Songs of Praise
A Brief History of the Football Record

The amazing world of football records have entertained, provoked and challenged us for the last 70 years. The earliest known recording is of the anthem "Abide With Me", which was sung by the 90,000 crowd at Wembley Stadium for the 1927 FA Cup Final between the then upwardly mobile Arsenal and eventual winners, Cardiff City. Following this there were occasional releases, and in 1931, Gracie Fields sang the delightful "Pass-Shoot-Goal", (who said female fans are a recent addition to the game !). Other 30's releases were "I Do Like To See A Game Of Football" by Syndey Kyte & His Orchestra from 1932, Sandy Powell's "Sandy The Goalkeeper" and a spoken-word disc to celebrate the 1932 FA Cup Final, when Newcastle beat Arsenal with a very dubious goal, that is hotly disputed to this day.

The 1940's were fruitless due to the war but the 50's saw a new vigour and creativity for the football song. The 1956 Lord Kitchener Fitzroy Coleman Band song "City & United - The Manchester Football Double", celebrated City's FA Cup win and United's League title by the 'Busby Babes'. Manchester United can boast a huge number of musical tributes including Edric Connor's "Man Utd Calypso" and the very moving song commemorating The Munich Air Disaster "The Flowers Of Manchester", featuring Harry Gregg. One crisis point for the football record came in the form of the legendary John Charles's "Love In Portofino", which is a classic example of a great player not cutting the mustard in the recording studio.

While Elvis was setting his sights on Hollywood, Billy Wright saw his opportunity to release his "Sing Song Just For Kicks" EP in 1961. It didn't prove to be too threatening to the King, and Billy dwelled on his other record of being the first player in the world to win 100 international caps. Tottenham entered the fray with the first of many attempts at chart success, when they recorded "Tip Top For Tottenham Hotspur", celebrating their League and Cup Double of 1961. Tottenham's footie song successes over the years proves a better strike rate than their attempts at clinching the top spot in the Premiership.

It was in the 60's that the first link between footballers and popstars was made. George Best inevitably was responsible for this tag after helping Manchester United beat Benfica in 1965, when the Portuguese mistook him as 'El Beatle', sadly roles weren't reversed. I'm not aware of Ringo ever turning out for Shankly's Liverpool. The World Cup of 1966 brought a squad of records including "World Cup Willie" by Lonnie Donegan, a stirring busy brass number. Not to be out done was the World Cup Winning Squad, who with the help of Cliff Portwood, showed their off-pitch skills with "Up There England" and "You'll Never Walk Alone", though these recordings never managed to equal the team's status as World Champions.

Club records were on the increase throughout the decade with Rangers in 1964 releasing the superb "Every Other Saturday", with assistance from the top class comedian Lex McLean and "United United" by Manchester United was released on the now defunct label 'Thistle Records', who were the pioneering purveyors of football songs. Their 1967 release celebrating Celtic's European Cup triumph, "Celtic Celtic" is a very sought after 7" single and is a fine example of the formula that squad records would take long into the future. Another incredible release from that year, was from those musical maestros from London N17, Tottenham Hotspur. Their EP, "The Spurs Go Marching On" on EMI Records, boasts a who's who of football names, recording what has to be one of the earliest karaoke collections, recorded in the pub. Highlights include "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" by Joe Kinnear and Pat Jennings, "Bye Bye Blackbird" by Terry 'Lounge Lizard' Venables, "Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner" by Alan Mullery and "Strollin'" by Simon Templar's side kick Jimmy Greaves. The EP is a great example of just how players can successfully, if they insist, make musical magic. I can't imagine the likes of Anderton, Howells and Ginola turning in such a fine performance.

Whilst Tottenham Hotspur showed us the way, the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea were releasing albums that should've seen them relegated from this musical genre. The Penny Farthing label issued sing 'a' long collections in 1972/73 featuring recent pop hits of the day and a couple of more credible songs, including "Blue Is The Colour" which was one exception to the rule, enjoying a number 5, chart hit. The first chart topping record came from the 1970 England World Cup Squad's fantastic, "Back Home", which hit the top spot on the wave of National optimism as the team strove to retain the World Cup.

Tottenham's impressive musical repertoire was strengthened further by the very successful and catchy "Nice One Cyril" by the Cockerel Chorus, which peaked at 14 in the charts, although all this success was not mirrored on the pitch. In London N5, Arsenal enjoyed a brief chart flirtation with "Good Old Arsenal" by the 1971 Double winning squad and "Arsenal We're On Your Side", though they tended to concentrate on their football rather than stardom of another kind.

The 70's saw a steady output from teams and of general football related releases. Noteworthy releases include "Viva El Fulham" by Tony Rees & The Cottagers and the Hammers' anthem "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" by West Ham United F.A. Cup Final Squad. These were just the tip of the iceberg as most football league clubs managed to find their way to music's hall of shame.

In the early 1980's, while Adam And The Ants, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet were subjecting us to the joys of looking ridiculous, the players link to popstars was now a dim and distant memory. The young players pushing into first teams across the country had been brought up during the cynical Punk and New Wave explosion of the late 70's. Surely no longer would the players agree to perform Eurovisionesque, mid-tempo sing-a-longs, and it was hoped they might turn their attentions to the more credible end of the music sphere. This didn't prove to be the case for the while at least. England's long player for the 1982 World Cup, showed that to make the step up from club to international level, a player needed more than ball skills to play their part on the "This Time" LP, which featured better than usual songs in the standard style including "This Time We'll Get It Right", "England We'll Fly The Flag" and "Land Of Hope And Glory". There was a hidden nugget with England Supremo, Glenn Hoddle's fair attempt of "We Are The Champions", an early hint of his chart busting ambitions. This came in the shape of the ballad duet with Chris Waddle titled "Diamond Lights", which reached no. 12 in 1987, this record did more for dodgy hairstyles than the musical cause.

The 'times they are a changing' prophecy was finally proved correct when the fantastically cool and universally loved "World In Motion" by EnglandNewOrder, made No.1. This track should've finally given a blue-print for the future direction of the football song, showing that it was possible to blend the talents of players and musicians alike to produce an excellent and relevant track. This song focused the nation's hopes for Italia 90, that inspired the 'New Coolness' that now surrounds football, also in part due to the birth of the Premiership. This record also upped the stakes for the genre and as a result releases were generally kept to the customary 'cup' records and a few musical mishaps from Gazza and to a lesser extent, Ian Wright.

Euro 96 inspired another great crowd pleaser with "3 Lions On My Shirt", which yet again brought the country's confidence levels to a new high, last witnessed during England's 1990 World Cup Campaign. Sadly for the second time in seven years Germany proved to be the bubble bursters. It's the feel good factor that in a large part football records can deliver, they may not be the most gifted, well crafted and musically correct treasures that some 'real' records can be, but they are a great unifier, they can be as effective as the most inspiring team talk and chart those magic moments from the great game over the last 70 years.

The Tables - a divisional look at the highs and lows of the football song

all written & compiled by Tim Mad Gwick - football projects manager