"Stand Down Margaret" is a song by British

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a wal ...

/ new wave band the Beat, released as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

single with " Best Friend" in August 1980. It is one of the band's most political songs, referring to the want for the then Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

to resign.

Background and meaning

At the time, in the UK, there was high rates of unemployment, crime and fear of

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear wa ...

. According to Wakeling: The song was inspired by the 1978 novel ''The Third World War'' by John Hackett, where "he postulated that the first nuclear bomb would go off above

Winson Green Prison HM Prison Birmingham is a Category B men's prison, located in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, England. The prison was operated by G4S from 2011, before it was returned to HM Prison and Probation Service in August 2018. The government takeov ...

", which was right above the hospital where Wakeling was born and also above the pub where the Beat formed. According to Wakeling, the band were "very much of the mind that it was apocalypso and the world was going to end. So we thought, "There's a few things that need saying and a few dances that need to be had before we go"". Wakeling has said that the song not only called for Thatcher to resign but also for her to "stand down as in get off your

soap box A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipme ...

. Get off your high horse. Stop trying to talk down to people. You don't really know that much more than them, anyway" as Thatcher "was acting as though she had airs and graces to the manor born". The lyrics "how can it work in this all white law" was written by

Andy Cox Andrew Cox (born 25 January 1956) is a British guitarist, who along with Dave Wakeling, formed ska band the Beat in 1978. The Beat achieved eight Top 40 singles and three hit albums in the UK before announcing their break up in 1983. Some o ...

and alludes to Thatcher's

cabinet ministers A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countries ...

Geoffrey Howe Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, (20 December 1926 – 9 October 2015) was a British Conservative politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1989 to 1990. Howe was Margaret Thatcher ...

and

William Whitelaw William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as ''de fa ...

. Wakeling described this line as "one of the best satirical lyrics in literature".

Release

"Stand Down Margaret" was first released on the band's debut studio album ''

I Just Can't Stop It ''I Just Can't Stop It'' is the debut studio album by British ska band the Beat, released on 23 May 1980 by Go-Feet Records in the United Kingdom. It was released the same year in the United States on Sire Records under the band name "The Engli ...

'' in May 1980 as part of a

mash #REDIRECT Mash {{redirect category shell, {{R from ambiguous page{{R from other capitalisation{{R unprintworthy ...

with "Whine and Grine", written by

Prince Buster Cecil Bustamente Campbell (24 May 1938 – 8 September 2016), known professionally as Prince Buster, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. The records he released in the 1960s influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary ...

. In August 1980, a remixed

dub version Dub is an electronic musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican re ...

was released as a

single with " Best Friend" as the fourth and final single from the album. The proceeds from the sales of the single went to the Anti-Nuclear Campaign and the

CND The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nu ...

Critical reception

Reviewing the song at the time for ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...

'', Robin Smith wrote "it washes over me not making the slightest impression on my ear drums. What these people don't seem to realise is that we have nuclear missiles because of those damn Ruskies, who are always trying to stir things up. Sucks boo to the lot of yer". However, Martyn Sutton for ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' described it as having "fabulous sax passages and a fiendish beat ... and is just as effective as the original". Retrospectively, ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'' magazine described the song as "polite insurrection set to uptempo reggae and African hi-life guitar". Left-wing singer-songwriter

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is ...

said that he first heard "Whine and Grine/Stand Down Margaret" on ''The'' ''Old Grey Whistle Test'' and thought ""this is a nice

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

song." Then all of a sudden it started talking about ''white law'' and that pricked my ears: "Wait a minute, ''stand down Margaret''. This is incredible". It was one of the first anti-Thatcher songs I ever heard. I went straight out and bought it". In 2008,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

politician,

Ed Vaizey Edward Henry Butler Vaizey, Baron Vaizey of Didcot, (born 5 June 1968) is a British politician, media columnist, political commentator and barrister who was Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries from 2010 to 2016. A memb ...

appeared on a

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

documentary by

Michael Portillo Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo (; born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster and former politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as '' Great British Railway Journeys'' and ''Great Continental Railway Journ ...

about Thatcher, called ''The Lady's not for Spurning''. In it, he said he "adored" The Beat despite being an "ardent

Thatcherite Thatcherism is a form of British conservative ideology named after Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher that relates to not just her political platform and particular policies but also her personal character and general style of manag ...

" and "assumed that everyone in Britain admired Mrs Thatcher in much the same awestruck terms as he did so when it came to

he target of 'Stand Down Margaret' He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

.. the penny never really dropped. 'I couldn't work out what they had against

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...

''Cheggers Plays Pop''

In 1980, the Beat appeared on the children's television show ''

Cheggers Plays Pop ''Cheggers Plays Pop'' is a British children's game show broadcast on BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for br ...

'' to play "Stand Down Margaret". During rehearsal,

Keith Chegwin Keith Chegwin (17 January 1957 – 11 December 2017) was an English television presenter and actor, appearing in several children's entertainment shows in the 1970s and 1980s, including '' Multi-Coloured Swap Shop'' and ''Cheggers Plays Pop''. ...

told Wakeling that some in the production room thought the song was about Thatcher and he asked him if it was true. Wakeling replied "Of course it's not", "it's the name of a dance from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

". When the band started the song live on air, they took off their jackets to reveal t-shirts with "Margaret Thatcher as a robot with an

nuclear explosion A nuclear explosion is an explosion that occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from a high-speed nuclear reaction. The driving reaction may be nuclear fission or nuclear fusion or a multi-stage cascading combination of the two, t ...

behind her".

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stand Down Margaret 1980 songs 1980 singles The Beat (British band) songs Songs written by David Steele (musician) Songs written by Ranking Roger Political songs Protest songs Song recordings produced by Bob Sargeant