To Mr Butler, Sir
[also known as H-A-N-G-O]
This song concerns the Anti-Violence League, an extra-right wing of the Conservative government of the day, whose cause was the restoration of capital punishment for a range of crimes, and the introduction of the cane and birch for criminals.
The title addresses the Home Secretary, "Rab" Butler in a satirical letter, but shortly before release, Butler left the post (on July 13), to be replaced by Henry Brooke. The song was first issued on Leon's 1962 EP, and the back of the record sleeve has Butler's name crossed out, and Brooke's written above. In later appearances, the song would be re-named "H-A-N-G-O".
The title addresses the Home Secretary, "Rab" Butler in a satirical letter, but shortly before release, Butler left the post (on July 13), to be replaced by Henry Brooke. The song was first issued on Leon's 1962 EP, and the back of the record sleeve has Butler's name crossed out, and Brooke's written above. In later appearances, the song would be re-named "H-A-N-G-O".
"A political song, which I wrote to help the Anti-Violence League in its activities. Dedicated to Mr Butler, of course." - LR (introduction to song, 1962)
"[Celebrating] Sir Frederick Bowman, the gentle criminal reformer, whose suggestion that murderers should be whipped before they are hung, to teach them, as it were, not to do it again, must rank as the most enlightened piece of penology since the invention of the guillotine." - LR (1962 sleevenotes)
"Written during the heyday of the Anti-Violence League, an organisation which, like its founder, Sir Thomas Moore, is unhappily now defunct. Many of its stalwart supporters, though, are still with us and still vocal... Gerald Nabarro, for instance, who proclaimed in the Commons: 'A policy of whack the thug should be our policy.' Hear, hear! Bend over, Gerald." - LR (Look Here (songbook), 1968)
“This is one of those early efforts, about 1961, addressed to the Home Secretary of the time and purporting to speak on behalf of the hang ’em and flog ’em brigade, who were on the rise at the time and who called themselves, with no hint of irony, The Anti-Violence League... This recording is from the Topic EP Songs For City Squares, recorded live (hence the wrong chord on my old Kessler guitar) by Bill Leader in Cambridge.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p5)
"[Celebrating] Sir Frederick Bowman, the gentle criminal reformer, whose suggestion that murderers should be whipped before they are hung, to teach them, as it were, not to do it again, must rank as the most enlightened piece of penology since the invention of the guillotine." - LR (1962 sleevenotes)
"Written during the heyday of the Anti-Violence League, an organisation which, like its founder, Sir Thomas Moore, is unhappily now defunct. Many of its stalwart supporters, though, are still with us and still vocal... Gerald Nabarro, for instance, who proclaimed in the Commons: 'A policy of whack the thug should be our policy.' Hear, hear! Bend over, Gerald." - LR (Look Here (songbook), 1968)
“This is one of those early efforts, about 1961, addressed to the Home Secretary of the time and purporting to speak on behalf of the hang ’em and flog ’em brigade, who were on the rise at the time and who called themselves, with no hint of irony, The Anti-Violence League... This recording is from the Topic EP Songs For City Squares, recorded live (hence the wrong chord on my old Kessler guitar) by Bill Leader in Cambridge.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p5)
Recordings
Version 1 (1962) Live recording
- Songs For City Squares
- The World Turned Upside Down listed as "H-A-N-G-O"
Sheet music
- Songs For City Squares And Sceptical Circles p6. listed as "H-A-N-G-O"
- Look Here p16. Listed as "H-A-N-G-O"
- Bringing the News from Nowhere p182. Listed as "H-A-N-G-O"