B-side "Teen Age Goodnight" Genre Traditional pop Label Cadence | Released September 1956 Length 2:36 | |
Writer(s) Åke Gerhard, Leon Landgren, "Anne-Caroline", Paddy Roberts | ||
"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).
In the United States, the biggest hit version was recorded by The Chordettes, reaching No. 16 on the Billboard chart. 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. 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.
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.