Mad Dogs and Englishmen (song) Mad Dogs and Englishmen (song) "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" is a song written by Noël Coward and first performed in "The Third Little Show" at the Music Box Theatre, New York, on 1 June 1931, by Beatrice Lillie. The following year it was used in the revue "Words and Music" and also released in a "studio version". It then became a signature feature in Coward's cabaret act. The song is especially known for the line "Only Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun" with which most verses begin and end. According to Sheridan Morley, Coward wrote the
Mad Dogs and Englishmen (song) song while driving from Hanoi to Saigon "without pen, paper, or piano". Coward himself elucidated: "I wrestled in my mind with the complicated rhythms and rhymes of the song until finally it was complete, without even the aid of pencil and paper. I sang it triumphantly and unaccompanied to my travelling companion on the verandah of a small jungle guest house. Not only Jeffrey [Amherst], but the gecko lizards and the tree frogs gave every vocal indication of enthusiasm". The lines refer to the Noonday Gun opposite the Excelsior Hotel in Hong Kong, which is still fired every day at