Having furrowed their brows as to whether or not they should play anti-Thatcher anthem ‘Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead’ from The Wizard Of Oz on Radio 1’s Chart Show on Sunday, the BBC have issued a statement saying that they won’t be playing the song in full (dong) but will play a clip as part of a news report (minor ding).
The official line reads: “The BBC finds this campaign distasteful but does not believe the record should be banned. On Sunday, the Radio 1 Chart Show will contain a news item explaining why the song is in the charts during which a short clip will be played as it has been in some of our news programmes.”
The song is currently at number three in the charts and well on its way to number one thanks to the ‘Make "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead" number one the week Thatcher dies’ Facebook campaign.
However, in a somewhat alarmist blog post, Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper writes to explain why the station won’t be playing the song in full: "I’ve therefore decided exceptionally that we should treat the rise of the song, based as it is on a political campaign to denigrate Lady Thatcher’s memory, as a news story. So we will play a brief excerpt of it in a short news report during the show which explains to our audience why a 70-year-old song is at the top of the charts. Most of them are too young to remember Lady Thatcher and many will be baffled by the sound of the Munchkins from the Wizard of Oz.
"To ban the record from our airwaves completely would risk giving the campaign the oxygen of further publicity and might inflame an already delicate situation."
To read the Quietus’ take on Thatcher’s legacy, head here.
