Mandalay (poem)
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Mandalay is a famous poem by Rudyard Kipling that was first published in the collection Barrack Room Ballads, published in 1892.
The Mandalay referred to in this poem was the sometime capital city of Burma, which was a British colony from 1885 to 1947. It mentions the old Moulmein pagoda, Moulmein being the Anglicised version of present-day Mawlamyine.
[edit] Song
Kipling's text was adapted for the song "On the Road to Mandalay" by Oley Speaks, which was popularised in the album Come Fly with Me by Frank Sinatra. The song uses only the first and last verse of the poem, with the chorus. The Kipling family objected to Sinatra's version of the song. When the album was initially released throughout the British empire, the song "Chicago" replaced "On the Road to Mandalay." Sinatra sang the song in Australia, in 1959, and relayed the story of the Kipling family objection to the song.
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