Cup Final Ska

The theme ? Ska

I love this music and when I posted an England/World Cup song by The Skatoons the other day, I started to look for more footie & ska music connections. Then with some perfect timing… I received an email about another England/WC/Ska song, which I’ll be posting in a few days.

Let’s get started with…

It is common knowledge that there’s a couple of ska tunes associated with Chelsea. I’ll be featuring one of those below.

What is probably lesser known…

- That there was a ska tune done in relation to Pompey which after you hear it you’ll wish that you didn’t, but as is with the tradition here I must report what I find. Even if it causes some pain.

As you will discover, everything about this is wrong. The naming of the band, the fact that it’s a re-worded version of ska tune more associated with another team (which I’ll expand on below) or especially with the subject(s) of the song.

What was the act called ?   Krap Not ‘Arf.

What’s wrong (apart from it being a crap name) with that then ?   They named themselves after Pompey’s home ground – but they put it backward AND missed out a letter.

What was the tune they covered ?   Tom Hark.

What was the re-worded version about ?   Their previous manager, plus his assistant at the time and their promotion from the Football League First Division to the Premier League in the 2002/03 season.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. » Krap Not ‘Arf – Arry and Jim

I’ll post the original below, but first…

I’m not going to get into which team can claim original ownership of this tune now, I’ll look into that at a later date. Let’s just say for the moment that Chelsea are one of the clubs that are associated with the follow ska tune:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. » Billy Bluebeat – The Liquidator

The Originals…

As mentioned above with the Pompey song they did a cover of Tom Hark, which was not originally done by The Piranhas, but theirs is in fact a cover of a 1950′s tune. I’m posting the Piranhas version here and Any Major Dude With Half A Heart will explain where this one first started.

- The footie team that is actually associated with this song is Brighton & Hove Albion and one of these days I will finally get around to telling their story. But for now:

…and the original version (unless Any Major Dude… knows any different) of The Liquidator:

After the final has played I’ll post some more ska music for the winners.
Obviously I’m hoping expecting that it will be … because I’ve got bugger all for … .

If you like this then you’ll enjoy…

- Marco On The Bass: A musical life dedicated to a love of 2tone, ska, reggae, soul and rock steady.

A recommended purchase…

- The Trojan Ska Box Set
[Amazon UK link]
[Amazon USA link]

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