17 Million Fuck Offs

"17 Million Fuck Offs", also censored as "17 Million F**k-Offs", is a 2019 British comedy folk song by Dominic Frisby.[1] The song was written to commemorate the approximate number of the 17.4 million people who voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.[2] The song was first released on 4 March 2019[3] then re-released with an updated version in December 2019, where it reached number 43 on the UK Singles Charts.[4] It later reached No. 1 on Amazon.[5] The song itself is set to the old English folk tune of Widecombe Fair.

"17 Million Fuck Offs"
Dominic Frisby filming the video for 17 Million Fuck-Offs
Single by Dominic Frisby
from the album Libertarian Love Songs
ReleasedMarch 2019
Genre
Songwriter(s)Dominic Frisby
Music video
"17 Million Fuck-Offs (2020 update)" on YouTube

Background and release

Frisby wrote "17 Million Fuck Offs" as a protest song[6] "17 Million Fuck Offs" was released on Amazon in March 2019 to coincide with the original date of Brexit and made it to number 1 on its album charts and initially number 8, later rising to number 1 on its singles charts.[5]

Re-release

Due to delays in Brexit with a new date being set for 31 January 2020 after a delay of seven months from 31 March 2019, Frisby updated the song in December 2019 by adding a verse that covered the result of the 2019 United Kingdom general election. Frisby had been due to stand as a Brexit Party candidate in the election but withdrew.[2][7] In 2020, Frisby started a campaign to get "17 Million Fuck Offs" to number 1 in the UK Singles Chart. During the run-up to the day of Brexit, pro-EU activists started a counter-campaign for people to buy copies of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" (used as the EU anthem) performed by André Rieu.[8] When the charts were released, "Ode to Joy" reached 30 while "17 Million Fuck Offs" reached 43.[9]

Frisby was invited by Leave Means Leave to perform at their Brexit celebration in Parliament Square on Brexit Day on 31 January.[10] During the performance, Frisby sang "17 Million Fuck Offs" but he was told that he could not sing the phrase: "fuck off" on the stage as that would have been a public order offence. Instead he had the crowd sing the phrase.[10]

References
  1. Cavendish, Dominic (2019-11-02). "Dominic Frisby, Museum of Comedy, review – pro-Brexit stand-up gets my vote". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  2. "Beethoven stц╪rmt die britischen Charts" (in German). Rundschau-online.de. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  3. "17 Million Fuck Offs – A Brexit Song". iTunes Store. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  4. "UK Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. 2020-01-31. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  5. "17 Million F**k O**s". Guido Fawkes. 2019-03-21. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  6. "Dominic Frisby Libertarian Love Songs". The Edinburgh Reporter. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  7. "17 million f*ck offs: my friend Dominic Frisby updates his classic post the election". Tom Winnifrith. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  8. "André Rieu bestormt Britse hitlijst dankzij Brexit" (in Dutch). 1Limburg. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  9. "Brexit Day charts: EU anthem Ode To Joy tops download charts". Metro. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  10. "'We will never return, there is no going back': the Brexit Day party, as it happened". The Spectator. 2020-01-18. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
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