Maggie Out
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The "Maggie Out" protest song was one of the popular songs sung during the Miners' Strike, student grant protests, Poll Tax protests and other public demonstrations that fell within the time when Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The song called for her to be removed from that role.
A simple song of unknown provenance, the song follows the pattern of the - Oggy Oggy Oggy, Oi Oi Oi - chant and its words go like this (all punctuation has been guessed):
- Maggie, Maggie, Maggie!
- Out! Out! Out!
- Maggie, Maggie, Maggie!
- Out! Out! Out!
- Maggie!
- Out!
- Maggie!
- Out!
- Maggie, Maggie, Maggie!
- Out! Out! Out!
Like the song "Nelson Mandela" by ska band The Specials, it was so well loved by activists that once the subject's position changed (Margaret Thatcher resigned from her post on November 22, 1990) it was missed. Literally anyone could pick it up in seconds and use it to express noisy dissatisfaction with the perceived state of affairs.
Often a few people would lead the first few lines and everyone would join in with the rest. Alternatively someone would with a loudhailer, or loud voice, would chant the "Maggie"s and the rest of the crowd would chant the "Out"s, thereby demonstrating their verdict.
The song was a prominent part of the cultural backdrop of 1980s Britain; comedian Alexei Sayle remarked humorously that he couldn't find his way around London unless he walked down the middle of the streets shouting the words.
Since 1990 two variants of this song have been heard - adapted for both her successors; replacing 'Major' for 'Maggie' during the tenure of John Major and 'Tony' for 'Maggie' since Tony Blair's election in 1997.
The song has occasionally been revived to "greet" Thatcher's public outings following her resignation as Prime Minister, but with suitably amended words:
- Maggie, Maggie, Maggie!
- Gone! Gone! Gone!
External links to people expressing fond memories of this chant:
- Fun memories of protesting (http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/1742/sw174223.htm)
- C J Stone (http://www.cjstone.co.uk/pgs/others05seaside.htm)