Song · The Special AKA
“Free Nelson Mandela” by The Special AKA
“Free Nelson Mandela” by The Special AKA appears on 14 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1984 and 2023. Its best result is #31 on the WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991). In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #160 alternative song of 1984 and #2,210 alternative song of all time.
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The Special AKA released "Nelson Mandela", titled "Free Nelson Mandela" on some versions, in March 1984, with "Break Down the Door" on the flip. It's a Jerry Dammers song with Stan Campbell singing lead, and its target is plain: the apartheid government of South Africa and its imprisonment of Mandela.
What makes it stick is the mood. Protest songs usually scowl; this one throws a party, bright and celebratory and steeped in South African sounds. Drummer John Bradbury brought in two backing singers he'd met in a Camden bar, and session voices carry the chorus, Claudia Fontaine and Caron Wheeler among them, a pair later heard with Soul II Soul. It went to number nine in Britain, was hugely popular across Africa, and when Mandela died in December 2013 it crept back into the UK chart.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 41 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1984 | 48 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 445 | Live 105 | Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988) | 501 |
| 1989 | 39 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) | 500 |
| 1991 | 31 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991) | 500 |
| 1994 | 415 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994) | 497 |
| 1994 | 437 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1994) | 500 |
| 1996 | 426 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1996) | 498 |
| 1999 | 528 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) | 1002 |
| 2002 | 597 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 1507 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2005 | 456 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2005) | 500 |
| 2020 | 1775 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2022 | 674 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time | 1055 |
| 2023 | 712 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s | 850 |
Also listed as: Nelson Mandela; Free Nelson Mandella.
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