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Ding dong over anti-Thatcher song
Fury as BBC set to play Witch Is Dead
ditty just three days before her funeral
THE BBC plans to play Thatcher protest song Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead just three days before her funeral — sparking fury among her supporters.
The track is expected to be aired on Radio 1’s chart show on Sunday night after a rush to buy it by hate-filled lefties saw it surge into the top ten.
The move will pit the Corporation against Lady Thatcher’s fans who have branded it the first major test for new director general Lord Hall.
Sir Gerald Howarth, Maggie’s former private secretary, told The Sun it would be a “complete dereliction of duty” by the BBC to play the Wizard of Oz ditty, hijacked in a protest against the ex Tory PM.
He said: “Lord Hall has got to get this right. If the BBC stoops so low as to broadcast this song it will offend a great many people.”
But Tory MP Rob Wilson said the Beeb should play the track.
He tweeted: “While unpleasant, BBC right to play leftie-hate song re MrsT. She didn’t free millions to censor tiny no. of nasty idiots.”
BBC insiders said a final decision will be taken on Sunday morning but execs saw “no reason” not to play it if it gets high in the charts.
Lord Hall told BBC staff yesterday he would “keep an eye” on the situation but said Radio 1 managers would make the decision.
A source said that as many of the station’s young listeners did not know who Lady T was, a reporter would explain why the hit was in the Top Ten — a station first.
Ding Dong — at 51 seconds one of the shortest songs to ever chart — was yesterday set to reach No4, up from No10 a day before, said the Official Charts Company.
A BBC source said: “The higher it charts, the more chance it will get played. It probably will be.”
A spokesman said the BBC would not make a decision to play it or not on grounds of taste or politics, adding the chart show is a “historical, factual account” of public sales.
But the Beeb banned Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood in 1984 and the Sex Pistols’ 1977 punk anthem God Save The Queen.
It also barred three Beatles’ hits in 1967 and Rihanna’s racy S&M from daytime play in 2011.
Ding Dong’s sales will make about £10,000 for Hollywood giant Time Warner — which owns The Wizard Of Oz movie copyright.
The song was written for the 1939 film with words by Yip Harburg and music by Harold Arlen.
The Munchkins sing it after Dorothy’s house kills the Wicked Witch of the East — making the Wicked Witch of the West seek revenge.
The song row was condemned globally yesterday. The Washington Post noted: “There were no similar scenes of jubilation after the 1994 death of Richard Nixon, a polarizing figure.”
Meanwhile, the BBC had 227 complaints that its coverage was biased against Maggie, 268 moans it was pro-Lady T, and 271 that too much time was devoted to her death from a stroke on Monday aged 87.
Should the Beeb play it?
YES
MICK HUME, Freedom of speech campaigner
IT is gross stupidity to imagine that getting Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead to No1 is a meaningful political protest.
But a BBC ban would be even more stupid.
Buying Ding Dong! isn’t a political act. Banning it would be.
NO
IF the BBC plays it then, like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, they have no heart.
Bosses must say: “We are not going to play a song to celebrate the death of an 87 year-old woman.” How hard a decision is it for them?
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The Political Ramifications of OZ (Read 31564 times)
