The death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has sent a 74-year-old song, Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead, flying into the UK charts, figures showed. The song from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz was top of Amazon’s most downloaded chart on Wednesday after a social media campaign to promote the upbeat track as a way for detractors to “celebrate” the death of Britain’s most divisive postwar leader.
Tag Archives: song
Mika returns with an edgier sound
Mika worries that melody comes too easily for him. The 29-year-old Lebanese singer can write pop choruses as catchy as anything performed by his heroes Elton John, the Bee Gees, Michael Jackson and Queen.
Forget Fame! Eurovision Crowns No Names From Azerbaijan
In the run-up to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, celebrity contestants dominated the headlines and the bookies’ odds tables. Britain’s boy band Blue — who have sold 13 million records worldwide since 2001 — flew the British flag.
Will Apple Open Up the iPhone to iTunes Rival Spotify?
Listening to a song on an iPhone is a quick, simple process: open Apple’s iTunes music player and select the song you want to hear. That’s it.
Classic 1960s song’s organist wins royalties battle
The organist on the seminal 1960s song "A Whiter Shade of Pale" has won a long-running legal battle for a share in the royalties for the tune. Matthew Fisher sued former Procol Harum bandmate Gary Brooker in the House of Lords, Britain’s highest court.
‘Fancy celebrity public figure excess’? Not Moby
Moby describes himself as "a 43-year-old bald guy who likes to make music in his bedroom." If people like the music, that’s OK, he says. And if not, that’s OK, too. “I’m at my happiest when I’m working on music for myself,” he says.
Chris Brown song not about Rihanna, producers say
A Chris Brown song called "Not My Fault" was recorded three years ago and is not about Rihanna, its producers said. The music appeared online Tuesday, a day after the singer admitted guilt to assaulting Rihanna, his former girlfriend. Brown’s record label also said the music was not “new.” Although Brown accepted a plea deal in which he could avoid jail time, any appearance that he is not remorseful could be damaging, since the judge is not bound by those terms when she sentences him in August.
Court gives would-be assassin John Hinckley more freedom
The man who tried to kill President Ronald Reagan is now allowed to visit his mother more, to get a driver’s license and spend more time away from the mental hospital where he lives, a federal judge ruled. The ruling, released Tuesday, expands the freedoms of John Hinckley Jr
Making music out of swine flu
Swine flu may be inspiring fear worldwide, but for Stephan Zielinski of San Francisco, California, it inspired a song. The virus has the classification H1N1 because it includes two key viral proteins, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N).