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A Bit Of Cash For The Harold Arlen Estate, A Bit Of A Headache For The Bbc....

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sp1814 | 05:46 Fri 12th Apr 2013 | News
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Should the BBC play 'Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead' on the chart show this weekend?

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/ding-dong-the-witch-is-dead-closer-to-number-one-spot-as-it-reaches-top-five-following-margaret-thatchers-death-8566042.html

Other papers (The Daily Mail) have compared it to the situation back in 1977, where the Beeb banned 'God Save The Queen' by the Sex Pistols, but is this not different, as GSTQ was specifically written about Her Maj, where this is a song whose meaning has been hijacked.

Sounds like the BBC are caught between a rock, and a hard place. Play the song and incur the wrath of many...or don't play the song and face accusations of cowardice.

Me...if I were the Director General, I would question whether its worth handing some sections of the press an open goal...
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I think the BBC should play the song, and make no reference to it whatsoever.

This is cultural history in the making, and censorship is not appropriate here - anymore than voicing IRA members with actors was appropriate there.

The BBC belongs to all of us - not just offended right-wingers, or purile left-wingers - it has to be seen to be unbiased.
Tory and Labour, there are dissenters on both sides, however why is it that the DM and the Express are singled out, that doesn't make sense.
As i said if the BBC play it fine, but don't make out that it's anything other than a foolish thing to do. What will they play when Blair kicks the bucket, or they won't because no one cares about what he has done to Britain, no one cares that he screwed up, an illegal war, and has swanned off the stage, peace envoy my eye, and if he had his way he would be back here in main stream politics, telling everyone how wonderful things are, and that we can get the country back on it's feet. His tenure has left more problems than MT's every did, you only have to look around you.
Question Author
AOG

I think you think you've made a point at 12:01, but unfortunately, you haven't.
/// This article lists songs which have been banned by the BBC over the years. Some were banned for only a limited time, and have since received BBC airplay. Others were banned many years after having been first aired, as was the case of The Cure's 1979 single "Killing an Arab", which was banned from BBC airplay as the first Gulf War began,[4] or Lulu's "Boom Bang-a-Bang", the United Kingdom's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 – more than two decades later during the First Gulf War.[1] ///
the BBC isn't unbiased.
Protesting about thatcherism with a song by the munchkins.

An act of dissent worthy of the T.P.F. 'Citizen smith' was way ahead of it's time.
Question Author
em10

This is why the Mail has been singled out:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2307480/Margaret-Thatcher-witch-song-insult-BBC-play-Ding-Dong-The-Witch-Is-Dead.html

They call it the 'BBC witch song'.

The Daily Mail also blatantly lied earlier this week, when they said that Huw Edwards reported Baroness Thatcher's death whilst wearing a pink tie. It was an out and out lie. He was wearing a rememberance poppy. The picture was from November 2012.

The reason people attach the Mail, is because it lies. It's lies need to be brought to light.
sp1814

/// I think you think you've made a point at 12:01, but unfortunately, you haven't. ///

By your need to make this comment it seems obvious that I did.
Question Author
AOG

But what's your point???

The BBC hasn't even played the song!!!
Question Author
AOG

And you're seriously not making a point, because the BBC certainly DID play many of those songs. For instance, it played 'Relax' for weeks before Mike Read unilaterally decided not to play it.

So again - what's your point?
There are as many people claiming the BBC is biased against the left as claim it is biased against the right - so that probably means they are rather carefully treading the middle ground. Look at the results of the complaints about the BBC coverage of Thatchers death - 700 or so complaints, out of the millions who watched it, with equal numbers complaining that it was too pro-thatcher, or it was too anti-thatcher, or that it was just too much.

And the reason the DM and the Express have been mentioned is because it is perfectly right to do so - they are the ones leading the calls for the BBC to cravenly submit to their demands that the song be banned.

Nigel Farage, no leftie, says they should play it - because otherwise it will be at number 1 for weeks. His is the right response. He is no sympethiser of those wishing to protest against Thatcher, but he is a staunch defender of free speech and the right of protest.
It all reminds me of those classic protest songs from the 50's and 60's such as 'Hello dolly', 'It might as well be spring' and 'getting to know you.'

Dylan would be proud.
Banning of records on air has always been a subject of contention - here and abroad.

If you go back to the famous case of 'Louie Louie' by the Kingsmen, which was banned by the US government, and had an entire department devoted to deciphering the lyrics for lewd content - and failing because there is none to find!

Even more ludicrous was the banning of 'Rumble' by Link Wray, purely on the grounds of perceived 'menace' in its atmoshpere - no dispute about dodgy lyrics here, it was an instrumental!

The BBC is not the preserve of supporters or any individual or party - and should behave in an unbiased fashion, not least in order to remove weight from the argument of its political bias to the left / right.
sp1814 - the BBC only bans what it can understand -

Perfect Day was played constantly when a charity version was made with opera singers and similar warbling away about a song that is actually about heroin!

Similarly, Walk On The Wild Side was played, even with its references to drugs, gender bending and oral sex.

Popular music continues to do what it has always set out to do - unit a generation of young thinkers, while simultaniously getting up the noses of the Establishment.

More power to pop - always creating opinion and debate!
sp1814

/// The Daily Mail also blatantly lied earlier this week, when they said that Huw Edwards reported Baroness Thatcher's death whilst wearing a pink tie. It was an out and out lie. He was wearing a rememberance poppy. The picture was from November 2012. ///

Perhaps before accusing the Daily Mail of lying you should first provide the proof.

I can only find this link which only criticises certain BBC presenters for failing to wear black ties.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2306564/Margaret-Thatcher-dead-Public-anger-BBC-bias.html
The Daily Mail Group have considerable commercial Radio and TV interests, so their anti BBC bashing has to be seen in that context. They attack the BBC because it is a commercial competitor.
doctordb, //Protesting about thatcherism with a song by the munchkins.

An act of dissent worthy of the T.P.F. 'Citizen smith' was way ahead of it's time. //

Yes, indeed. :o)
Question Author
AOG

Here's your proof:

http://themediablog.typepad.com/

Terrible, eh?

Just goes to show that the Mail genuinely does have an agenda, and will lie to its readers which is a shame.
regarding Edwards' tie and the Mail's coverage of it, you might like to read this, aog

http://www.mediauk.com/newspapers/discussions/print-chatter/daily-mail-deliberately-misleading-readers
I really hope they do play it.

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