Iron Lady

Iron Lady is the nickname of British politician and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher. It was invented by Captain Yuri Gavrilov in a 24 January 1976 article in the Soviet newspaper Red Star about Thatcher's "Britain Awake" speech where she expressed her staunch opposition to the Soviet Union and to socialism. The nickname became popular, transforming Thatcher's image, and helping her and her Conservative Party to win three elections

"Iron Lady" has since has been used, along with regional variations, to describe other female heads of government or political figures, even retrospectively.

The term describes a woman who is either stubborn and inflexible or strong. It is an allusion to the "Iron Chancellor" of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck.

Origin

Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 was the leader for whom the term was coined. On 19 January 1976, Thatcher, having recently been elected Leader of the Conservative Party, gave a speech entitled "Britain Awake" at Kensington Town Hall in Chelsea, London. It included the claim that The Russians are bent on world dominance, and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial nation the world has seen. On 24 January, the Soviet military newspaper Red Star published a response to Thatcher's speech by military journalist Captain Yuri Gavrilov. Gavrilov supplied the headline "The 'Iron Lady' Sounds the Alarm" to the piece, intending an allusion to Otto von Bismarck, known as the "Iron Chancellor" of imperial Germany. According to Gavrilov's article, Thatcher was at the time already known as "The Iron Lady" in Britain, supposedly on account of her "extreme conservatism". Gavrilov's article was noticed by the British Sunday Times newspaper the next weekend and subsequently given wide publicity. The nickname stuck firmly to Thatcher. A 2011 biographical feature film about her is called The Iron Lady.

Lady (D'Angelo song)

"Lady" is a song co-written, co-produced and performed by American neo soul singer D'Angelo, issued as the third single from his debut studio album Brown Sugar. A remixed version of the song (titled the Clean Street Version) was also released, featuring vocals from American hip hop musician AZ. Separate music videos were created for both versions of the song.

"Lady" is D'Angelo's biggest hit single to date in the United States, peaking at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996. It was certified gold by the RIAA on June 4, 1996. The song was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 1997, but lost to "Your Secret Love" by Luther Vandross.

The Game's 2013 single "All That (Lady)" uses a clear vocal sample of "Lady".

Music videos

The official music video for the original version of the song was directed by Hype Williams. The video for the remix version was directed by Brett Ratner. In addition to AZ, the remix video features appearances from singers Faith Evans and Joi; as well as Erykah Badu in her first music video appearance.

Lady (Kenny Rogers song)

"Lady" is a song written by Lionel Richie and first recorded by American country artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in September 1980 on the album Kenny Rogers' Greatest Hits.

It is listed at #47 on Billboard's All Time Top 100.

Song history

The song was written and produced by Lionel Richie, recorded in 1980, and ranks among Kenny Rogers's biggest hits. Rogers once told an interviewer, "The idea was that Lionel would come from R&B and I'd come from country, and we'd meet somewhere in pop." Lionel wrote the second sentence of the song while he was at the bathroom.

The success of "Lady" also boosted Richie's career. The production work on the song was his first outside the Commodores and foreshadowed his success as a solo act during the 1980s. Rogers was also a featured vocalist on "We Are the World", co-written by Richie. Richie performed the song himself on his 1998 album, Time, and he and Rogers performed the song as a duet on Richie's 2012 release "Tuskegee".

Chart success

Lady (Lenny Kravitz song)

"Lady" is the final single from the 2004 album Baptism by American rock musician Lenny Kravitz. It was released on November 23, 2004. The song is believed to be written about Kravitz's then-girlfriend, Nicole Kidman. The track was used heavily in the GAP ads. The commercials featured Kravitz dancing and singing the song with his guitar to Sarah Jessica Parker.

Track listing

Chart performance

"Lady" was the most successful song from Baptism on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at #27.

Music video

The video was directed by Philip Andelman. It consists of Kravitz playing guitar and singing in a circular stage, while women are dancing around him. There are lights that change depending on the intensity of the sound of the song.

In popular culture

ABC made use of the song to promote its hit television series Alias in commercials that appeared in full length in movie theaters and in edited form on the network.

External links

Iron (Silent Stream of Godless Elegy album)

Iron is an album by Moravian (Czech Republic) folk metal band Silent Stream of Godless Elegy, originally released in 1996 by Leviathan Records.

Track listing

Iron (Woodkid song)

"Iron" is the debut single by Woodkid (real name Yoann Lemoine) taken from his album The Golden Age that was prepared in 2011 but released in 2013. It was written by Yoann Lemoine himself and arrangements by Gustave Rudman. The single was released on March 28, 2011. This song gained immense popularity after being used in a trailer for Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

Iron (EP)

A remix EP was also released called Iron (EP) in 2011 charting in its own right.

Tracklist

Charts

References

Iron in folklore

Iron has a long and varied tradition in the mythology and folklore of the world. As human blood smells of the iron which its cells contain, and blood in many traditions is equated with the life-force, so iron and minerals have been considered to be the blood or life-force of the Earth. This relationship is charted further in literature on geomancy, ley lines and songlines.

Plutarch

In Plutarch's mystical writings, iron and lodestone is referred to as the "bone" or "core" of the gods. Symbolically, iron is the bone, the foundation or the mineral core of both blood and red ochre.

Cold iron

Cold iron is a poetic and archaic term for iron.

Francis Grose's 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue defines cold iron as "A sword, or any other weapon for cutting or stabbing." This usage often appears as "cold steel" in modern parlance.

Rudyard Kipling's poem "Cold Iron", found in his 1910 collection of stories Rewards and Fairies, used the term poetically to mean "weapon".

"Cold iron" is historically believed to repel, contain, or harm ghosts, fairies, witches, and/or other malevolent supernatural creatures. This belief continued into later superstitions in a number of forms: