "female problems". She was described in her own adverts as "the savior of her sex". In puritanical America it was felt necessary to assure customers that the alcohol content was purely in there as a solvent and a preservative. It was 18% alcohol. So it probably worked then. teleny points out it contained black cohosh, genuinely useful for uterine and menopausal problems, so that might have helped as well.
Lydia Pinkham at www.britannica.com/women/articles/Pinkham_Lydia_Estes.html
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