The focus of this pod is when Jackie Charlton was the boss so we are looking at Euro ’88, Italia ’90 and USA ’94. The golden era for Irish international football.

Because of the limit I set for the pods (keep the length under an hour) it was very hard to select which tunes to include. I once again called upon our football and musical consultant Fredorrarci from the occasionally visited Sport Is A TV Show because it was he who first found all the Ireland-related European/World Cup songs.

I read his reply to my email, took in his thoughts and then pretty much ignored most of it. Apologies to you Fredo, but because of the number of songs and time constraints I had to be tough with the selections.

So here now is the latest FootieAndMusic Podcast – Dreaming of Ireland:

Tracklisting:

1. [audio] Jackie Charlton interview before the 1988 European Cup
2. [audio] Ray Houghton goal v England at Euro ’88 (Danish or Swedish commentary ?)
3. The Pogues – Fiesta
4. [audio] Ronnie Whelan’s goal v Soviet Union at Euro ’88
5. Christie Moore – Joxer Goes To Stuttgart (live)
6. Dublin City Ramblers – The Boys In Green
7. Dermot Morgan – What A Beautiful Team
8. Republic Of Ireland Football Squad – Put’em Under Pressure
9. [audio] Kevin Sheedy’s goal v England – World Cup 1990
10. Watch Your House – Ooh Aah Paul McGrath
11. The Memories – The Game
12. [audio] From the film The Van – the penalty shoot out v Romania at Italia ’90
13. The Dubliners & The Pogues – Jack’s Heroes
14. Charlie O’Neill and the Goal Celebrities – Drive it Jack
15. Against The Grain – On The Ball
16. [audio] Ray Houghton’s goal v Italy at the 1994 World Cup
17. One Hit Wonder – Ole 94
18. Dr Morgan – That Old Jack Magic
19. [audio] Jack Charlton and John Aldridge go mental at the officials in the match v Mexico
20. Born Na Gaeilge – Seo Linn Go Mherica
21. Paddy Reilly, Ray Treacy And Shamrock Rovers Squad – Thank You Jack

Additionally…

I really wanted to include all of Fredorrarci’s suggestions but as mentioned… I have though previously posted the World Cup songs by Dermot Morgan here and here.

Additional to the additional:

The band The Dublin City Ramblers, like Dermot Morgan sang a few songs about football.
One of them was included in the podcast and there’s two more here:

[See post to listen to audio] » Dublin City Ramblers – Que Sera Sera [See post to listen to audio] » Dublin City Ramblers – You’ll Never Beat The Irish

It is with thanks to @Dunnie77 for the suggestion of the Ireland theme.

…continuing the Irish theme with a couple of songs (from the many !) recorded to celebrate their first appearance in the World Cup Finals.

More people outside of the Isle might remember the 1994 World Cup better – because of the first wally – this one without a brolly, but for the Republic of Ireland it was Italia ’90 which was the most successful of the two World Cups in which they qualified.

Pic from M+MD's photostream

These were the finals in which Packie Bonner made a save (pictured above) in the game against Romania. After this David O’Leary stepped up after and scored the last pen to put Ireland into the World Cup Quarter Finals for their first time in their history.

In the quarters they proved to be a difficult opposition against an Italy team which included Maldini, Vialli, Baggio and Schillaci – the scorer of the only goal in the game.

Before the tournament they were sent off with a plethora of tunes and I’ve selected two from the many for today.

- The first one up is one co-crafted by Larry Mullen, the drummer from U2.
It is based upon a 70′s song by the Horslips -Dearg Doom, with samples of Jackie Charlton included, as well as the singer from Clannad who adds the Olé Olé Olé tune and yes… even the Ooh Ahh is thrown in for good measure:

[See post to listen to audio] » The 1990 Ireland World Cup Squad – Put ‘Em Under Pressure

- Click for the lyrics

- More info about the single can be found on this exhaustive/obsessive U2 fansite.

» Not much is known about the creators of this next one. If you have any knowledge then add a comment. What I do know is that it borrows the tune from Billy Joel’s – “We Didn’t Start The Fire” and adds it’s own words:

- Full lyrics here

It is with thanks again to the assistance of Fredorrarci from Sport Is A TV Show that I now have a pile of songs… pile isn’t the right word for it…or maybe it is after listening to a few of them….anyway alot from Ireland which will mean that I will be returning this theme.

Tomorrow it will be the Scotia boys turn and then after that, the Angles.

Oh I give up.

I got some great responses and yesterday I posted the first one about an outstanding defender and today is the second one – and like the previous this one is also a tune that everyone knows, but this time because it borrow from a previously recorded song.

Firstly a big hello and thanks to Fredorrarci from the Sport Is A TV Show blog. It will be added to the Friendlies and I recommend that you visit. His writings is better that what I can…err…write…

He let me know of a defender who played for that team but was one of those who you would have liked to have seen play for your lot. (Apart from Wayne Bridge, I don’t want to see him play anywhere… ).

But this isn’t about his club exploits… although I will mention in passing that Paul McGrath had his demons and hit the bottle a few times, I’m glad to report that he hasn’t followed Gazza into the gutter. He was there, but is doing much better now… it was his national service which gave reason for some people to burst into song.

It was 1994 and Big Jack and his boys had managed to qualify for their 2nd World Cup in a row.
As usual there was a trip to the recording studios before their journey to the tournament in the USA .

I can’t find any more info about who these people were, but some musicians or producers under the name of “Watch Your House” recorded a tribute song but with a difference – they actually got the man himself to appear on the record.

Last Minute Update: I’d like to break into my own posting here to tell you about a late find…

This wasn’t the first time.

I discovered by accident, that a certain somebody had got in before them.

I was searching for extra background information and stumbled across a very short mention on Wikipedia on another recording about the same subject.

Before his “big break” thanks to Father Ted, the beautiful and much missed Dermot Morgan was famous in Ireland at the time because of his RTE Radio 1 show Scap Saturday. Then in 1990 for their qualification to the finals in Italy he recorded a rap song…

[See post to listen to audio]
» Dermot Morgan – World Cup Rap (Paul McGrath)

- Going back to what I started talking about and the 1994 song with guest vocals from:

[See post to listen to audio]
» Watch Your House featuring Paul McGrath – Ooh Ahh Paul McGrath

So it is double your pleasure on this post. (Oh here I go again…) Two songs about one man and because of these he will make the F&M 1st IX.

Which one I prefer I don’t know – What do you think ?