Ah that seminal appearance...

That’s what I should have called this place.

Football and Music…dull as ditch water. What was I thinking. A few of the Friendlies linked to the right there had some imagination when entitling theirs, so where was mine ? Nowhere.

I know it does what it says on the tin but if I called it “Diamond Lights”, people in the know and the people who remember would have known and found us.

Hang on has anybody registered tha… they have. Football and Music it stays then.

Where was I going with this…? Ah I can’t remember…

Oh about those two Spurs and England footballers, that Top Of The Pops appearance and that now iconic tune which down the years has constantly been sneered upon, but today I am going to call Parlay. It is about time that we finally recognise and celebrate this piece of footballing/musical history.

Yes yes it’s still crap. But for myself, I remember this 1987 number 12 hit… how many of you can boast of that… fondly and I say give them a break.

Yes they had rolled up sleeves in that ToTP performance, yes he had a mullet… Look please STOP.
If you look at other singing footballers of that era you will realise that compared to them, this one stands above all the others.

I submit into evidence M’Lud: A young Mr Gascoigne – or his chum – Jones, Vincent Peter.

So then if you had to choose between Fog On The Tyne or Woolly Bully or this one which would it be ?
(No don’t answer that.)

"A bit closer if you please..."

Looking back, what did the gentlemen themselves think ?
Well there’s no comments from the Hoddle, but the Waddle has spoken in passing about it.

He was quoted in an Observer article which was taking a look at the spiritual one not long after Spurs dismissed him after a dismal run. In this piece Andrew Anthony looked at if it was Hoddle’s arrogance (in relation to his ‘what you sow you reap’ comment which got him out of the England job) which pretty much doomed him in his managerial career.

Chris Waddle defended his old Spurs and England midfield counterpart:

“…Yet Waddle disputes the popular image of Hoddle as arrogant. ‘It’s not arrogance, it’s confidence. I know people a lot larger than Glenn. I think he’s down to earth. He’s not a centre of attention. He’s not Billy Big Time.’ Waddle thinks that Hoddle has an inner core of self-belief that protects him from the uncertainties that afflict most other mortals. He cites a Top of the Pops performance of ‘Diamond Lights’ – the embarrassing pop record the duo made together in 1987 – as a memorable example of Hoddle’s sang-froid. ‘I was petrified,’ says Waddle, ‘he was confident. He enjoyed it. He’s a positive guy.’

As to what Chris thought of the actual single – The Guardian’s Small Talk caught up with him in 2003, asking him first what music he was listening to at the time:

What was the last record or CD you bought?
“That would have been the Good Charlotte album [Small Talk later checks with its young, heavily-pierced cousin to discover it's that Nu-metal-type business]. I’m getting into them, and blink-182, New Found Glory, Bowling For Soup, that kind of stuff. But I can also listen to something like Simply Red. The only thing I don’t like is reggae and all this rap stuff.”

Odd that you and Glenn opted for the soft-rock balladeering of Diamond Lights, then. Any regrets?
“None at all, but I’m not joking when I say that standing on that stage was more nerve-wracking than taking that penalty in Turin. I’d sung in the bath and in the car, like everyone does, but to actually stand in front of millions of people on TV and do something you’ve never done at any great level before, well it was absolutely petrifying. It never amazes me how many people remember that record. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did a cover version of it.”

Gazza, maybe?
“Oh no! Although it might be good if he covered it so people would finally realise that our version wasn’t so bad after all.”

Oh but it was, Chris. What impresses your two kids [boy 9, girl 15] more: Diamond Lights on TOTP, or your achievements as a footballer?
“Well they both spend more time going on about the fact that I once… well… I used to have a mullet.”

Did you really?
“I did, and when they see shots of me at Spurs or Marseille with it long at the back, they just can’t accept that mullets were in back then. I never regretted having one, before you ask. In fact it was funny that after I had mine done, 50% of professional footballers were sporting the same hair style. Same at Marseille, all the crowd copied that hair cut straight away.”

They’re a mad bunch! Returning to Diamond Lights, was there a follow up?
“There was, it was a song called (It’s) Goodbye. Quite fitting really ‘cos Glenn had just left Spurs for Monaco. In my opinion it was a far better song with a video and everything, but then Glenn moved to France and because of the tax reasons he couldn’t come back to promote it. It got shelved, which was a shame, because it was a lot faster and a much better record.”

Finally then to THE song:

[See post to listen to audio] » Glenn & Chris – Diamond Lights (320 Kbps) » Click for the Lyrics Eyes that freeze like ice Cold electric blue those diamond lights You were hard as stone Solid stone, for me The colours change rearrange my life Can’t explain so afraid tonight Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights I’ll always want you Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights I’ll always need you Oh darling Diamond, diamond lights Standing in the rain Cold electric sky no diamond lights Now i’m on my own So alone, oh darling The colours change rearrange my life Can’t explain so afraid tonight Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights I’ll always want you Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights I’ll always need you Oh darling Instrumental: Rocking guitar solo! Diamond lights cold as ice to me (cold as ice to me) Diamond lights cold as ice to me Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights I’ll always want you Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights I’ll always need you Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights I’ll always want you Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights I’ll always need you

Thanks to the Cheesy Music blog for the additional info & lyrics.

Oh and it was Darren Stuart who mailed to request the reappearance of this song.
- And whilst you are at it: Don’t forget the T-Shirt.

They dared to enter the studio again… plus Hoddle by himself again and again and again…

As previously mentioned on F&M the original mullets recorded some stuff separately.

Waddle duetted with Basile Boli.
But the God botherer really went out to make sure it just wasn’t the disabled who despised him – fans of Queen, the Beatles and John Lennon were insulted too.

You sick sadistic bastard Hoddle. What did we ever do to you…?

Not satisfied with ruining some of our favourite songs you went out to do the double when managing the England team.

But karma came back and bit him in the ass. He’s been cast out into the football wilderness of telly pundity, never to manager a team again.

(A few weeks back the vacancy at Southampton came up and Hodd’s name was mentioned, but the Saints went for Nigel Pearson instead – the same Nigel Pearson who was in caretaker charge of Newcastle when Man USA put six past them.)

I am sorry to drag this should have been forgotten and buried/why do you do this to us other offence to music to light. It’s part of my job and please don’t shoot the piano player.

Or actually… do shoot him. I think he also produced the single…

[See post to listen to audio]
» Glenn and Chris – It’s Goodbye

Extra info: As you can see from the above pic there was a free flexidisc included and if you dare (go on.. I double dare !) you can buy the single with that interview here.

And that's not all: I found an ebay auction in which there was a cross promotion with Miller Lite. Yes a couple of sportsmen promoting beer. Very sad.
You can view a photo of the single which included a poster of the two here.

Sorry…what…? You are a sadist and want to punish yourself or a friend with the other one…?

Oh all right, since you hate yourself that much:

[See post to listen to audio]
» Glenn and Chris – Diamond Lights