Lay Down Your Arms (song)

"Lay Down Your Arms"
Single by The Chordettes
B-side "Teen Age Goodnight"
Released September 1956
Genre Traditional pop
Length 2:36
Label Cadence
Writer(s) Åke Gerhard, Leon Landgren, "Anne-Caroline", Paddy Roberts
The Chordettes singles chronology
"Born to Be with You"
(1956)		 "Lay Down Your Arms"
(1956)		 "(Fifi's) Walkin' The Poodle"
(1957)

"Lay Down Your Arms" is a 1956 popular music song with music by Åke Gerhard and Leon Landgren and lyrics by Gerhard (original "Anne-Caroline" Swedish) and Paddy Roberts (English).[1]

In the United States, the biggest hit version was recorded by The Chordettes, reaching No. 16 on the Billboard chart.[1] In the United Kingdom, Forces sweetheart Anne Shelton had the major hit, reaching No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, and stayed in the Top Twenty for 14 weeks.[1][2] Initially the BBC took a dim view of the song as it might have encouraged British troops to 'lay down their guns', at a difficult time of the post-Suez crisis and the conflict in Cyprus with EOKA. The ban was soon lifted when many requested it on "Two-Way Family Favourites", a popular Sunday lunchtime radio show. Another UK version was recorded by Billie Anthony.[3]

The song was also used in a British television play written by Dennis Potter called Lay Down Your Arms, which was screened on 23 May 1970. The play is set during the Suez crisis of 1956.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 27. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
  2. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 63–4. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  3. ↑ Greg Adams. "The Magic of Billie Anthony - Billie Anthony | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  4. ↑ "BFI Screenonline: Lipstick On Your Collar (1993)". Screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-30.


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