Lay Down Your Arms (1956 song)

"Lay Down Your Arms"
"Lay Down Your Arms"
Single by The Chordettes
B-side	"Teen Age Goodnight"
Released	September 1956
Genre	Traditional pop
Length	2:36
Label	Cadence
Songwriter(s)	Åke Gerhard, Leon Landgren, "Anne-Caroline", Paddy Roberts
The Chordettes singles chronology

"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]

Recorded Versions

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.^{[citation needed]} 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]

^ ^a ^b ^c 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.
^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 63–4. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
^ Greg Adams. "The Magic of Billie Anthony - Billie Anthony | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
^ "BFI Screenonline: Lipstick On Your Collar (1993)". Screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-30.

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