Make Hay Not War (Dead From The Waist Down)
The Wurzels

EMI Gold

Release Date: 17 Mar 2003

Following the release of Never Mind the Bullocks, Ere's The Wurzels in 2002, The Wurzels planned to release another single off the album (two previous singles on the album Don't Look Back In Anger and Come On Santa! had been release prior to the album's release). They opted for their re-work of the Catatonia song Make Hay Not War (Dead From The Waist Down), timing the release to take advantage of the strong anti-war feeling at the time.

When USA and UK had decided to pursue the invasion of Iraq, there was worldwide opposition to the invasion. On 15th February 2003, the Stop The War Campaign protest attracted millions of protestors across the world. The Wurzels planned to release the single 'in support of the Anti-War Movement' (as seen on the artwork below) with the release dated planned for 17th March.

However, 17th March was also the date that US President Bush gave the Iraqi leadership a 48-hour deadline to surrender; and on 20th March, British and Amercian troops invaded Iraq. It was decided that releasing an anti-war single during the week that the war started might backfire, and so the single release was pulled.

So there never was a release of the single, and we have no indication of what other tracks would have made up the release. However, EMI had already pressed and distributed publicity versions, an official EMI Gold UK 1-track CD-R demo of the release which was issued exclusively to reviewers and radio stations. It had a custom printed sleeve and titled disc, and is already becoming highly collectable.

1. Make Hay Not War (Dead From The Waist Down)