Moët & Chandon

The largest brand and manufacturer of champagne in the world. Commonly mispronounced “mo-way”, in the belief that the name is French, the actual pronunciation is “mo-wett”, from the Dutch. The company dates back to 1743 when Claude Moët began shipping wines from the Champagne region of France to Paris. Chandon was added to the company name when Claude Moët’s grandson, Jean-Remy Moët, turned the company over to his son, Victor, and son-in-law, Pierre-Gabriel Chandon, in 1832.

The only reference to Moët & Chandon in Good Omens is an indirect one. “Admittedly [Crowley] was listening to a Best of Queen tape, but no conclusions should be drawn from this because all tapes left in a car for more than about a fortnight metamorphose into Best of Queen albums. No particularly demonic thoughts were going through his head. In fact, he was currently wondering vaguely who Moey and Chandon were” (6).

Crowley is listening to the song Killer Queen written by Freddie Mercury and originally released in 1974 on Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack album. The first two lines of the song are, “She keeps her Moët et Chandon in her pretty cabinet,” but Mercury’s pronunciation is such that Crowley can be excused for not making the connection to the famous champagne.

Other sources:
“Killer Queen Lyrics.” Queenwords. Accessed 25 May 2006. <http://www.queenwords.com/lyrics/songs/sng11_03.shtml>.
“Killer Queen.” Wikipedia. Accessed 25 May 2006. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Queen_%28song%29>.
“Moët et Chandon.” Wikipedia. Accessed 25 May 2006. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo%C3%ABt_et_Chandon>.

Edition referenced in this article: US Ace paperback (2001)
Written by Aubrey