Issue #3

 

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Football and Music
 
A song for Histon?
by John Payne

Football and music, two of the most powerful phenomena’s in British culture. Put the two together and you have the makings of something strong enough to put fire in the belly of even the shyest of folk. Who could fail to be stirred by the sound of the Anfield Cop’s renditioning of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and you don’t have to be Scottish to appreciate a packed-out Ibrox Stadium or Celtic Park knocking out any one of their traditional local anthems. There are endless examples of football culture hijacking musical ditties that would otherwise have been lost to the world long ago. The MOTD theme would mean nothing to anyone if it were not known as the prelude to a feast of goal action on a Saturday night, and I’m sure the theme music to “The Great Escape” wasn’t originally written with England football fans in mind.
Any club with an “S” in their name appears to have adopted a version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” and heavens only knows where Coventry fans got the idea of singing their strange boating song from!
 
At most grounds on a match day the entertainment is kicked off not by either of the teams involved but by the tannoy system. A well worn and crackly version of the club’s adopted song serves as a rallying call and is the signal for fans to up the tempo and get behind their team. Again, there are endless examples. Everton have their Z Cars theme, Newcastle play the theme from the film “Local Hero” Chelsea play safe with “Blue Is The Colour”. I’m told that even the local bogies down at the Abbey have dug up a song about coconuts which they play for some strange and unknown purpose. I’ll not mention Charlton Athletic and their Red Red Robin song so as to save them any embarrassment. (Oops!)


Brummie fans like to sing “Keep Right On To The End Of The Road”. The Manchester City faithful will offer a few verses of “Blue Moon” while Tottenham fans prefer something or other written by Chas and Dave no less. The list is endless.
Part 2 >>

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