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
Claudia Lennear in song to either Mick or David". However, in a 1973 article in "Rolling Stone", she was quoted as saying that she wrote the song "Not At All" "to inform Mick Jagger of his dispensability". Claudia Lennear was one of Leon Russell's Shelter People. She sang back-up vocals on Joe Cocker's 1970 "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" tour and live album, on "Leon Russell and the Shelter People", released in 1971 and on George Harrison's "The Concert for Bangla Desh". Her lead vocal live recording of "Let It Be" from the Mad Dogs and Englishmen movie was the B side of