Hess was, of course, a prominent Nazi and friend of Adolf Hitler; the two were actually imprisoned together after the ill-fated Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. While in jail, Hitler worked on his manifesto Mein Kampf with the help of Hess who acted as his scribe; Hitler would rattle off his insanely evil musings, and Hess would commit his rants to paper. Once he was in power, Hitler made his old pal Rudolf the Deputy Fuhrer.
Naturally, the British public was agog at the drama of Adolf Hitler's bestie parachuting into Scotland and acting like a loon. And also naturally, the English wags saw a subject ripe for jokes and mockery. Arthur Askey was a comedic actor who had served in the first World War and got started in his comedy career participating in troop entertainments. He would often write comedic novelty songs to perform in his act, and came up with one about the Hess incident; he originally titled it It's Really Nice To See You, Mr. Hess but when the song was recorded, he changed it to Thanks For Dropping In, Mr. Hess. The song is quite funny, especially performed in Askey's droll tones, but unfortunately the British War Office was not amused. Convinced that the song might damage the morale of the servicemen, they banned the song from being played on the airwaves. This seems remarkably silly to me; the song clearly sends up Rudolf Hess- and Adolf Hitler- and what's better for morale than making your enemies ridiculous and laughing at them? Anyway, here are the lyrics, you can judge them for yourself:
Welcome little stranger, falling from the skies,
Falling like the raindrops or the dew.
Are you out of danger? Do you realize
Just what sort of welcome’s waiting you?
Well, thanks for dropping in, Mr. Hess,
We’ve told your friends to note your new address.
They’ve heard you got here safely in Berlin and in Rome,
So put away your parachute and make yourself at home.
Thanks for dropping in, Mr. Hess,
Forgive the small announcement in the press.
Had you told us you were coming and informed us where you’d land,
We would certainly have had a big reception nicely planned
With a carpet and some streamers and Jack Hylton and his band.
Thanks for dropping in, thanks for popping in, what nice surprise, Mr. Hess!
Nice and unexpected, just the way we like,
Strolling in as friendly as can be.
Soon we’ll have ol’ Adolf jumping off his bike,
Calling in to have a cup of tea.
Thanks for dropping in, Mr. Hess,
We trust you haven’t left behind a mess.
Perhaps you thought that someone would take you for a ride,
Perhaps you thought it safer here than on the other side.
Thanks for dropping in, Mr. Hess,
Don’t tell us why you came, we’d like to guess.
Perhaps you’ve such a lot to tell us that you thought we’d like to know,
Perhaps you heard that bonny Scotland was a charming place to go.
Perhaps you even thought George Black might sign you up to do a show.
Thanks for dropping in, thanks for popping in, what a nice surprise, Mr Hess.