Football and Music

A slip in the muddy grass changed everything. This time though it wasn’t an English player who blew it for his team.

Yes I know that Terry had that golden chance but in the end it was Le Sulk who gave van der Sar an easy effort to save.

It will be interesting viewing in the Euro 2008 Finals watching Portugal and France if either of them take a match to extra time and pens - will Rolando, who must think he is cursed after another penalty miss, dare to step up and try again.

- And after the finals too. Will the man who scored more goals than Rooney and Tevez this season be booking a flight back to MCR Ringway or Madrid Barajas ?

This, and the fate of many others to be decided after Sunday the 29th of June I’m sure.

As promised the other day - two songs from the winners:

This one from 1996 and an FA Cup Final song which has the players singing on the track, but thankfully their contribution was minimalised by the producers from Pete Waterman’s PWL Productions. The song borrows from many musical influences at the time. It is as ravey-ravey/2Unlimited thumping dance record »

» Manchester United 1996 - Move Move Move (The Red Tribe)

» There’s also a video.

Next is another one that steals borrows from the popular music genres of the time and is cheekily very Oasis and The Verve influenced. Sadly the team vocals are full on for this one. After hearing this somebody must have put a stop to it all because this is the last time that a Man Utd team has sang on a record »

» Manchester United 1999 - Lift It High (All About Belief )

» Video for that too.

It’s been hyped up so much that you know it’s going to be a dire game.

We’ve seen it happen with FA Cup Final matches and I reckon - although I’d love to be proved wrong - that this one is going to be the same.

Both teams will probably play it close and tight and if they nick the odd goal will then defend it for the rest of the 90.

But…. there’s obviously no love lost between the players, so there could be a couple of sending offs and if that happens then it could be an exciting encounter.

I don’t know what to go for. I’d like to see a good old fashioned football match, but because there is so much at stake (financially too) we may see the former.

I’ve delved into my collection of songs and have selected some random songs done by each team from years gone by.

In alphabetical order…

From 1984 - recorded when a Chelsea team including Nigel Spackman and David Speedie celebrated getting out of the old 2nd Division and back into the 1st »

» Chelsea 1984 - Back On The Ball

From 1990 - a Scottish-tinged outing with some bagpipes and a voice-over at the end, also a Scotsman, who reads out the names of the team members at that time »

» Manchester United 1990 - We Will Stand Together

Later on in the week I’ll post a couple of songs from the winning team.

You’d think that with him being there for so long, there’s bound to a few decent songs done about him.

Well there isn’t.

There is this very weak effort done by a mentioned in a couple of other posts studio group:

» The Rainbow Choir - Ryan Giggs We Love You

But come on… is that it ?

It’s the same problem I had when I posted a tribute to Maldini, another loyal servant to his one and only club.

I did some extra searching around and on You Tube there’s obviously lots of clips done by people paying tribute.
From there I found this one which is clips of some of Giggs’ greatest goals with music by Moby.
The creator/uploader overlaid a bit of commentary on the track so I’ve named it the “Giggs Mix”

» Moby - Rise Up (Giggs Mix)

If there is any actual decent musical tributes done for Giggsy then please let me know.

Singing footballers… As we’ve seen they are everywhere. They are also watching on a television in Freetown and after viewing Sunday’s title decider inspired to write a song about the event.

Via the Beeb:

Sierra Leone ode to Man Utd win

A former Sierra Leone international footballer has composed a song to celebrate Manchester United winning the English league.

“Come join us in our dance to celebrate Manchester United’s victory,” sings Umaru Rahman, alias Gallon Pan.

The English Premier League is keenly followed in Sierra Leone, as in many countries around the world.

Pan watched Sunday’s exciting league finale in a Freetown video centre, along with hundreds of other fans.

The BBC’s Lansana Fofana in Freetown says they poured onto the streets in celebration at the final whistle, blowing whistles and honking horns.

Pan, a prolific striker for the national team, as well as lower league clubs in Germany and Sweden, says he has always been a United fan.

“I was born into it,” he told the BBC.

“Manchester are the champions,” he sings in the local Kreole language.

“Manchester United fans please do not be bothered. You are simply with the best team. We are urging fans of other clubs to come join in our celebration. Manchester United are for all football lovers.”

“Sir Alex Ferguson, you are our father and have brought us to a height we will never slip from.”

Our correspondent says fans of Chelsea, the other team vying for the title, also went to the Row Kona video centre to watch Sunday’s deciding round of matches.

» Full article

» Umaru Rahman - Manchester United Celebrate

Last week we looked at Denis Law and the 70’s. Today it is the turn of a bloke who was Law’s team mate at Man U for a couple of seasons.

Probably the best (no pun intended) player never to play in a World Cup.

Georgie Best.

These songs are not reflections of his performance on the pitch, there’s been (obviously) loads of songs recorded about him in relation to that - and I’ll do them at a later date. Today we are looking at his life and loves.

Bestie had a fondness for drinking and gambling but what he most liked was his dolly birds.

Click on the image to the right to view a slideshow of Georgie and his flames.

I just noticed looking at the slides that he liked the blondes…

To the music then and from a studio created group named: “Her” and a song about an obsession with the man.

» Her - Georgie You’ve Broken My Heart

Next up is an interview with the man himself talking about the girls he preferred, plus TV news items about his troubles:

» George Best - My Ideal Woman

Extra time video:

Keep a lookout for “Best”. A biographic-type movie made in 2000 starring John Lynch as Bestie and Roger Daltry as Rodney Marsh. It follows his life from the halcyon days playing for United & Northern Ireland and to his off the field activities.